Oh woe is me!
This is my neighbourhood above and below.
This is where I've always lived.
Beautiful Vancouver BC.
In the picture above, I've circled our house at the top, to the right of the tower on the left.
The large circle around the 3 towers shows what it will look like when the development is finished in 2017. The foremost tower closer to Kingsway will be 36 floors high.
The one behind it on the corner of Vanness and Boundary will be 33 floors high.
Sometimes I could sit down and cry. Our lovely view of Central Park will be blocked.
The hole for the towers was dug in the spring of 2013 and I've never seen such slow building. Two lanes of Boundary Road are constantly blocked and there is only one lane of traffic even in rush hour. It's just horrible but of course will be a thousand times worse once the towers are filled with people. The thing which irks me no end is that around 20 single family homes were torn down to make way for these towers. The site on which they are situated was once two quiet residential streets. Some of the houses were brand new. Yet the city calls this "progress". Yes, it really irks me!
I grew up a few blocks away on Euclid Street.
Our home faced the area where all the towers are now, which you see to the left of the new ones. In the late 1950's when my parents bought this little house, there was an apple orchard. A few months after they moved in, the trees were all taken out, and then just before my parents moved in 1963, the site was developed for warehouses, which remained until 1994, when they began to be torn down to make way for the towers. The whole area has changed so much, it's actually hair raising.
The above photo shows me and my Dad in the little Euclid house back yard.
It was on the corner of Tyne and Euclid. It was torn down recently and a huge monster house is in its place.
Me and my Mom in 1961, with the fairly undeveloped neighbourhood in the background.
Tyne Street is behind us. A low rise complex was built in the 1970s just behind, and now there are towers in the distance.
Me and my little cousin Melodie in 1962, at Euclid Ave.
Now a school field and Collingwood Neighbourhood School are across the street.
The front of our little house on Euclid St in 1961.
Helping my Dad in 1963. He built the fence along the front and later that year we moved to Monmouth Ave to be near Grenfell School. You can see the vacant area across Euclid St. The rest of the road hadn't been developed yet, and for nearly 30 years warehouses were here, and now around 8 towers are here, with the Skytrain in the distance where those houses are.
I believe Ruby Street is just ahead. I can't make out those blurred houses, but most are still standing.
I wish the picture was more clear.
I find it fascinating how residential neighbourhoods change. This area was once all bush and trees, and Kingsway was an Indian path. A hermit once lived in our area in a tree stump. And in 1911 the first library was in a house on Ruby Street just across from where we live.
This area has a lot of history and it is very interesting.
Loretta Houben
