The heritage-designed Welcome Mt. Pleasant clock erected on Main Street where it meets Kingsway is a physical reminder of the transformation of a once troubled community into one of Vancouvers most sought-after neighbourhoods.
The clock, designed by Raymond Saunders who also built the Gastown steam clock, was part of a beautification initiative in the late 1980s and was intended to complement the heritage buildings in the area.
Saunders, who recently got the go-ahead from the city to replace the clocks worn-out fluorescent lighting with LED lighting, recalled being asked to design it.
"I've seen the whole area change over the years. And when they did the beautification and put the island in there and asked if I could put a clock there that was a wonderful occasion. It's probably one of the most looked-at clocks in the city besides my steam clock," he said Thursday. "It's almost become an icon as the Heritage Hall tower clock is an icon for Mount Pleasant — it's just a smaller icon."
Saunders noted the city crest imprinted on the clock as well as hops plant leaves in honour of the neighbourhood's former moniker, Brewery Creek..
The clock was part of a larger beautification project launched by the Mount Pleasant Merchants' Association, which pushed for new sidewalks, banners, street trees and street lighting. Business owners paid about $3 a linear foot for 15 years, which was added to their taxes, to cover costs and the municipal and provincial governments also contributed.
The beautification project's completion was celebrated at a ribbon cutting at the clock site on June 17, 1988.
Vacant, rundown and dilapidated buildings, concern about prostitution, drugs and other crime sparked the desire to revitalize Mount Pleasant.
Frances Warner, now a Vernon resident, coordinated the beautification project when she was a community-planning consultant for Mount Pleasant in the 1980s. She says "absolutely" when asked if the beautification project was worth it, calling it a physical expression of caring and a first step in revitalizing the neighbourhood and improving its reputation.
"By taking the first action, the fledging business association commenced an incremental process which later involved more marketing and community involvement and led to the formation of the city's first BIA," she wrote in an email. "As a result of these initiatives, commercial vacancies were reduced and building maintenance was improved. Elements such as the clock, the streetcar sculpture [by Kingsgate Mall], flower baskets, and banners combined to enhance the area's ambiance."
Other neighbourhood groups also formed around the same time in the late 1980s, including a Mount Pleasant block neighbour association aimed at developing a community atmosphere of friendship, caring and concern, according to an article in the Mid-Town/Mt. Pleasant Revue, as well as group called Mount Pleasant Residents Opposed to Street Soliciting. Warner says it's difficult to say whether Mount Pleasant would have changed as quickly without initial efforts such as the beautification project three decades ago, since Vancouver's pricey housing market helped pushed more people east. But it was one of the contributing factors.
"Yes, change is inevitable, but who can tell in what ways it would have changed without the beautification," she says.
noconnor@vancourier.com
Twitter.com/naoibh
