Picturing Hogan's Alley

It was a rare sunny day in Vancouver on Friday, so Wayde and I went down to take pictures of what used to be Hogan's Alley, down in Strathcona. It's a bit of an odd experience, taking pictures of something that no longer exists. Instead of photographing an inner city black neighbourhood, its street signs, restaurants, shops and houses, we had to imagine the community's layout and dimensions, then aim our cameras for that.



Here are two views of the Georgia Street Viaduct, built in 1972 as part of a proposed downtown freeway system to connect Highway 1 through Chinatown and Hogan's Alley to the waterfront.

Though the freeway was never built, the black-owned businesses and residences that made up Hogan's Alley were destroyed in the process.