Kitsilano
is bounded on the north by the waters of English Bay, on the South by
16th Ave, and by Alma and Burrard Streets on the west and east. Over the
last 150 years this land has evolved from dense forest to populated neighbourhoods.
Two things are for sure;
one, that Kitsilano is still as desirable, vital and magic a place as it ever has been, and two, that the transformation will continue.
Two things are for sure;
one, that Kitsilano is still as desirable, vital and magic a place as it ever has been, and two, that the transformation will continue.
Chief Khahtsalano
Kitsilano
For untold thousands of years this land was populated by First Nations people. They were wealthy people whose values focused on family, survival and art. The town of Snauq, populated by people of what is now called the Squamish Nation, was situated where the Planetarium is today. This dynamic, rich culture was slowly smothered by the new diseases and by the domineering economic values and underhanded ways of the British immigrants.
It was the timber that first attracted the newcomers to claim ownership. Fisheries were also built to haul in and profit from hundreds of thousands of salmon. On July 20, 1871, BC joined the confederation of Canada and at that time, Snauq was newly designated a reserve, and called Khahtsalano, after one of its famous chiefs. This English spelling of the First Nations name meaning "man of the lake", was again changed in 1905 by the CPR to Kitsilano. The population of British settlers grew as the railway and economy grew.
The Old Neighbourhood