Curated Guide
Black Strathcona Guide
We appreciate community input and understand that not all historical and current locations are fully represented in this guide. We’re working to expand the information and welcome your feedback and contributions!
The research and stories presented in this guide have been courteously provided by the Creative Cultural Collaborations Society and Vancouver Moving Theatre.
The first Black immigrants arrived in British Columbia from California in 1858, settling in Victoria and Salt Spring Island before some migrated to Vancouver in the 1900s due to shifting economic opportunities. By the 1920s the Black community had acquired a church, launched businesses and formed a neighbourhood where they could raise their families. At its peak in the 1940s around 800 Black residents called Strathcona their home.
Despite its successes, the community encountered challenges over time. City restrictions in Strathcona stifled residents’ efforts to secure mortgages or upgrade their homes. Negative depictions of areas like Hogan’s Alley in newspapers, as hubs of squalor, immorality, and crime added to these difficulties.
In the 1960s there were discussions about constructing a freeway that would pass through Hogan’s Alley and Chinatown. Although the freeway project was eventually halted, the initial phase, known as the Georgia viaduct, was finished by 1971. This resulted in the demolition of blocks of homes in the section of Hogan’s Alley.
While a small number of residents remained in Strathcona, by 1990 there were remnants indicating that a thriving Black community once existed there.
Origins and Foundations
As Strathcona’s Black population grew, some spaces and the people behind them became cornerstones of the community.
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives – COV-S168—: CVA 203-18
Sleeping Car Porters, who fought for Labour and Civil rights
Strathcona
One big reason why the Black community became firmly established in Strathcona was the employment of Black railway porters during the 1920s in Canada’s rapidly growing railway industry.
They used to meet and discuss their working conditions at the Porter’s Club at the corner of Main and Prior, where the Georgia Viaducts are now – there was a three-story brick building at that location.
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives – CVA 203-11 – 800 – 804 Main Street
Vi’s Chicken and Steaks, a Late Night Haven
209 Union St, Vancouver, BC V6A 3A1
From 5 in the evening until 5 in the early morning, the tempting aromas from home-style cooking, the friendly laughter and welcoming voices, the promising clatter of dishes and cooking activities signalled a cozy gathering spot.
For years, Vies was very popular with the local Black community as well as many visiting celebrities and entertainers.
Photo credit: Black Strathcona / Creative Cultural Collaboration Society 2014
Fountain Chapel: The Heart of Black Strathcona
832 Jackson Ave. Vancouver BC V6A 3C1
For nearly 70 years, Fountain Chapel at 823 Jackson was once the heart of Black Strathcona. Located at the eastern end of what used to be Hogan’s Alley the church would be packed to the rafters for services.
If you wanted to meet anyone in the Black community, you came here. The chapel was also used for all kinds of meetings, bazaars and community suppers. But Blacks in Vancouver didn’t always have a church to call home. When Nora Hendrix, grandmother of musician Jimi Hendrix, came to Vancouver in 1911, she said, “there was no church.” Nora was part of the group that worked to get a church of their own.
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives – CVA 1095-02388 – [823 Jackson Avenue – Fountain Chapel]
Community Builders
Strathcona’s vibrant community was built by the diverse people that lived there.
From artists, dancers, entrepreneurs, to athletes and more, the characters that lived and loved this neighbourhood are an essential part of its character.
Photo credit: Gibson family
Jimi & Nora
827 E. Georgia St. Vancouver BC V6A 2A4
Zenora “Nora” Rose Moore, was a former dancer and vaudeville performer who co-founded Fountain Chapel in Hogan’s Alley.
Nora was married to Bertran Philander Ross Hendrix, and they had a son called Al Hendrix. He had a son called Jimi. On occasion, family members would take Jimi to Vancouver to stay with his grandmother at 827 Georgia Street.
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives – CVA 1095-02891 – [827 East Georgia Street]
Barbara Howard: One of the Fastest Women in the World
592 E. Pender St. Vancouver BC V6A 1V3
Who would ever guess that a gym teacher at Strathcona School was once one of the fastest women in the world? Her name is Barbara Howard, and even as a young age she was known for speed.
She was always picked first for relay teams and won a pile of red ribbons in sprints. But in 1938, when Barbara was in Grade 11, she reached a whole new level, when she ran some qualifying races for the British Empire Games. Her time over 100 yards beat the Games’ record by one-tenth of a second. That race put her on the Canadian team for the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, Australia. Now it’s one thing to beat records, it’s another to convince your mother – at the age of 17 – to allow you to travel across the world.
Photo credit: Black Strathcona / Creative Cultural Collaboration Society 2014
Ernie King: Musician, Actor, Entrepreneur
343 E. Hastings St. Vancouver BC V6A 1P4
Ernie King opened the famous Harlem Nocturne Nightclub at 343 East Hastings Street. Committed to the Black music and theatre scene here in Vancouver, his motto was, “There’s nothing in the world you can not do.”
As a musician, actor and hardheaded entrepreneur Mr. Ernest King provided a voice and gave space to the Black art community, which changed the entire landscape of Vancouver’s entertainment industry.
Photo credit: Black Strathcona / Creative Cultural Collaboration Society 2014
Leona’s Kids: Great Talent Runs in the Family
247 E. Georgia St. Vancouver BC V6A 1Z6
In the late 1940s Leona Risby ran the Country Club Inn, a southern-style restaurant, at 247 East Georgia Street.
Not only did Leona serve the best hot tamales in town, she also served amazing floor shows put on by her kids. Leonard, Thelma and Chic, who would push back the tables and perform Afro-Caribbean tap and jazz routines.
Photo credit: Black Strathcona / Creative Cultural Collaboration Society 2014
A History of Resistance
Facing discrimination, threats to safety, and the “urban renewal” that ultimately displaced much of Strathcona’s Black community, the neighbourhood’s people stood strong and united.
While the construction of the Viaducts ultimately went ahead, many of the neighbourhood’s struggles led to lasting change.
Photo credit: CVA 447 – 374
Hogan’s Alley: The beginning and end of Black Strathcona
Strathcona
In its heyday from the 1930s to 40s, Hogan’s Alley was a collection of small cottages, Southern-style restaurants and makeshift nightclubs. Depending on who you spoke to, it was either a den of crime and squalor, or the most interesting and vibrant place in Vancouver.
In the 1960s, the music came to an end when the City decided that Hogan’s Alley, and parts of Chinatown, would be levelled for a freeway. Due to resistance from the community, the freeway was never built. However, the Georgia Viaduct was constructed in 1972. The Viaduct destroyed the western end of Hogan’s Alley. That demolition, and the fact that it was now easier for Blacks to find housing in other parts of the city brought an end to the first and last Black neighbourhood in Vancouver.
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives – Bu P508.53 – [View of Hogan’s Alley]
Leonard Lane: Community Builder
Strathcona
Leonard Lane, one of the unsung heroes of Black Strathcona once lived at the corner of East Georgia and Gore Avenue. He is a man who dedicated his life to bettering his community.
Born in Saskatchewan in 1921, Leonard moved to Vancouver when he was drafted into the army. After the war, Leonard became an active member of the Fountain Chapel, where he performed in dance groups, sang in the choir, and organized sports programs for Black youth. By the 1950s, Leonard had married, started a family and was working at a sawmill in False Creek.
It was during these years that Leonard became politicized when he was refused service in local restaurants. Those incidents moved Leonard to begin fighting prejudice and discrimination. In 1958, Leonard attended the first meeting of the British Columbia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. Leonard became one of the full time staff members of the Association.
Photo credit: Black Strathcona / Creative Cultural Collaboration Society 2014
Militant Mothers: Beating the Power Brokers
Strathcona
In 1970 the Raymur Housing Project was built to house low-income families. The children from Raymur went to Seymour Elementary School, two blocks to the east. A set of train tracks runs between them.
To get to school, the children had to cross the tracks and dodge trains. A group of mothers from Raymur, including Carolyn Jerome, asked the city and the rail company to build a pedestrian overpass. They got no response. They wrote letters, signed petitions, made speeches to City Hall. Still no response.
So January 6, 1971, the mothers turned militant. Carolyn Jerome and a group of 25 other mothers from Raymur decided to shut down the railroad. They went to the tracks, and they stood in the path of the oncoming trains, and they refused to move.
The mothers occupied the tracks two more times until finally the standoff went to court. In the end, the courts ruled in favour of Carolyn and the mothers. And that new school year, the overpass was built linking the Raymur Housing Project and Seymour Elementary School.
Photo credit: Black Strathcona / Creative Cultural Collaboration Society 2014
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Other Resources
Explore other resources on Black Strathcona culture and history:
- Black Strathcona – blackstrathcona.com
- Canadian Museum of History – Hogan’s Alley/Black Strathcona – historymuseum.ca
- Vancouver Mural Festival – The Black Strathcona Resurgence Project – vanmuralfest.ca