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Hogan's Alley

Hogan's Alley on the east side of Vancouver was part of a larger black community in Vancouver’s historic Strathcona neighbourhood. The community’s origins are believed to date from 1915-1917 when two railway stations were built nearby. Many black porters who worked on the railways ventured into Strathcona during stopovers in Vancouver. Other residents of the neighbourhood worked as janitors in downtown Vancouver. In due course, some of the black pioneers opened nightclubs and restaurants. The first black church, Fountain Chapel American Methodist Episcopal, opened in 1918.

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Drawing of Hogan's Alley

Hogan’s Alley, bounded by Union Street to the north and Prior Street to the south and Park Lane to the west and Jackson Avenue to the east, was synonymous with Vancouver’s black community although it was only part of it.

Hogan's Alley became well-known for its distinctive culture, featuring blues musicians and chicken eateries. It was also associated with illegal gambling, drinking and prostitution. In the 1960s, the area was razed to make way for a modern development. Protesters managed to shut the project down but not before the block housing in Hogan’s Alley had been destroyed. In 1972 the Georgia Street Viaduct was built over the area.

Despite its unique and vibrant history, information on Hogan’s Alley is difficult to locate. At the Vancouver Public Library, resources can be found in Special Collections (Level 7), as well as in the main collection on other floors.

Note: Some older sources use the term “Negroes” to refer to black Canadians. This term therefore appears in the guide. It does not reflect current Canadian usage.

Secret Vancouver: Return to Hogan's Alley (Video)

Useful Websites

The ten video stories of Black Strathcona celebrate some of the people and places that made the community vibrant and unique.
Works to create an awareness of the history of Black pioneers in B.C. and stimulate interest in the study of the contributions of persons of African ancestry to B.C. and Canada.
Online exhibit as part of the AuthentiCity blog.
An article about Hogan's Alley from The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Memorializing Vancouver's historic black neighbourhood and the wider Vancouver black experience.
Society whose purpose is to daylight the lives of black people in Vancouver, to provide an avenue through which their voices can be heard both in the past and the present, and to articulate the collective desire to create home in the city. Includes Hogan's Alley Trust.
Includes information about Hogan's Alley and plans for a Black Community Centre in the area.

Digital Library Resources

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Culture and History Subject Icon

British Columbia city directories from 1860 to 1955. Directories include detailed historical information about British Columbian communities.

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Everywhere for everyone
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Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Digitized newspaper archives covering The Province (1898 - present), The Vancouver Sun (1912 - present) and The Times Colonist (1884 - present).

Issues from most recent 3 months not available in this collection. See Canadian Newsstream for current issues.

Access:
Everywhere for Vancouver residents
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Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Search and view community newspapers from around BC published between 1865 and 1994. This collection makes many of BC's earliest newspapers freely available in digital format

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Everywhere for everyone
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Finding tool for historical information about BC in books, magazines and newspapers in the Vancouver Public Library collection.

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A selection of historical images of Vancouver and British Columbia from the 1880s to the 1980s.

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Everywhere for everyone
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The Vancouver Public Library created This Vancouver to share the stories of Vancouverites and the history of Vancouver communities through images, audio clips, and videos. 

Access:
Everywhere for everyone

Recommended Titles

Remote Media URL
Cover Image for Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature
Wayde Compton
Call Number
c820.8 B658c
Publication Year
2001
An anthology of poems, stories, lyrics and oral recollections documenting the lives of black British Columbians from the mid-nineteenth century to the recent past. Includes oral histories of Hogan’s Alley residents originally published in Opening Doors (see below).
Call Number
971.1004 H71f
Publication Year
2004
Documents the previously unrecorded history of Vancouver's Black community between 1930 and the late 1960s. Examines the lives of three Black women: Thelma Gibson, a teacher of African-Caribbean dance, Pearl Brown, a well-known local jazz singer, and Leah Curtis, a lesbian in her mid-forties. Investigates the identities of these women, as well as the identities of a disappeared community.
Remote Media URL
Cover Image for My Son Jimi
James A. Hendrix
Call Number
781.57 H49h
Publication Year
1999
Rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix had strong connections with Vancouver, where his grandparents settled around 1911. His father’s recollections provide an intimate, personal account of life in Vancouver’s black community.
Cover Image for Neon Eulogy: Vancouver Cafe and Street
Keith McKellar
Call Number
741.67 M154n
Publication Year
2001
Illustrations and anecdotes chronicle the neon landmarks of Vancouver. “Vie’s Chicken and Steak House” (p. 83-85) tells the story of Viva and Robert Moore and the southern fried chicken eatery they opened in 1948.
Remote Media URL
Cover Image for Opening Doors in Vancouver's East End: Strathcona
Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter
Call Number
971.133 O61m1
Publication Year
2011
An oral history of East Vancouver, including recollections of Hogan’s Alley by Peter Batistoni, Nora Hendrix, Rosa Pryor, Leona Risby, Austin Philips and Dorothy Nealy.
Remote Media URL
Cover Image for Performance Bond
Wayde Compton
Call Number
c821 C73p
Publication Year
2004
A collection of poems by a black historian born and raised in Vancouver. Includes a lengthy piece about Hogan’s Alley entitled “Rune” (p. 111-156) incorporating a newspaper article, photographs of four landmarks and two transcribed interviews.
Cover Image for Street Names of Vancouver
Elizabeth Walker
Call Number
971.133 W17s
Publication Year
1999
Includes an entry for Hogan’s Alley (p. 56-57).

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

  • magazine and newspaper articles
  • pamphlets
  • books
  • chapters in books
  • many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.