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It's nothing big; a few feet of concrete sidewalk on the East side of Burrard St., South of 11th Ave. But it's 82-year-old concrete -- the year, "1931," is embossed on one edge. On the opposite edge is the name of the street: "Cedar St." They did that back then, embossed dates, street names, even block numbers in sidewalks -- nice touches; a bit labour-intens... Just a minute. ...



This is on Burrard Street, why does the sidewalk say it's Cedar Street? Because in 1931, that's what it was called: Cedar Street, running from 16th Avenue down to False Creek. There was a street on the other side of False Creek, in downtown Vancouver, named Burrard, after the Burrard Inlet, located at its northern end; the inlet being named for Sir Harry Burrard-Neale.

On July 1, 1932, the two streets were connected by the new $3 million, Art Deco-style, Burrard Street Bridge across False Creek. Vancouver's longest-serving mayor, and all-around scoundrel, Louis Denison Taylor performed the ribbon-cutting. With the completion of the bridge, Cedar Street became the South-most part of Burrard Street. Click the above images to enlarge them.

[caption id="attachment_5584" align="alignnone" width="497"] Burrard St., in yellow. The elbow is the former Cedar St. The green fork is Cornwall St.[/caption]