Gastown is one of those Vancouver neighbourhoods that means different things depending on how long you’ve been here. For visitors, it’s cobblestones and a steam clock. For locals who’ve been around for a while, it’s the neighbourhood that has been in the middle of a long, slow transformation — one that’s picked up significantly in the last two years. This summer, there’s a specific reason to go back: Blood Alley Square and Trounce Alley are both done, and Water Street goes car-free on Sundays.
Blood Alley Square and Trounce Alley: What Actually Changed
Blood Alley Square — the small laneway plaza between Water and Cordova — completed its redesign in 2024, and the city finished the last piece of the puzzle this spring: Trounce Alley, the short alley connecting Blood Alley to Water Street, was rehabilitated and opened in May 2026. The surface aligns with the square’s design now, and the whole area has been given a performance stage, fixed seating, new globe lighting, and trees.
What this means in practice: a legitimate outdoor gathering space in the middle of Gastown that isn’t Maple Tree Square. Smaller, quieter, more useful for sitting with a coffee and watching the neighbourhood rather than the tourists. Worth walking through if you haven’t seen it.
Maple Tree Square itself — the intersection of Water, Alexander, Carrall, and Powell — is getting a $25-million overhaul in the next phase of the Gastown Public Spaces Plan, which Council approved in April. That won’t be done this summer, but the vision is to make it a proper hub rather than a chaotic intersection. Something to watch.
Car-Free Sundays on Water Street
Water Street goes pedestrian from noon to 8pm on Sundays from July 5 to September 6. This is the third year of the pilot. After strong support in surveys from both residents and businesses — strong support from both residents and businesses — the city kept it, and it’s likely here to stay in some form.
What changes: restaurant patios expand onto the street, there’s actual room to walk without getting clipped by traffic, and the whole block feels more like the neighbourhood it could be. Sunday afternoon in Gastown this summer, with water views at the end of every cross-street and the cobblestone corridor open to foot traffic, is a different experience from a Tuesday in the rain.
Where to Eat and Drink
L’Abattoir is the high end of Gastown dining and has been for years. Consistent, inventive without being exhausting about it, and the right level of formal for a neighbourhood where the bar was historically not high. Book ahead for dinner.
Steamworks Brewpub is on the other end of the spectrum — a large brewpub in a historic building, more reliable than exciting, but good for an afternoon beer with a group that can’t agree on anything more specific. The Gastown location has outdoor seating that comes into its own on car-free Sundays.
Revolver on Cambie Street is the coffee destination that coffee people go to when they’re in Gastown. An impressive rotating selection from roasters around the world, no-fuss service, and the kind of focus on the product that makes it worth the slight detour from the main strip.
Guu with Otokomae on Water Street is the Gastown outpost of the Japanese izakaya group that does the loudest, most communal dining in the city. If you haven’t been to a Guu location, the format is: shouting, cheap small plates, good skewers, sake and beer until you stop ordering it. Not every mood, but the right mood often enough.
Rodney’s Oyster House on Hamilton Street has been the city’s oyster bar institution for a long time. The shuckers are fast, the selection is good, and the happy hour is the most sensible version of what happy hour is supposed to mean. A dozen oysters and a glass of something cold in the afternoon on a warm day is a reasonable use of time.
Water Street Cafe sometimes runs live music on their patio during summer — check their current schedule before going.
The Steam Clock, Addressed Once
The steam clock at Water and Cambie is an 1977 installation, not a 19th-century artifact. It runs on steam from the district heating system, whistles on the quarter hour, and is photographed approximately 4,000 times a day. It’s fine. It’s not the reason to be in Gastown, and you will have seen it without trying.
Getting There
Waterfront Station (Expo, Millennium, and Canada Lines, plus West Coast Express) puts you at the edge of Gastown — five minutes’ walk to Water Street. Stadium-Chinatown station is another option from the east. On car-free Sundays, there’s no practical reason to drive.
