All in, that was about 9.5 hours from the Fraser river in New Westminster to the Burrard Inlet at Gastown.

That includes a few breaks, a bowl of pho, and a slower walking pace conducive to scribbling notes and taking pictures. I'm guessing it was about 20 km, plus or minus.

A few more steps and I am at Maple Tree Square, in the vicinity of Luk'Luk'I, and in the heart of the early colonial settlement of Gastown, later Granville, and, later still, Vancouver. My walk is over!

I carry on Pender Street and Chinatown and then across Hastings. No photos here, but lots of people out and about in front of the Carnegie Centre. I Follow Main St. to Alexander.

Tosi's Market - a fixture in the area for almost 100 years - is now closed.

Longtime owner Angelo Tosi died last month. (Article: vancouversun.com/news/chinato...)

The viaducts. And a rather poor photo of the Hogan's Alley area.

I've lost my lovely golden hour light!

Thornton Park now. I take a detour into the park to visit the December 6 memorial.

Cool little plaza at 3rd, which I think the folks at #EthosLab are helping to steward.

The original Indigenous trail/wagon road carried north roughly along what is now Main Street... so I too will keep going.

Just on the other side of the road, a new park is going in. I'm very curious to see what this will look like when it's done - as it's going to shape one of the more interesting intersections along the street.

At the very top of the street, addressed #1 Kingsway, is the Mt. Pleasant Community Centre.

And a couple of transportation thrmee images to showcase the history of the Main/7th/Kingsway intersection. The first a wintery scene from 1890, the 2nd from 1939 showing the old Kingsway streetcar (by John Koschwanez).

The Kingsway cairn, just south of the community centre.

And another comparison...

All of a sudden I'm on the last couple of blocks of Kingsway!

Let's not forget the recently-dismantled Mt. Pleasant bus stop at the NW corner:

(Photo via Vancouver is Awesome. Article: www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/u...)

And on the other side of the road, Kingsgate Mall - which just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It's the site of one of the city's first schools.

The Rise. This building caused a lot of ruckus when it went to public hearing. Several I think several hundred people signed up to speak at the rezoning. Height was the main issue.

Kingsway, by virtue of the way it interfaces with the rest of the street grid, also has a lot of these sorts of orphaned spaces. (Some engineers I know call them "pork chops").

There are a lot of little placemaking opportunities here as well - especially around transit stops.

Also a great opportunity for cultural place making given the link to Little Saigon and the Vietnamese community

Meanwhile, on the other side of Kingsway, some more opportunities around McAuley Park. The @vpsn.bsky.social did some work with city studio here a few years ago - installing temporary seating, and a few other features. A refresh would be good.

This slip street at Fraser seems like something that could be closed to cars with a nice bit of placemaking. The intersection of Fraser and Kingsway has a lot of opportunity!

Sometimes those need old buildings *became* the commercial fabric of the street. (As in the case of the Vape Shop).

A neat old structure, talked into the commercial fabric of the street.

Sorry - that should say Sonny Assu. Auto correct got the better of me.

There are a lot of hidden culinary gems on #Kingsway. They span the globe! You could spend a lot of time exploring the menus in these places.

The former site of the Cedar Cottage Pub - a spot I would occasionally frequent. I keep hearing rumours that the pub is going to move back in!

I like the little seating area that they have installed .

Before the development of Kingsway Village, this was the site of a Safeway. A lengthy planning process set out directions for the area around the intersection. The new building, incorporated retail, residential, the library and childcare... and gargoyles!

Some of the blocks on Kingsway are fairly long. To support walkability, some of the new redevelopment have incorporated a pedestrian mews, or pathway.

You can find several long-standing businesses on Kingsway. This vacuum cleaner repair shop has been open since 1948. If you ever get a chance, take a look inside! Not only do they fix them extremely well, but they have a veritable museum of older vacuums on display.

Also on the 2200-block, this Dollarama. More interestingly: the former site of the Gladstone Hotel. Like the Pig & Whistle, this was a long standing hotel and tavern.

Images from 1898, 1909 and today.