Prohibition City Downtown and Chinatown Walking Tour

Sightseeing  :  Canada  :  British Columbia  :  Vancouver  :  Walking Tours

Mobsters! Opium! Booze! Delve into Vancouver's dirtiest secrets on this scandal fueled walking tour. From back alley blind pigs to Chinatown opium dens.In 1917, Prohibition hit Vancouver harder than a slug of bathtub gin, knocking the city to its knees. Saloon doors swung closed for good, forcing law-abiding citizens into an underground world of bootlegged spirits and illicit activity. Mob bosses set up scores of illegal drinking dens, and dirty cops were paid to look the other way. Vancouver’s longest-running mayor L.D. Taylor emerged from the chaos, soon notorious for his shadowy past, raucous parties and underworld ties. When the U.S. followed suit with their own prohibition three years later, enterprising Vancouver rum-runners made millions smuggling booze on midnight voyages down the coast.

On this walking tour you'll explore the secret underbelly of Vancouver's prohibition history, while visiting the city's most famous heritage buildings. You'll take in the salacious Sun Tower and the ornate Dominion Building – once the tallest building in the British Empire. And you'll travel into the back streets of historic Chinatown, once home to bawdy houses, opium dens and beer parlours.

You'll finish the tour on the cobblestone streets of Maple Tree Square, surrounded by Gastown's most talked about bars and restaurants. It's a perfect place to share stories of your own with your friends and family over a post tour dinner or drinks.

From back alley blind pigs to Chinatown opium dens – these ain't the kinda stories you'll hear on tour buses!