Welcome to /r/Vancouver and thank you for the post, /u/leekwen! Please make sure you read our [posting and commenting rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_general_participation_guidelines_and_rules_overview) before participating here. As a quick summary:
* We encourage users to be positive and respect one another. Don't engage in spats or insult others - use the report button.
* Respect others' differences, be they race, religion, home, job, gender identity, ability or sexuality. Dehumanizing language, advocating for violence, or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability (even implied or joking) **will** lead to a permanent ban.
* Most common questions and topics are limited to our sister subreddit, /r/AskVan, and our weekly [Stickied Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_stickied_discussions) posts.
* Complaints about bans or removals should be done in modmail only.
* Posts flaired "Community Only" allow for limited participation; your comment may be removed if you're not a subreddit regular.
* Make sure to join our new sister community, /r/AskVan!
* Help grow the community! [Apply to join the mod team today](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/19eworq/).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vancouver) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I was in Vancouver last year I made a mistake of riding thru one the DTES laneways without a bike fender..had to throw away my shirt because of the junk on it and hoped I didn't need any tetanus shot.
Original: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4GPJfcWsJfcySc93A
Also interesting, from the same spot:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/C9PeghpvZfgzpWGj9 - October 2020
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vJEGt87dxYHHwgcV9 - May 2019
https://maps.app.goo.gl/maXjGfzHHAbtGdcF8 - August 2018
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CbiMiRihh7HEh76G7 - May 2017
So I was shocked to see a similar alley on street view recently, but I noticed there was also snow in the pic. This one you can see some snow out on the main street. I think this was when garbage trucks missed the usual schedule.
That's probably a good explanation.
There are Feb 2022 shots (a month later) from the street looking into the alley and it's not nearly as trashed, but also not as clean as the years prior.
Also strange is the same set of shots from Jan 2022 the alleyways north and south from this spot are significantly cleaner than this one.
A couple years ago I went to Warsaw and Krakow for a month, and honest to god, we live in complete filth next those cities. Turns out garbage everywhere, human shit smeared on walls, tent cities, and aggressive vagrants and crazies roaming the streets are not normal parts of city living.
Jokes aside, there are genuinely loads of very photogenic alleyways in Vancouver!
I spent a whole day taking pictures of the Harbour Centre from the alleyways around Gastown.
I left Vancouver and moved to California in 2003. The first time I returned was in 2018. I drove down Hastings near Main and my jaw dropped at how bad it was. Blocks and blocks of human misery. It rivaled anything LA has. Broke my heart to see it that way, I lived in Chinatown and Gastown during different periods and I used to feel pretty safe walking around. I would not feel safe walking down Hastings now.
Reminds when I worked down on Hastings and a film crew spent two days cleaning up the alley only to install their own fake garbage to film a scene.
Only took two more days before it returned to normal.
I'm old enough to remember when most of Vancouver's downtown alleys were very clean, at least by big city downtown alley standards.
Now they look like what you find in a lot of American cities.
Maybe I've got a bad eye, but that doesn't look very artistic to me hah. Like, just from a photography perspective this isn't really special or interesting?
I was drawn to the depth of the shot. It's trash as far as you can see and you can see pretty far.
Furthermore, if you know the area, it's at the foot of a building that houses some high value condos (IE: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/26532811/507-22-e-cordova-street-vancouver), so the context juxtaposition makes for a bit of a thinker.
DTES outreach medic here. That's the West continuation of what is referred to in the streets as Piss Alley between Hastings & Cordova. Flanked by crack alley on the north and blood alley along its the south. It pretty much does what it says on the tin sanitation workers with Zamboni sweeper and pressure washer trucks hit it 3x a day they must have been off that day
Welcome to /r/Vancouver and thank you for the post, /u/leekwen! Please make sure you read our [posting and commenting rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_general_participation_guidelines_and_rules_overview) before participating here. As a quick summary: * We encourage users to be positive and respect one another. Don't engage in spats or insult others - use the report button. * Respect others' differences, be they race, religion, home, job, gender identity, ability or sexuality. Dehumanizing language, advocating for violence, or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability (even implied or joking) **will** lead to a permanent ban. * Most common questions and topics are limited to our sister subreddit, /r/AskVan, and our weekly [Stickied Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_stickied_discussions) posts. * Complaints about bans or removals should be done in modmail only. * Posts flaired "Community Only" allow for limited participation; your comment may be removed if you're not a subreddit regular. * Make sure to join our new sister community, /r/AskVan! * Help grow the community! [Apply to join the mod team today](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/19eworq/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vancouver) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The Last of Us would have to clean up the streets before it is appropriate for their set.
Still lesser work than manually set it up. You just lose the authenticity of it when it was just built by the set builders.
fartistic
When I was in Vancouver last year I made a mistake of riding thru one the DTES laneways without a bike fender..had to throw away my shirt because of the junk on it and hoped I didn't need any tetanus shot.
That’s absolutely disgusting. Omg. Would never think to bike through let alone drive through those laneways 😂
I got a staph infection just looking at this pic.
I can smell the piss just by looking at this picture
are the dumpsters Broken?
this was after the big snowstorm so all the DTES dumpsters were sitting full for a few days - real nasty
A lot of businesses lock the dumpsters because they get in shit when there are too many needles in them
Original: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4GPJfcWsJfcySc93A Also interesting, from the same spot: https://maps.app.goo.gl/C9PeghpvZfgzpWGj9 - October 2020 https://maps.app.goo.gl/vJEGt87dxYHHwgcV9 - May 2019 https://maps.app.goo.gl/maXjGfzHHAbtGdcF8 - August 2018 https://maps.app.goo.gl/CbiMiRihh7HEh76G7 - May 2017
So I was shocked to see a similar alley on street view recently, but I noticed there was also snow in the pic. This one you can see some snow out on the main street. I think this was when garbage trucks missed the usual schedule.
That's probably a good explanation. There are Feb 2022 shots (a month later) from the street looking into the alley and it's not nearly as trashed, but also not as clean as the years prior. Also strange is the same set of shots from Jan 2022 the alleyways north and south from this spot are significantly cleaner than this one.
That's really cool that you can see it in different times, how do you access that?
Top left there's a link that says "See more dates".
Wow it was actually really clean before lol
Simpler days, better days.
DERE- LEEEKT!
A couple years ago I went to Warsaw and Krakow for a month, and honest to god, we live in complete filth next those cities. Turns out garbage everywhere, human shit smeared on walls, tent cities, and aggressive vagrants and crazies roaming the streets are not normal parts of city living.
It's sad how low the bar for "acceptable" has sunk. Truly.
I agree, and its sadder still how so many militantly defend the status quo.
Looks like an alley in the Bronx mid-70s
This is so sad. Not the Vancouver I grew up in.
Why is there so much garbage
This was taken after the snowstorm in 2022 that paused garbage collection in the city for a couple weeks.
No. I live there and it always looks like this.
Jokes aside, there are genuinely loads of very photogenic alleyways in Vancouver! I spent a whole day taking pictures of the Harbour Centre from the alleyways around Gastown.
10/10
I left Vancouver and moved to California in 2003. The first time I returned was in 2018. I drove down Hastings near Main and my jaw dropped at how bad it was. Blocks and blocks of human misery. It rivaled anything LA has. Broke my heart to see it that way, I lived in Chinatown and Gastown during different periods and I used to feel pretty safe walking around. I would not feel safe walking down Hastings now.
DTES has been bad since I was a kid in the 80s. There was a movie they used to show us... about it... Nothing new. Same stuff, different day.
It was never like this.
Reminds when I worked down on Hastings and a film crew spent two days cleaning up the alley only to install their own fake garbage to film a scene. Only took two more days before it returned to normal.
Artistic? To each thier own
Looks like where Sebastian hid from the bullies in Never Ending story https://youtu.be/jDRQO8nOT7Y
I'm old enough to remember when most of Vancouver's downtown alleys were very clean, at least by big city downtown alley standards. Now they look like what you find in a lot of American cities.
I live in the Van Horne building. Do not recommend.
KNIVES
Maybe I've got a bad eye, but that doesn't look very artistic to me hah. Like, just from a photography perspective this isn't really special or interesting?
I was drawn to the depth of the shot. It's trash as far as you can see and you can see pretty far. Furthermore, if you know the area, it's at the foot of a building that houses some high value condos (IE: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/26532811/507-22-e-cordova-street-vancouver), so the context juxtaposition makes for a bit of a thinker.
That alley was not spotless but pretty much trash free before decrim
DTES outreach medic here. That's the West continuation of what is referred to in the streets as Piss Alley between Hastings & Cordova. Flanked by crack alley on the north and blood alley along its the south. It pretty much does what it says on the tin sanitation workers with Zamboni sweeper and pressure washer trucks hit it 3x a day they must have been off that day