Historic Walking Tours of Jewish Strathcona and Gastown

This two hour tour offers insights into life in the heart of the early Jewish community in Vancouver.

In the 1880s and 1890s, the town of Granville quickly became the city of Vancouver following the arrival of the transcontinental railway. Jews participated in the city’s economic growth, political incorporation and cultural development. Jewish businesses opened in Gastown and a wave of Eastern European immigration from the 1890s to the 1920s made Strathcona the new centre of British Columbia’s Jewish population. In Strathcona, the Eastern European Jewish immigrants shared the Yiddish language, a religion, and concerns common to new immigrants in a foreign land. They soon established a synagogue, a mikvah (ritual bath), and cheder (Hebrew school) to meet their religious needs.

Strathcona was truly an immigrant neighbourhood. Along with their Chinese, Japanese, Norwegian, Italian, African, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Anglo-Saxon neighbours, Jewish children attended Strathcona Elementary School and Britannia High School. Jewish women bought their chickens in Chinatown.

“Whether you were Italian or Yugoslavian or Chinese or Jewish, your parents were all immigrants and there was such warmth in this neighbourhood, I cannot begin to tell you” – Gloria Steinburg Harris.

A tour guide from the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC will provide insight into the landmarks, architecture, events and evolution of Gastown and Strathcona districts, while sharing anecdotes of Jewish daily life in the area. The tour lasts 2 hours and is 2 kilometers in distance.