VANCOUVER—Nearly 50 years after the neighbourhood of Hogan’s Alley was demolished to build a viaduct, a new housing development named after a beloved leader will mark the site’s transition into a hub for Vancouver’s Black community.

When Hogan’s Alley Working Group, which includes descendants of the community which once lived in the area, as well as community stakeholders, were approached about naming the new building at 258 Union St, there was one name which received unanimous support: Nora Hendrix.

“They felt she was the pillar of the community, she was the person to recognize,” said June Francis, a professor at Simon Fraser University who was honoured the same day of the announcement for her contribution to the Black community.” She was a glue that held the entire community together.”

While Hendrix is known to many in relation to her grandson, the musician Jimi Hendrix, for descendants of the Hogan’s Alley community she was a leader in her own right with a formidable musical talent and deep commitment to the church.

Hendrix moved to Vancouver from Seattle after her husband Ross had found work in the city, and lived in Hogan’s Alley from the 1920s up until it was destroyed in the late 1960s. She helped to start the first Black church in the area, and was also a cook at Vie’s Chicken and Steak House, which hosted many of the biggest musical acts of the time, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Now, a new building at the former site of Hogan’s Alley will bear her name. Nora Hendrix Place at 258 Union St. will have 52 units of temporary modular housing, the city of Vancouver announced on Friday. The building will be run by the Portland Hotel Society and have a focus on supporting marginalized groups experiencing homelessness, while also including design elements shaped by Black culture.

The development will be part of the Northeast False Creek plan which will revitalize the Hogan Alley area into a larger cultural site for the Black community.

Stephanie Allen, director of the Hogan’s Alley Society, said that the space holds a great deal of meaning for the Black community in Vancouver, especially descendants who were displaced from the area once the viaducts were built.

“It’s a significant milestone of decades of work from people dedicated to keeping the memory of the community alive,” she said.

Francis said that the building and surrounding area will be designed to celebrate Black culture, outside of the “Eurocentric point of view” which she said characterizes the design of most of Vancouver’s buildings.

“We have worked with landscaping to create a design uniquely targeted to this place, that reflects a Black sensibility.”

She said the landscaping will focus on brightly coloured flowers and edible plants that have cultural significance, and that there would be a community kitchen designed to suit Black cultural cuisine.

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Francis said she hopes that the space will eventually grow to allow all of Vancouver to sample food, art and culture of the Black community.

“As we have gone through this process of naming this place and working with the Black community, there’s been an absolute sense of euphoria,” she said. “People are starting to feel a vision of hope that we hope expands beyond the black community.”

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