Interspersing interviews with archival footage, Union Street documents the history of Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley, the formerly Black neighbourhood which was destroyed by the construction of the Georgia viaduct in the 1970s. This local history speaks to systemic racial injustice towards Vancouver’s Black community that has continued to this day. Revelatory conversations are had in the film surrounding the erasure of Black history in Canada, and the proliferation of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan which had chapters in Vancouver. Histories of now-closed Black-owned businesses in Hogan’s Alley such as Vie’s Chicken and Steakhouse have inspired a new generation of Black business owners in the neighbourhood, and the Black Lives Matter movement has reinvigorated discussion surrounding the destruction, as well as the history and memory of Hogan’s Alley. Beautifully filmed, this visual portrait speaks to the legacies of the past, as well as the present moment.
Reviews
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
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