One of the key figures in Vancouver’s Black history will have a road named in her honour.
When Nora Hendrix Way is completed as a part of the new St. Paul’s Hospital precinct, it will be the first street named after a Black woman in the city.
Grandmother to legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, Nora moved to Vancouver from Seattle in 1913 with her husband Ross.
She worked as a cook at Vie’s Chicken and Steak House, a late-night diner known for hosting touring musical greats including Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
But she is better known for her key role in the historically Black Hogan’s Alley community.
That work included co-founding the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel at Prior and Jackson Avenue, Vancouver’s first Black church and a lynchpin in the city’s early Black community.
The new street will run one block from National Avenue to Atlantic Avenue, about a block away from the Fountain Chapel at Union Street and Jackson Avenue.
Council approved the name Wednesday, along with a street named for Jeanette Andersen, an advocate for persons with disabilities, as a part of the new Pearson Dogwood development near Cambie and 58th Street.
Both names were recommended by the city’s Civic Asset Naming Committee.
Vancouver city council approved the rezoning of the lands for the new hospital precinct in 2019, and Providence Healthcare says it plans to see the facility in operation by 2026.
Comments