South Granville was on the tourist map in the 1940s as part of the city tour provided by the BC Electric Railway’s popular observation car. Well known conductor Teddy Lyon kept visitors and locals alike entertained. Here it has stopped outside Harry Bullen’s photograph studio at 2608 Granville Street. (City of Vancouver Archives photograph Trans P163.N123.2)

In October 1891 streetcar service crossed False Creek and reached Ninth Ave (Broadway) where the cars then trundled off along to Westminster Ave. (Main) to return to downtown. With this new line up and running the Canadian Pacific Railway began promoting lot sales its newly cleared Fairview subdivision between Granville and Bridge (Cambie) Street. Lot sales were brisk for the first couple of years but fell considerably as prospective residents were put off by the growing pollution and noise from the increasingly industrial nature of False Creek.

In 1911 a single track was laid along Granville Street to the the city boundary at 16th Avenue to offer shuttle service to Broadway for the new Shaughnessy Heights subdivision. A few months later it was extended over “Steep Hill” to 25th Avenue. Residents were able to reach downtown at a stately 12 miles per hour.

With all of this railway activity it wasn’t long before Granville Street began to take on a commercial nature from the bridge to 16th.

Streetcar service began on South Granville in 1911 which spurred on a mini building boom. Over 15 building permits for commercial buildings were issued in the following year.