What a perfect day for a show and shine. We lived in New West for 10 years before we moved to Delta and it was great to spend some time there today. Bob and i both love NW and it still feels like home after all this time! We always planned to move back there again some day, preferably on the river at the Quay but i'm afraid they've outpriced us now!
New Westminster is a very old city, well, old for B.C. It was the first capitol of the Province and named by Queen Victoria after an area in London and thats why its known as The Royal City. Some old architecture is still around but tons of new stuff is happening too. Right now theres still a pleasing mixture of old and new and i wish it would stay like that but i know it cant. Progress came with the skytrain from Vancouver in 1986 and now theres something big and new every time i go there.
In the next few days i'll add some pics of the downtown area. It was hard to get pics of the street rods because there were so many people. I tried to take pics that show the old and new but not sure i succeeded. One i know i got was the old post office where i used to do temp work which now houses the RCMP (police station) with penthouse condos covering the top floor. Also, growing out of the hillside just above it is yet another couple of big buildings, in the location of the old wobbly floored hobby store which we used to frequent in the old days.
Downtown New West is at the base of a hill, on a smaller scale but very much like San Francisco (and has dbl'ed for it in the movies) We started out on Royal Ave. about half way up the hill. The Fraser River lies at the foot, after you pass "Bridal Row" (Columbia St.) go under "The Ramp" (parkade)and over the RR tracks. In the next few years Front St. will be changed dramatically and "Antique Alley" will be no more, the Ramp will be gone, the Riverboat Casino will be gone as well as all remmnants of the docks which is where Bob worked as a longshoreman for many years.
Uptown New Westminster is another thing; dosnt match the downtown in feeling or in any other way but in between theres Queens Park and all its beautiful heritage houses. To the south is another section of New West; the booming metropolis of Queensboro, already with a Walmart, Home Depot etc and a bigger better casino opening in the fall. On the north side the Provincial jail "The Pen" with its sad and violent history is now a subdivision of homes and next door the Woodlands hospital has been replaced with high rise condos,with river views. One sad remnant remains and i snapped a pic from the car as i was driving by. So much history goes down with progress, but in these two spots its all good. Nearby is the site of the St. Marys hospital which as of today is still an empty spot but who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Change. It happens so slowly and yet so fast. Our old New West will soon be just a memory with short little blasts from the past.
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