Hastings-Sunrise

Hastings-Sunrise is best known as the home of the Pacific National Exhibition, at Hastings Park. The area is mainly residential, with shops and services along Hastings Street’s East Village and in pockets along other major streets. Hastings-Sunrise is an ethnically diverse and working-class area that also attracts young professionals. On its north slope, Hastings-Sunrise has impressive views across Burrard Inlet and the mountains, while to the east it borders the City of Burnaby, at Boundary Road.

Hastings–Sunrise is the northern half of a block of land ear-marked by the Province of British Columbia in the mid-19th century as the future location for a harbour city to complement New Westminster, the town on the Fraser River which was then (in 1863) BC’s capital and the terminus city for Western Canada. While Gastown became the shipping destination for the BC coast, New Brighton, as the area was then called, became a popular recreational destination for 19th century New Westminster residents.

The northern half was re-christened Hastings (officially ‘The Hastings Townsite’) in 1869 in honour of a visit by Admiral Hastings. The first road, hotel, post office, telephone, real estate transaction, and subdivision in what is now Vancouver were all built at Hastings Townsite. The area’s first ferry service between Burrard Inlet and Victoria, also operated from here. The area didn’t become part of the City of Vancouver until 1911.

Neighbourhood history and heritage
Hastings-Sunrise sits on the northern half of a block of land which the provincial government set aside in 1863 for a town they expected to develop along the shores of what was considered one of the finest harbours on the West Coast. Although it was Gastown farther west that eventually developed into the great port city, a small resort, New Brighton, did develop on the shoreline roughly where New Brighton Park is today.