New book looks at Vancouver’s street fighting past
Posted October 30, 2016 2:38 pm.
Last Updated October 30, 2016 3:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – He has taken us behind the curtain at Vancouver’s notorious Penthouse nightclub and penned the definitive account of Granville Street’s fabulous Commodore Ballroom.
Now, Aaron Chapman is back to share another tale from our city’s sordid past.
“The Last Gang In Town” is the local historian’s third and latest book.
Long before Vancouver was the world-class city we know today, it was a rough and tumble, blue collar type place. That was especially true of East Van. “In the early 1970s, late 60s, there was an issue with street gangs and youth gangs,” Chapman explains.
“A lot of them seemed to coalesce around city parks. Perhaps for the reason that, for a lot of the people that made up the gangs, it was sometimes easier to probably hang out in parks than… at home.”
None was more notorious than The Clark Park Gang. Their coming out party came in 1972, during the infamous Rolling Stones riot at the Pacific Coliseum.
“Many dozens of Vancouver Police were injured at that event and in the wake of that incident the police department decided to form a secret undercover gang task force.”
That was the H-squad. Its formation would unleash an undeclared war between the VPD and the Clark Parkers.
“This was not really known to the public,” Chapman says. “There were a few incidents reported about altercations between East End people and protests about police brutality and things that went on, but it was a remarkable, sort of fascinating cops-and-robbers story in Vancouver that very few people know about.”
Chapman spoke with both former officers and gang members to weave this uniquely Vancouver tale. It’s their memories, which in most cases have never been shared before, that provide the substance of the book.
“These people have their own vantage points about how Vancouver’s changed and they’re rarely asked and what they see of Vancouver is usually much different from what the average person like you and I might remember.”
The official launch for the book is set for Wednesday night at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver.
