The Forbidden Vancouver Tour

Hit the mean streets of Vancouver with a professional guide as you learn about rum-runners, mobsters, and dirty cops on a walk through Gastown.

Meet up with your guide and set out on foot, listening to tales of illicit activity in this coastal city at the turn of the century. Learn about real historical figures like feared mob boss Joe Celona, Prohibition Commissioner Walter Findlay, and business mogul Chang Toy. Hear how the mob set up illegal drinking dens around the city and bribed dirty cops to look the other way. Listen to tales of longtime mayor L.D. Taylor and his infamously raucous parties, and discover how enterprising Vancouver rum-runners made their fortunes smuggling booze down the coast once the US adopted Prohibition as well.

Make your way through Victory Square and scope out fabled buildings like the Dominion Building before you pass through the Woodward's complex into Historic Gastown. Traipse down the best-preserved alleyway in the city to really feel like you've travelled back in time, and see first-hand evidence of "bawdy houses" and opium dens before you finish up the tour in Gastown's Maple Tree Square.