DTES at night? Is Hastings or Cordova safer? (hotels, live)

[monomial]

I'm going to be visiting Vancouver for the first time, and since I don't happen to be independently wealthy, I decided I would risk staying on the Eastside. I have read everything I can about this area, but there is a lot of conflicting reports.


My question is, if I do have to walk back from Gastown to my hotel near Oppenheimer Park at night (wee hours of the morning here...2 am or so), is it safer to walk along Hastings, or should I walk along Cordova? Getting mugged or stabbed would be a real bummer and likely ruin my first impression of what should be a beautiful city.


Any suggestions? I'm male and not exactly small framed, but a gang with knives could easily overpower me.

[Zoisite]

You're probably at a far greater risk from bedbugs, fleas, rats, nasty bacteria and unidentifiable dirt, bad smells and loud noises in your DTES hotel than you are from the human resident denizens of DTES.

There aren't gangs of desperate thugs running around with knives looking for tourists to mug at 2 o'clock in the morning. Most people are bedded down somewhere trying to stay warm, safe and alive and to get some sleep through the night so they can face another day. The DTES panhandlers, petty thieves and car vandals are more active during the daytime when DTES is awake and establishments are open for business.

If you do have any problems with people out late at night it's more likely to be from drunk and mean-spirited out-of-town bar hoppers who go there looking for hookers, drugs or other worse trouble, so you should guard your back against other non-resident tourist-type patrons of late night establishments.

Anyway, if you have to walk through the DTES late at night, whatever street you choose it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, they're all pretty much the same. You should first check out the streets by daytime to determine which ones you'd feel most comfortable on in the dark.

If it was me I'd probably use Hastings since it is a busy throughway so it's better lit at night, it's more public with more pedestrians and car traffic at night and is more frequently patrolled by the police because of the heavier traffic.

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[svelten]

I'd simply try to avoid staying around Oppenheimer park. Yes, it's not particularly "unsafe", but it's by no means pleasant, clean or enjoyable for a visit. For a short term visit I would advise allocating more beer/food money on somewhere that's less derelict, like maybe something on Main or Kingsway area out of downtown but within a very short and easy commute.

Failing that, I'd echo above. Take Hastings, not Cordova or Powell as the busier street. You will quite possibly be started at, talked to randomly and at worst yelled at and followed, but very unlikely attacked, and almost completely certainly not by a gang with weapons but by an unarmed drunkard. There is a good police presence in the general area and during the late hours. Again, I'd be very concerned with the sanitation in the hotels, it's a hotbed of bedbug activity. And watch where you step on the ground...