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Vancouver Now & Then: Granville Island Brewing building in 1974 and 2020

Once upon a time, Granville Island was an oil-soaked shanty town full of decrepit warehouses
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The building that has housed Granville Island Brewing since the mid-1980s, as seen in 1974 and 2020

It wasn't long ago that Granville Island was nothing more than an oil-soaked shanty town full of decrepit warehouses hidden under the Granville Bridge.

I remember driving there in the early 1980s and getting stuck in the mud. Now it's one of the city's most popular destinations for both locals and tourists.

Many old buildings remain, like this one that has housed Granville Island Brewing since 1984, and there are some pretty exciting plans for the future of Granville Island.

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The building that has housed Granville Island Brewing since the mid-1980s, as seen in 1974 and 2020. Photos: John Bentley/Vancouver Now & Then and Vancouver Archives

John Bentley is an architectural photographer who has photographed the inside and outside of thousands of buildings around Vancouver. Using images from the Vancouver Archives he offers a glimpse of the past and present on his site Vancouver Now & Then