Qa
The “W’ stands for wit

  

Knowlton Thomas

 

 

 

Woodward’s second

department store was
constructed. The store, called
Woodward’s, was a crowning
achievement for Vancouver’s
Downtown Eastside. It was the
capstone to the district, which
was, at the time, the heart of
Vancouver’s retail shopping
scene. The giant “W,” which
sat proudly atop a building that
took up two-thirds of the city
block, became an icon. Its bold
silhouette was a distinctive
landmark, easily distinguishable
along the city’s skyline.

90 years later, Woodward’s
finances collapsed and
bankruptcy ensued. The building
was abandoned. It was a ghostly
construct for year, after year,
after year. Alone, peerless, and
largely unwanted, it remained

I: was in 1903 that Charles

famous building was thoroughly
demolished in 2006. But in its
place has arisen a newer, fiercer
beast. Loosely replicating the
style of its original construction,
the modern Woodward’s now
boasts more than 700 housing
units, food and drug stores, a
bank and civil offices, a day
care and public atrium, and even
an extension to Simon Fraser
University’s downtown campus.
And, perhaps most importantly,
the iconic “W” has been restored
and placed upon the new
building like a crown.

As much as the “W” may
stand for the late Charles’ last
name, nowadays it carries a new
meaning: “Win.” The building’s
restoration is a meaningful
victory on many levels. Aside
from replenishing long-lost
staples within the district—like

It observed the transition from a high-end heart of the city
to a drug, sex, and crime-ridden mound of dirt that the rest
of Vancouver wished it could sweep under the rug and
forget about. Woodward’s was in the eye of this looming
oblivion.

vacant for nearly a decade. It
witnessed the Eastside’s demise.
It had watched the district’s
enviable retail fame disintegrate
in the 1980s. Then, powerless,
it observed the transition from
a high-end heart of the city to
a drug, sex, and crime-ridden
mound of dirt that the rest of
Vancouver wished it could
sweep under the rug and forget
about. Woodward’s was in the
eye of this looming oblivion.

But the “W” does not fall so
easily.

Or perhaps it does, in
a literal sense at least. A
redevelopment process was
initiated in the early 2000s and to
the shock and horror of some—
and ecstasy of others—the

a simple, safe food store, for
example—it also rekindles the
city’s ambition to restore the
entire area, and diminish the
plaguing flaws it has suffered for
the past three decades. What has
become infamously known as
“Canada’s poorest postal code”
may just find its past glory. What
is now the best place to shop
for sex may one day return to
being the best place to shop for
clothes and furniture. What is
the Downtown Eastside today
may be the Woodward’s District
tomorrow.

It’s all progress, one win at
a time.