Granville Street

Granville Street is a major street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and part of Highway 99.

Granville Street runs generally north-south through the centre of Vancouver, passing through several neighbourhoods and commercial areas, differing appreciably in their land value and the wealth of their residents.

Granville runs northeast-southwest:

Then, Granville Street runs north-south:

Finally, Granville Street ends near the Fraser River at the approximate location of 72nd Ave., then merges with S.W. Marine Drive and continues southeasterly towards the Arthur Laing Bridge that leads to Richmond and Vancouver International Airport.

The community was known as "Gastown" (Gassy's Town) after its first citizen - Jack Deighton, known as "Gassy" Jack. "To gas" is period English slang for "to boast and to exaggerate". In 1870 the community was laid out as the "township of Granville" but everybody called it Gastown. The name Granville honours Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, who was British Secretary of State for the Colonies at the time of local settlement.

In 1886 it was incorporated as the city of Vancouver, named after Captain George Vancouver, who accompanied James Cook on his voyage to the West Coast and subsequently spent 2 years exploring and charting the West Coast.

During the 1950s, Granville Street attracted many tourists to one of the world's largest displays of neon signs. [1]

Towards the middle of the twentieth century, the Downtown portion of Granville Street had become a flourishing centre for entertainment, known for its cinemas (built along the "Theatre Row," from the Granville Bridge to where Granville Street intersects Robson Street), restaurants, clubs, the Vogue and Orpheum theatres, and, later, arcades, pizza parlours, pawn stores, pornography shops and strip clubs.

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