Hookers on Davie

I’ve heard a lot about the 1984 documentary Hookers on Davie since moving to Vancouver, but it’s been difficult to track down. Fortunately, it was recently put on YouTube, and so I thought I’d share. If you’ve yet to see it, I think it’s a fabulous, funny and moving archive of our queer history. It’s a remarkable film, not only for the way it captures Davie Street during one of its rawest and most revolutionary periods, but for the way it captures Vancouver, the first Canadian city to protest and advocate for prostitution rights. It features a colourful cast of characters of women, transsexuals and men working the prostitution mecca of the country.

Watching the film I couldn’t help but think how our community has lost so much of its spunk. There is a rare and true beauty to an outcast culture, which we lose as homosexuality becomes more commercial. Perhaps that’s the sacrifice we have to make in the name of tolerance, but there’s no denying that the loss — in all of its vulgar and vulnerable glory — is great.