Gastown is Vancouver's oldest downtown district, with cobbled streets, brick warehouses, souvenir shops, bars, and restaurants packed into a compact area east of the central business district. It is touristy, but it is still one of the city's most distinctive walking areas.
The steam clock draws the cameras, but the better reason to come is the streetscape: old commercial buildings, narrow blocks, and a clear sense of early Vancouver layered under the modern city.