Here is the sign for one of my favourite greasy spoons on this continent:

The Only seafood restaurant is located on East Hastings Street, just east of the intersection with Carrall Street (20 East Hastings St., if you want me to get numeric on your ass). That puts it right in the middle of the troubled Downtown Eastside, the historic heart of Vancouver and the lowest-income postal code in Canada.

The Only will celebrate its centennial in 2012, which may make it the oldest continually-operated restaurant in Vancouver.* Here's another exterior shot:

* For more on the history of the Only, read this 2005 Canadian Stories article.

Here's some interior views:

The fellow standing at the till in the photo below told me his grandmother kept the restaurant's books in the 1930s. He's been a customer of the Only for his entire life, and now he's trying to get his son hooked on the joint. "It never changes," he said -- and to me, that's part of the charm.

There is the main counter, shown above, a smaller counter and some booths. Depending on where you sit, you could have someone down on their luck sitting to your right, a business executive to your left, and a logger or native chief across the counter. For the time it takes to eat their meal, everyone is equal.

The food is what you'd expect. I had the fried salmon with fries, coleslaw and a cup of Coney Island clam chowder. The whole meal cost me $10. I am pleased to report it was tasty.

As I said, the Only has a centennial looming, but its future is not necessarily assured in the long term (if they could kill the Smilin' Buddha ... :) ). The forces of gentrification are closing in on the Downtown Eastside, which contains some of Vancouver's coolest heritage architecture (sorry I can't offer even more pix, but there's only so much you can do on a one-day stopover).

Here's a shot of the Sun tower, one-time home of the Vancouver Sun newspaper (and according to Wikipedia, was the tallest building in the British empire when it was completed in 1912, standing 82 metres tall). The tower is located relatively close to the Only, sitting at 100 West Pender Street:

The above shot is taken from Abbott Street south of Pender. There's a sanitized mall based at Abbott and Pender. It has a McDonald's, a Quizno's, a 7-Eleven -- all chain stores that currently don't occupy a spot on grimy old Hastings Street.

Between Abbott and Carrall on Hastings, there's a vacant lot, and there are signs of redevelopment in between the notorious "single room occupancy" hotels of the nabe. To put the development around the Sun tower in perspective, here's another shot taken from False Creek:

Just south of the Sun tower, the Woodward's site at Abbott and Hastings is currently under construction, the goal being a mix of affordable and market housing (here's the official story from the city; here's a CTV.ca story about the 2006 demolition of the existing building). But looking at the broader picture above, I wonder how much social housing will actually end up in the neighbourhood, and what will become of the many troubled souls who now call it home.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are increasing the gentrification pressures. Here's a poster in a window a few doors to the west of the Only:

This was my first visit to Vancouver since 1999. I don't know when I'll be back next, but I do hope the Only will still be there. I also hope those who have homes in the neighbourhood, modest though they might be, aren't trampled during the redevelopment process so those more fortunate can live amongst the heritage architecture without the nuisance of poor people.