(Photo from City of Vancouver Archives)

Vancouver is notable among other major cities for several reasons, but one that often comes to mind is its lack of a highway. It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the idea has been floated around before, and in fact, it very nearly happened in the late 60’s, but instead of being simply another abandoned infrastructure project, the legacy of the cancelled Vancouver highway marks one of the city’s darkest chapters. 

In the early 1920’s, segregation in Vancouver forced the city’s large populations of First Nation peoples and Asian immigrants under tight and restrictive laws, with smaller minority groups being dealt with in accordance to their population size. One of these groups were African-Canadians, who congregated in a small area on the north shore of False Creek that would become known as Hogan’s Alley. 

Home to a vibrant nightlife and the city’s sole black church, the Alley was a haven for the black population that had migrated north from San Francisco to Vancouver Island and west from Alberta in the 1850’s. The area was close to the railway, a place where many African-Canadians and other minorities found work at the time, and with it’s affordable rent, it quickly became the largest Black population in the City by the early 1900’s. 

As mentioned earlier, the nightlife in the alley was among the best in Vancouver, with some of the greatest artists of the early 20th century playing the stage at Vie’s Chicken & Steak House, such as Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, and Sammy Davis Jr. But the most famous resident of Hogan’s Alley to this day was a vaudeville performer by the name of Nora. She was an outspoken member of Hogan’s Alley, having been there since the early 1910’s. She co-founded the neighborhood’s church and took up work at Vie’s as a cook. She would often be visited by her grandson, James “Jimi” Hendrix. Yes, that Jimi Hendrix.  

In the late 60’s, “Project 200”, which included the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts was proposed as a way to connect the Strathcona neighborhood with the downtown core via a new highway system. But the project would come at a terrible cost: Hogan’s Alley sat at the north end of the planned route. The city had viewed the alley as a slum for decades, so the project went forward without consideration for the community it would erase. By the early 1970’s, Hogan’s Alley was nothing but a memory, replaced by a concrete bridge intended for a highway that would never be built. 

BC’s history with minority groups in the late 19th and early 20th centuries stands as the most shameful violation of basic human rights in our history. From the Residential Schools system, Japanese internment, and the destruction of Vancouver’s only black neighborhood, the trauma inflicted on innocent people by greed, ignorance, and bigotry can never be fully undone. Today, groups like the Hogan’s Alley Society non-profit are helping rebuild the community that was shattered nearly half a century ago, bringing attention to a forgotten piece of our history. This has led to renewed interest in the story of Hogan’s Alley, a story that has captivated the youth of the city, ensuring the vibrant town on the creek lives on.

Visit the Hogan Alley Society’s page here: Hogan’s Alley Society

More information: Hogan’s Alley | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Written by Noah Schmidt

Contact: nschmidt20@my.bcit.ca