Even with all the activity happening in the atrium of the Woodward’s Building, the 15-by-9-metre photograph hanging over the west entrance is hard to miss.
"It's a pretty imposing picture that you see right away and it makes an impression on you for sure,” said Roger Patterson as he passed beneath the photo.
The people in the photo are actors in a project commissioned by Westbank Corp.—the building’s developer. The photograph is a recreation of the real chaos that descended on Gastown the night of August 7, 1971.
“I don't know about the actual event. I know it was in the '70s,” said Jesse Bastion, struggling to recall the details. “My mom was in Vancouver when it happened, but I don't know much about it exactly."
Frustrated by Operation Dustpan, a police crackdown on marijuana use and sales, a group of young people organized a large protest that police violently broke up, arresting 78 people and charging 38.
"I think people took a look back and said, what were these kids doing that was so outrageous it had to be broken up,” recalled Vancouver historian Michael Kluckner.
In the wake of the violence, the Gastown Inquiry was launched and, according to its final report, by 10 p.m. that night, about 2,000 largely peaceful protesters had gathered in Maple Leaf Square when police on horseback, armed with clubs, charged into the crowd.
The report criticized police for using excessive force while noting many people in the crowd were openly smoking marijuana.
"I buy mine at the pot store now, so there you go,” said Mike Leland, noting how times have changed. “You know we’ve come a long way but that was quite the little battle. I remember it quite vividly.”
With the country on the cusp of marijuana legalization, the recreated photo sparks conversation and serves as a reminder of a night that helped shape a neighbourhood and a city.
"That's why we study history,” said Kluckner. “So we can learn from the past and then we can see it coming all around again."
