Tag: Downtown Eastside

The Cannabis Culture of the Downtown Eastside

At the intersection of West Hastings Street and Hamilton Street across the road from Victory Square, the New Amsterdam Café had a constant flow of patrons despite the ominous clouds forming overhead. The midday air was replete with the pungent scent of marijuana, overpowering the crisp smell of the impending rain. Surrounded by various cannabis-related shops, the café was the centre of activity.

The windows above the New Amsterdam Café and the establishment next door, called Cannabis Culture, each displayed a letter to spell out the demand to “Free Marc,” referring to Marc Emery, the marijuana activist currently in U.S. custody for selling marijuana seeds to buyers all over North America.

An orange neon sign overhead spelled out the café’s name and was coupled with a large cannabis leaf logo. Patrons sat around small, circular tables over coffee as their smoke rose overhead inside the establishment. They were seemingly unaware of the onlookers and pedestrians attempting to get a glance inside as they walked down West Hastings Street.

On the sidewalk just outside the café, a man leaned his torso over the day’s collection and grasped the chrome shopping cart as he leveraged his left foot against a thinner rod on the lower storage rack. He then gently lifted his trailing right foot off the ground as the cart quickened its pace down the sloped sidewalk. The wheels rattled and jumped on the rough concrete as the cart whirred past Cannabis Culture and the New Amsterdam Café.

The cart’s momentum and speed decreased as the ground progressively leveled out. The sidewalk then sloped upward, stopping the cart then forcing it to roll backwards. The man’s feet finally met the ground once again and he started to push as gravity pulled the cart in the reverse direction. He then continued up the sidewalk toward his destination.

The Sights and Sounds of Victory Square

Nestled amongst the urban sprawl, Victory Square served as a natural place to pause for Downtown Eastside residents at the corner of West Pender and Cambie Street. Aged historic buildings surrounded the compact green space on all sides. The scent of impending rain saturated the air. Residents and students went about their respective activities within the confines of the park.

Several elderly residents occupied the four benches along the Cambie Street side of the park. A middle-aged man wandered by the benches, scouring the area for cigarettes.  He picked up and examined various discarded cigarette boxes in an attempt to find an unused smoke. Walking past the elderly men, he made his way to the corner of Cambie Street and West Pender Street, turned around and returned to lay down in the circular sitting area just beyond the benches. The pungent smell of marijuana trailed the man as he made his way back to his resting place.

On the opposite side of the park adjacent to Hamilton Street, four college-aged twenty-somethings kicked around a hackey sack while three of their cohorts sat on the grass and chatted a few feet away. Two more joined in on their game after a few moments of watching.

At the north corner of the park towered a three-sided granite obelisk. The structure was inscribed with a tribute to the fallen soldiers of the past, saying, “Their name liveth for evermore,” “is it nothing to you” and “All ye that pass by.”

Another group of four young people met near the massive structure. Two young men wielded equipment and were filming another young man and a young woman seated on the steps surrounding the obelisk. The rain finally came and the group dispersed to protect their camera gear from the elements.

Suddenly the granite structure was dotted then soaked by the fallen raindrops. The remaining park goers then filtered out of the area.

Downtown Eastside: From Dusk to Darkness

The traffic signals cycle through the usual colours as some shuffle about on the sidewalks and others wander the street.  As the sun makes its nightly exit, the dynamic of the streets drastically changes. The world shifts from a placid gloom to a frightening, raucous nightlife.

Two police officers exchange disconcerting looks with passersby who don’t fit the usual caricature of a resident of the Downtown Eastside. The officers proceed to question bystanders moving past them and offer strong words of caution.

“I wouldn’t want your camera to be stolen. But more importantly, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt,” the officer said.

The warning from the police is hardly necessary as expletives and threats fly around the tense environment.

As the police question where I am from and what I am doing in the area, an escalated argument is heard and they rush off, but not before cautioning me once more about the neighborhood.  As the officers race toward the altercation, a car screeches to a halt a few feet away, barely missing an oblivious pedestrian who responded with a silent one-finger salute to the driver and continued diagonally across the intersection.

The incident did not phase the police as they continued toward the altercation. As they passed through the intersection, two elderly women of Asian decent sat on their lawn chairs on the sidewalk and offered colourful advice.

“**** you!” they said and then giggled.  It was unclear if it was at the police, the driver or the pedestrian.

As dusk crept away and darkness entered the streets, people rested on benches in a small park at the adjacent corner of the intersection and found the street lights to the area were all being shut off.  The park goers seemed undisturbed and undaunted by the sudden absence of electricity, but the question as to why the lights were extinguished was the first that leapt into my mind.

The scene just around the corner of Cambie Street presented a even more vivid example of striking economic disparity than the incidents I had just witnessed. The contrast between the decrepit inner city neighborhood plagued by drug addiction and homelessness offered a strange and disturbing juxtaposition to Cambie’s bustling restaurant district replete with fine dining and upper-middle class patrons.

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