To Build a Better City - 1964 City of Vancouver/CMHC film

[@cleanpowerelectric]

I grew up within the “blight” in the 60’s and not all homes were demolished thankfully, as the architecture is timeless craftsman. Our’s was a modest 1923 house that my mother stills owns. It hasn’t changed a bit, but the value has grown from $19k (1961) to $3m today. So ironic.

[@garysmith76]

I grew up in Skeena Project 1968 -80. They don't build houses/co-ops or subsidised housing like that anymore. Despite the rep of low income housing it was a good place to live and a diverse group of families and backgrounds. I have great memories of my youth living there.

[@michaelkennedy4444]

Gary Smith I used to live a block from Skeena Terrace , many of my friends lived there. The Marslands, Rick West, Dynneson brothers etc.

[@GorgonLinguini]

They're probably mega million dollar homes by now.

[@benjaminfranklin4760]

@@michaelkennedy4444 Rick have a brother ? Don?

[@michaelkennedy4444]

@@benjaminfranklin4760 The only Rick I can recall was Ricky West. Used to play ball hockey with him and Harold Marsland up at Begbie now Thunderbird.

[@benjaminfranklin4760]

@@michaelkennedy4444 Rick ever live down on Kaslo and 12th Ave/grand view highway in the co-op?

[@owenbradshaw1710]

i love watching these old vancouver videos

[@owenbradshaw1710]

i wish it was still so nice

[@HamletsMill25920]

Same here bro

[@barfbaby]

Wow the BLIGHT of then is like paradise to what the DTES is now... !

[@r.crompton2286]

The narrator's smooth, cultured accent is great to hear again. That's the way most of the well-educated Canadians sounded in the 50's and 60's. Canadianbroadcasters like Bob Oxley, Alan Maitland and Michael Enright spoke withthat intonation but today it has virtually disappeared.

[@hoogreg]

Part of the difference is that a lot of the people we see on TV today are just younger. That's what we get from comparing ourselves to the US - "you have to be young & good looking otherwise you'll never make it." And they wear too much makeup, dammit! ;-)

[@mryellow864]

Very informative watching Vancouver deal with a different kind of housing crisis 60 years ago.

[@adacom1000]

I am so happy this never became too big.

[@jackadullboy880]

+Flexron Corp What do you mean? this video or the housing projects?

[@michaelkennedy4444]

Skeena Terrace was built a block from our home. Many of my friends lived there. We all went to Sir Matthew Begbie Annex now called Thunderbird.

[@QBRX]

After leaving home in 1970, I moved into one of those blighted houses. When you're 18 and you can get a rental for half the going rate, you're happy to do so.

[@TheWolfsnack]

Yup....I still remember the East side "Landlord Green" paint....

[@GulfIslandRock]

I moved away In late 1968 to Lulu island

[@BobbieBees]

Well, at least the film makers didn't recommend sending the inhabitants of the blight to a penal colony for being poor and burning the blight to the ground. Although, from the tone of the narration I think that idea must have been kicked around at city hall a few times.

[@TheWolfsnack]

...attempted by Bill Bennett back in the 70's....he tried to relocate Lower East Side poor to an old agricultural colony on the highway above Ashcroft near Cache Creek.....which in Winter is barren, windswept and very very cold.....needless to say, it failed at the first Winter.

[@michaelkennedy4444]

At 4:46 the car travels through Active Trading a scrap yard where my grandfather worked as the crane operator that put the scrap in the big hydraulic compactor. It’s right at Glen Dr below Hastings . It’s been closed for years now and is closed in by a fence due to the toxicity in that area .

[@stuwenschlag]

13:21 This building is 714 Jackson Ave.

[@Tschennnnie]

I don't think I've heard the word blight before today. And now I've heard it approximately 500 times.

[@adanactnomew7085]

Haha same

[@SilverBullet93GT]

looks like this blight put them in a plight

[@xboxrules8472]

You've never played Dark Souls or you'd be very familiar with the term.

[@ricktalbot8676]

sounds like the blight is about to cause a fight... .

[@SilverBullet93GT]

@@ricktalbot8676 blight! blight! blight!

[@humblewoodcutter2754]

I just struck up s conversation, with a random stranger the other day. Turned out to be Clyde Herrington's grandson! Gotta love Vancouver!

[@BCHistory]

Well that is cool

[@neilsimpson1061]

For everyone's information, after these two developments were completed, nothing else happened. Most of those old houses are still there today and being restored. Strathcona is a thriving community well worth visiting for those who want to see a bit of Vancouver's history. While the overall plan was misguided, wouldn't it be wonderful if someone would step in today and build low cost housing for the people of Vancouver today? As most of us can't afford to buy, we will need low-cost rental units if we expect non-professionals to continue living in the city. And high cost of housing aside, Vancouver is a fantastic place to live. I have lived here for 50 years and it is more dynamic and exciting than ever before. Vancouver was a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere then. It has changed, and for most it has been for the better.

[@subsWithnotonevideo]

NeilandDonalyn Simpson it’s a underdeveloped shit hole

[@TheWolfsnack]

...Yup...after looking at the date I realized this was a year before the Raymur Project was built...and that was the last attempt to do much of anything but let the area decay.

[@mendoza4789]

absolutely not for the better

[@VinylToVideo]

Am I the only one who wishes those neighborhoods weren't just completely obliterated and rebuilt? Surely not all of those buildings had to come down! This city has such little history because of actions like this and is today a concrete sea and full of bicycle nuts thanks to planers such as the ones shown in this video. What were those new buildings are now dilapidated BC housing dwellings which hasn't really succeeded in making Vancouver a better city. Thankfully some of those turn of the century houses still exist in what I consider one of the most beautiful and historical, even if one of the poorer neighborhoods in the city. Some were unfortunately replaced with "Vancouver specials" or highrises rather than being maintained. Perhaps a better plan would have been for the governments to provide for needed upgrades to the houses with rebates such as the ones that exist today rather than committing to having to perpetually maintain the BC housing buildings that were put up thanks to this plan; I think that would have been much cheaper, especially back then. It also would have created work and stimulated the economy.

[@PitLover1523]

Lol they would have to go someday. Nothing lasts forever.

[@guanyu5091]

VinylToVideo I feel the same way it's fucking depressing

[@HalfLifeAMD]

today all those homes would be worth just over a million each today...awesome vid btw! thanks.

[@oz_medias]

No, the homes would be worth nothing these days. The land they occupied is worth millions.

[@BCHistory]

Yeah! This video broke 10,000 views

[@canman5060]

the older it is the more viewers you'll get.

[@FMHammyJ]

Slower pace then.....it's the pace of Hong Kong now......

[@oz_medias]

Hong Kong? My god, we are a gazillion miles away from the pace of Hong Kong.

[@jokesonyou9249]

the music just reminds me of the Bugs Bunny cartoons

[@canman5060]

They couldn't have imagine that over 50 years later that area is full of addicts and crime.

[@visaman]

There were even more addicts and crime back then. That's why they called it a "blight.

[@TheWolfsnack]

@@visaman An interesting tidbit I heard from some old hypes in E Vancouver back in the 80's. (former social worker here)...there were a few guys who had formerly been longshoremen on the docks....in the late 40's and 50's...at the time heroin was plentiful, high quality and cheap....like, less than a case of beer cheap. These guys could maintain a habit, often they used to deal with the pain of a day's hard labour, and could still work, have families, own a home....then the beginnings of the original war on drugs came into full force in the late 50's and the Vancouver cops went after these guys....they were no longer able to work and resorted to crime or dealing to survive. Unintended consequences....and often worse than the moral outrage the purists want to eliminate. I wish now that I had the foresight to record some of them, as they pretty much are all gone now.

[@barfbaby]

Obviously you've never been in that area . @@visaman

[@cherylchaisson1391]

These houses were in pretty bad shape even for 1964; but as mentioned they were built post war. So was my grandmother's houses as well as many other homes in Vancouver areas. Grandma owned two houses side by side in the city that are still standing; they were built in 1913. The last buyer of the one house my grandmother owned took great pride in renovating the now heritage home into its 1913 state I would suppose. But a separate buyer bought the second home and made them into suites; he is considered a slum lord. My sister and I went to visit the homes and the house that we were raised in was unfortunately the house that the slum lord let go terribly; We had the privilege of talking to one of the tenants who allowed us to view some of the house. Very sad that this land lord let this once beautiful home get so run down. Probably charging these poor tenants high rent. But anyways there are still awesome homes in areas of Vancouver that still stand beautifully. We look at them when we visit Vancouver. Thank you B.C. History for the awesome history you share with us.

[@dale9724]

Cheryl Chaisson :

[@stevethrendyle8406]

Bet that Chinese Canadian kid studying at the table is a doctor now...and owns a real nice West Side house with a beautiful suite for mom and dad.

[@TheWolfsnack]

True....but most were post WW1....and to service industrial employees...like the wooden tenements that used to be off Oak and 5th...a short walk away from the sawmills, cooperage plant and the fishing boat docks...all on Granville Island...

[@TheWolfsnack]

@@stevethrendyle8406 True.....less likely to be hanging with ahh....."group of young men with alternative wealth generation options"....

[@KenPool]

Thank you for posting. BTW. I think there's some wayward image stabilization going on in the video... it's trying to stabilize elements that are moving in the video not any shake of the camera. Perhaps it's the KZbin image stabilization at work.

[@wilsonofcanada]

The redevelopment plan sounds like a Simcity idea.

[@julieerin115]

they should have preserved those old houses---they would have been heritage homes by now

[@jimervin387]

Anyone who downgrades old houses could be a real estate agent. And they love population growth, no matter how few square feet you have to live in.

[@jimervin387]

Quite right, VinylToVideo. Give the people rebates on the cost of home repairs so you could have a home that you could take some pride in. Tearing everything down and replacing it with a new housing complex is just more warehousing of people in dumps that they care nothing about. And it always shows.

[@EvolvedDaddy64]

I was born at VGH in 64.

[@kylewhiting4833]

The replacement of the old buildings/neighbourhoods "Blighted areas", have already been transformed to concrete and steel. The market took over from the planners, and completed the job. Funny thing is that market pressure changes will not be viewed as a draconian, outdated ideology.

[@mendoza4789]

doesnt sound funny to me

[@MrGrdnrmn]

…”knowing that to build a better city requires only the industry and ingenuity of man”…

[@hbekdanon2749]

"...today the industry and ingenuity of man..." *proceeds to pan over a row of Vancouver specials*

[@BCHistory]

Lol! A different time, society had no idea how complex things were

[@lm9991]

2 things the city did extraordinarily well - they built social housing in small developments all most all over the city rather than creating ghettos like Toronto did. And they built the streets around the view so one could walk a city street and crossing the road would encounter a view. Sadly, we seem to be deciding to build those ghettos now. Those people would be so sad to see Vancouver now.

[@smokeymacpot76]

and how is that working out down there in Chindia?

[@marvinm.messier1120]

Man, that place got squandered!

[@babybunnies]

I wish Vancouver never changed from when it was like in 1964. Now Vancouver is a mess with overpopulation of immigration and high costs of housing and employment issues. Expo 86 and 2010 Winter Olympics should of never happened! Vancouver would of been a hidden gem still and people would of felt the old community feeling, knowing their neighbors. Life was more innocent and simple back in those days. I was born and still live in Vancouver since mid 70's. My parents are from BC and Saskatchewan. The population in Vancouver in mid 70's was at same population from previous years and no major growth. I wish the city was the old way it was back in those days. Sad.

[@johnooost]

BB Agreed man. Indeed sad.

[@nvanguy6868]

Lar M whites built the roads and ground you walk on ya ungrateful racist dipshit

[@stevehughes2133]

Yep, we invited the world and they never left!

[@melissajohnson7750]

And its happening again!!!

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Ah the sixties, when governments actually cared about low income people...

[@daveerickson9524]

Increase the population 10 fold. That will make everything 10x better.

[@tylero8595]

50 years later and this area of Vancouver is still the worst area.

[@canman5060]

Till Communist China come to buy you all up till your realize.

[@shelaghmckenna2496]

Two areas of 'blight' were attacked. South False Creek turned out beautifully. Strathcona resisted the loss of old wooden homes and the neighbourhood still has big problems. A few lucky people live in the fixed up classic homes still, very nice, but the neighbourhood failed until more aggressive building occurred starting in the 1990s.

[@gardenburger]

where is that development in the city?

[@VinylToVideo]

+wade gibson I don't believe the plan was fully implemented as new councils and mayors likely came into power before it could be fully realized, and thank goodness. Some of the BC housing buildings just east of Chinatown are the ones mentioned in this video.

[@momsterous]

+wade gibson Strathcona. Those buildings are now themselves considered a blight.

[@BCHistory]

+momsterous This post war idea of housing the poor in tall concrete towers was one the dumber ideas out there

[@HintonburgRep]

by busters towing .. by 1st and main

[@canman5060]

In the now full of high rise condos.

[@jg2730]

Pre bike lanes and all that laundered China money

[@GulfIslandRock]

I was born at the Grace Hospital in 1964

[@Thetruthhurts708]

How many times can you say "blighted" in 14 minutes.

[@FirstLastOne]

Not as many times as you'll hear the word 'sustainable' uttered in the PA system while walking through an IKEA store in late 2020 and early 2021. This coupled with the fact that Vancouver is allowing new construction of condos with 1 bedroom units having less than 530sq feet and 2 bedroom units having less than 680sq feet. It seems that after 56 years, they didn't learn a single thing except to build more bike lanes.

[@FirstLastOne]

And to think they could have spent all that money on more bike lanes to make the TB simply vanish with more exercise.

[@markstevens1729]

Not quite “Leave It To Beaver,” but so… decided long ago.

[@Ziebenator63-jj9ej]

"Property values fall". Ahhh yeah right!

[@cornstar1253]

2023 and it's a dump.

[@bradjames6748]

That's the old CHQM announcer

[@ЛевоПравыйЦентроРадикал]

1:11

[@MrGrdnrmn]

Why doesn’t the city council watch this.

[@BCHistory]

Towards what end?

[@jimervin387]

Daniel. Maybe you didn't read my comments but as I said, I was here 50 plus years ago and I obviously have a much better idea of what Vancouver was like than you do. If your information comes only from that 1964 City of Vancouver promo, then you've got to be pretty gullible. That video doesn't show the complete picture by any means. But you don't have much credibility to me or are worthy of my time anyhow if you don't have the courage to state your full name, as I did. The same goes for that Nima whoever or whatever.

[@HintonburgRep]

you wouldnt know how to use the internet if you were there 50 years ago...lol

[@Pocowires]

@@HintonburgRep Really? I lived here 50 year ago and am an IT guy, Remember, we were around when the first PC's were introduced. And we built them ourselves. All you guy's know how to do is use social media. When your device has problems, off to the service dept you go.

[@WestCoastWheelman]

Does that old dude at 4:34 have a Hitler moustache? Classy fella...

[@glen6945]

great humans live in vancouver

[@jwilkinson341]

Made it worse nobody can afford the super high rents, people living on the streets

[@ricktalbot8676]

Blight blight blight = it ain't right right right

[@georgeosprey3786]

He said property values fall ! LOL

[@oz_medias]

Adjacent property values fall, which is still true today, despite the ridiculous cost of housing. Cost is determined by neighbourhood value, just as it is everywhere else in the world.

[@jimervin387]

Wrong assumption, Hinto.

[@CancorseTV1]

My how times have changed, "notice in Cantonese", it'd be in Mandarin now. Cantonese is practically a dying language at this point :(.

[@hvktt9921]

Cantonese and mandarin use the same characters. They can communicate through writing, but not through oral language.

[@therealjoebobsicle]

Cantonese is not a written language so that made me laugh. It should have been “a notice in Chinese”.

[@larryjung2031]

Vancouver has a rich British and Christian heritage not so much now but it's forming years was much so !.

[@mendoza4789]

and was a much better place back then

[@MrDambob]

the narrarator is dead......

[@cherylchaisson1391]

bob damri That's why he sounds like that.

[@jtom68]

Nice propaganda film about kicking out poor people from their homes and neighbourhoods

[@bradjames6748]

The west end was pretty bad aswell

[@gooddeal3186]

Its kind of depressing watching these videos because of what the world has become.

[@BCHistory]

I would disagree, I watich them and I can see how so many things have improved

[@mendoza4789]

@@BCHistory improved for who. rich baby boomer asset owners and their inheritors. selfish pr8cks

[@TheWolfsnack]

Well...they at least succeeded in ruining Vancouver, making it..ugly, unaffordable, and unliveable....and I grew up there at that time...

[@smokeymacpot76]

looks like a sheethole to me

[@user-cc5od3zk4p]

Vancouver has fallen so far.

[@HintonburgRep]

That area is shitty again .. lol looks worse

[@GateKeeper36]

Peaceful but boring

[@4746shshsh]

Why is it just east van strathcona area and science world Olympic villages the decayed area tf?

[@BCHistory]

that is a long and complex answer. It was one of the oldest neighbourhoods and it was by far the cheapest but those are only some of the factors

[@4746shshsh]

Colonialism remnants and blight is DTES lmfao