How many times have you wondered how much of what's on a present-day Vancouver block has been there for decades? Or just wanted to get a better sense of what has changed, and what managed to remain in place?
New, left, and old, right, split right down the middle (Screenshot)
Vancouver photographer Norman Fox has posted online an incredible interactive photo that compares the north side of the 500 block of East Hastings Street (at Princess Avenue) today with an image from several decades ago during the annual PNE Parade.
Fox aligned the images perfectly, and you can toggle back and forth to reveal more of less of either image to get a fuller sense of what was captured on this webpage. The parade-watchers from yesteryear, however, remain a constant in the image.
The full vintage image (Screenshot)
The PNE Parade kicked off the summertime event from 1935 to 1995; you can read more about it from the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, who also share the vintage image Fox used for his contemporary photo mash-up.
So what's changed on this block of East Hastings? It's a bit like playing those "compare the images" game in kids' activity books, though perhaps the variations are more glaring. What's the same are the trolley wires and light standards, and the tall, narrow building, as well as most buildings on the block, though what's now the Tungkoon Benevolent Canada Association is in the place of a much older structure.
The present-day block, with an overlay of the PNE Parade-watchers (Screenshot)
There are plenty of other differences to spot, too--have fun seeing how many things you can find.
