The Empress Hotel

I have been taking some pictures of the DTES and playing around with them on my computer. I thought this would be a good place to share them.

I have made some of them into postcards, that I will be sending out, if you do not get one and want one just send me your mailing address. 

This first image is of the hotel I live in. It is ironically called The Empress, but is nothing like the high end hotel in Victoria. The Empress that I live in is a Single Room Occupancy Hotel (SRO) or often called a Slum Hotel.  I was told that the Empress was built in the 20s, loggers would come down into Vancouver on days off and the winter to get drunk and buy women (a generalization) and they would stay at The Empress. It is very old, poorly kept, has mice, bed bugs and cockroaches. The rooms do not have a kitchen, and some do not have bathrooms. Despite all this rent is not all that cheap, some rooms go for $400 to $600!

You should come visit, my room is not all that bad, I have made it home.