User:Sidney Gordon/Davie Village

Sex Work History
In the 1960’s, after the removal of the Dupont and Alexander Street Districts, Vancouver's sex workers relocated to the streets of the West End. By the 1970’s, over 150 workers could be seen walking on and around Davie Street from twelve to three AM on a regular occasion. By the 1970’s, the area had a visible sex work scene, and was coined the “Prostitution Capitol of Capitol of Canada”. Jamie Lee Hamilton, a former worker within the area, claims in a The Volcano article that the neighbourhood was “dignified outdoor brothel culture". The working population included both cisgender, transgender, two-spirit, and crossdressing individuals of different ages and ethnicities; many of which first came to the street as early as twelve years old, and since, have built a community with their peers, creating bonds by working together and looking out for each other's safety.  In 1980, when Davie Street started to generate profit off of queer owned properties and business aesthetics, the visible state of the sex work scene became more and more unwanted. Within little time, the removal of this image became the main focus of erasure. In preparation for the 1986 World Fair, Davie Street soon began sculpting an image of what they felt suited the ideal gay community, which included the forceful displacement of the West Ends’ sex work community. In 1983, a group called the Concerned Residents of the West End (CROWE), consisting of primarily white cisgender gay businessmen, worked with the city to get a BC Supreme Court injunction to displace trans sex workers. Workers in the area were pushed into Yaletown, then Mount Pleasant, where they were repeatedly protested by "Shame the Johns vigilantes", down East Broadway, and eventually into the Downtown Eastside, where already vulnerable sex workers are more open to violence and abuse than ever before. This relocation also contributed many of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) cases that were largely tied to serial killer Robert Pickton in the early 2000's. part from the annual Red Umbrella March and Women's Memorial March, the history of the West Ends’ sex work community remains largely forgotten. While portraying an accepting and inclusive LGBTQ2A+ environment, the history remains intentionally masked with little memorabilia of those impacted by the erasure.

Significant sites

 * West End Sex Worker Memorial: Corner of Jervais and Pendrall Street

Supporting businesses

 * Little Sisters Bookstore
 * Speakeasy Bar and Grill

Media documentation

 * Hookers on Davie