Here's what I remember growing up in Chinatown in the early 80's...
There used to be a park with a pagoda and all, at Gore and Union. Now it's an open space. They had to remove the pagoda thingy cuz there where too many drunks hanging out there. Junkies weren't a problem at that time. Prostitutes would be hanging out along Gore between Union and Georgia. Woodwards 6th floor was the where the toy department was located..loved it. There was also a $1.49 day and you could pick up food (located in the basement) for cheap. There was also a Wools Worth west of Woodwards on Hastings and a Fields across from Army & Navy. Used to buy hotdogs at Army and Navy for something like twenty cents.
There used to be an archade on Georgia across from Phnom Penh that also sold Vietnamese sandwiches. A gas station/automotive repair shop was located on the corner of Georgia and Gore. False Creek was a polluted industrial sh_t hole before Expo. There was at least two Chinese theatres along Hastings.
Strathcona luch program was awesome...Mondays were hotdogs, Wednesdays were hamburgers, Fridays were pizza, and Tuesdays & Thursdays were wild cards (some where along those lines). You could have lunch for about $1. Because we were inner city, we got free passes to the circus, ice capades and PNE.
That's it for now.
