strathcona corners:: round one

good to know that we can renew our luck - or get lucky again - in this one particular room, for rent [I presume!] in the Strathcona neighbourhood just east of Chinatown...

the ethnic mix here has shifted from immigrant italians early on to chinese workers to artists, mostly white, to determined home renovators and staunch heritage buffs, also mostly white...

still, many cool old houses from the turn of the 20th century remain, albeit in various states of redressing, making for an interesting residential pocket in the downtown eastside that is easy to miss buffeted as it is by the industrial edges of Clark Drive, the messy distractions of East Hastings Street, and the bright lights of Chinatown...

during a recent culture crawl event that encouraged the opening up of artists' studios/homes to curious outsiders, I wandered around briefly mostly looking in, but plan to return for more photos when the streets are less lively...

 [this was taken in the summer when visiting a friend staying here in this truly haunted house!]

chinatown remains

It has been much too long since I have been down to Vancouver's Chinatown and really take notice of the upscale changes going on as well as sadly, what is still barely clinging on...

The establishment of well-funded vanity projects in art galleries, stylish lounges and uptown priced

cuisine nouvelle-chinoise contrasts even more starkly with what remains of a once bustling enclave of working-class chinese culture and commerce...

On a late winter afternoon, as the sun dips low behind the buildings and the street lamps begin to turn on, I walk the few blocks of East Georgia Street, Keefer Street and East Pender Street where the majority of the shoppers are still Asian but just not as unrepentantly chic in dress as the few non-Asians making their way to be seen in the uplifted high brow cool spots...