Main Street is a major north–south thoroughfare bisecting
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
, British Columbia, Canada. It runs from Waterfront Road by
Burrard Inlet in the north, to Kent Avenue alongside the north arm of the
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annua ...
in the south.
Route
Beginning by the
Port of Vancouver terminals near the nexus of the city's historic
Downtown Eastside and
Gastown districts, the street runs south through
Chinatown south of
Hastings Street and continues past the
Pacific Central railway station and the
Main Street–Science World SkyTrain station. At Terminal Avenue, it slopes up into the
Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, which mixes commerce, light industry, brewing, and high-density residential areas. The residential/commercial mix continues south of
Broadway, with a high density of restaurants and fashion retailing. This neighbourhood was once blue-collar but is growing distinctly upscale.
Between 33rd Avenue and 41st Avenue, the street becomes decidedly more residential as it reaches its topographical summit. South of 41st Avenue, the street enters the
Sunset neighbourhood and takes on a markedly Indo-Canadian character. The
Punjabi Market district begins just north of 49th Avenue; south of the Market the street again becomes predominantly residential.
At Main Street's intersection with
Marine Drive in southern Vancouver, its character becomes big-box commercial, notably including a
Real Canadian Superstore supermarket. Between Marine Drive and its southern terminus, Main Street's neighbourhood is a highly miscellaneous commercial mix including office space, manufacturing, and warehousing.
History
The north end of Main Street is located just west of the historic site of
Hastings Mill
Hastings Mill was a sawmill on the south shore of Burrard Inlet and was the first commercial operation around which the settlement that would become Vancouver developed in British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1865 by Edward Stamp, the sawmill oper ...
, the nucleus around which the settlement of Granville, later
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
, grew. In its earliest days, the intersection of Main Street and Hastings Street was the centre of
downtown Vancouver
Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. It occupies most of the north sh ...
, boasting the city's central public library (now the
Carnegie Centre) and — a few blocks away — the old City Hall. The intersection of Main and Hastings is now a local byword for the poverty, addictions, homelessness, and prostitution often associated with the Downtown Eastside.
The thoroughfare was originally named "Westminster Avenue", since it connects to New Westminster Road (now
Kingsway). It received its present name in 1910
at the behest of local merchants, who thought that it bestowed a more cosmopolitan air to the neighbourhood.
Main Street was previously separated into two segments by
False Creek
False Creek (french: Faux ruisseau) is a short narrow inlet in the heart of Vancouver, separating the Downtown and West End neighbourhoods from the rest of the city. It is one of the four main bodies of water bordering Vancouver, along with En ...
, with a
bascule bridge linking the two.
The two segments were joined together after the eastern section of False Creek was
reclaimed for railway lands in the 1910s and 1920s.
Neighbourhoods
Main Street passes through the following Vancouver neighbourhoods (north to south):
*
Downtown Eastside
*
Old Japantown
*
Chinatown
*
Strathcona
*
Mount Pleasant
*
Riley Park–Little Mountain
*
Punjabi Market
*
Sunset
Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spr ...
Major intersections
From north to south.
References
External links
Extract from ''The History of Metropolitan Vancouver'' by Chuck Davis
{{Authority control
Streets in Vancouver
Former segments of the Trans-Canada Highway