Main And Hastings Was Perhaps The Most Horrible Corner In Western Canada. It Was Referred To In Vancouver

Main and Hastings was perhaps the most horrible corner in Western Canada. It was referred to in Vancouver as “Skid Row,” and it deserved the reputation. Vancouver police had long ago come to a tacit understanding with the voluminous addict population of the city: stay in your own little corner of town, and we’ll leave you alone. Police only arrested the most flagrant abusers of the law here, and the result was horrific. The area boasted the highest per capita AIDS rate in the civilized Western World, and absolute poverty was the rule. Drunken aboriginals lay heaped on the sidewalks, dealers openly plied their trade, and junkies fixed their dope in doorways. Ironically, the Vancouver Police Department’s main office was located right smack in the middle of it all; on the corner of Main and Hastings. The fortress-like building was always within sight of the wheeling and dealing pushers.