A developing sense of scale on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
The controversial development at Davie and Bidwell is well under way now. All but the Facade of West End landmark Maxine’s, a former brothel and bawdy house built in 1905, have been torn down and the pit is dug for the new 21 story building that will replace it.
Now, I’m all in favour of densification and, the foot of Davie Street remains quite under developed. The restaurants, insurance agents and green grocer that lined this stretch of Davie Street always seemed like a severe under-utilzation of the space and, all struggled to survive as well, changing regularly.
Looking at the size of this pit, compared to the lovely old Sands Motel across the street though and, one has to wonder if this is indeed the right choice for the location.
Personally, I’ll miss the building that formerly held the green grocer on the corner. Briefly, in 1990, the building was home to a lovely café where my continuing addiction to and love affair with espresso began.


