The Globe and Mail

In 1971, Vancouver's Gastown was declared a historic district by the province of British Columbia. In the years following, its many turn-of-the-twentieth-century buildings on and around Water Street were given a much needed facelift. The district, gussied up with art galleries, antique stores and ethnic restaurants, quickly became one of Vancouver's prime tourist attractions. Named after Captain John (Gassy Jack) Deighton, who built Vancouver's first saloon (and who was apparently so named because he had gift of the gab), Gastown, whose heritage designation had been triggered by the need to protect the historic buildings from a proposed freeway, basked in its image as Vancouver's most attractive neighbourhood. By the 1990s, however, Gastown had lost its lustre. Gastown abuts the Downtown Eastside, by then notorious for its high unemployment rate and drug dealing, and many former businesses lay empty, disfigured by graffiti. Chic boutiques had given way to tacky souvenir shops, and Woodward's, the iconic century-old department store on West Hastings Street (it borders the Downtown Eastside and Gastown), closed its doors.