Exploring the Strathcona Neighbourhood in East End Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday…
Stumbled upon this wonderful seven circuit inner-Chartres design Labyrinth painted on asphalt.
It’s closest intersection is Hawkes and Prior.
Exploring #Vancouver's "First" East End neighbourhood
Stumbled upon painted #Labyrinth in "Strathcona Linear Park"! pic.twitter.com/qLg6Afn6jk
— HïMY SYeD (@LabyrinthsDOTca) July 17, 2016
Using Google’s Streetview equivalent of the Internet Wayback Machine, we can see in 2009, the asphalt was here, the chain links were there, but no Labyrinth.
So this one was painted sometime after 2009 and before March 25 [incidentally what happens to be my b-day] 2012, where I found this blog post about it.
This is a very natural location to paint a Labyrinth…
An undefined spot of asphalt in a midst of greenspace in the middle of Strathcona Linear Park three sections.
If there wasn’t a Labyrinth there already, I’d be sorely tempted to place one there myself!
Wonder if there are more such spots in Vancouver?
Ran into a Minotaur at the #Strathcona Labyrinth. pic.twitter.com/G4Uo6qG9
— Ska-T (@Ska_Tpodcast) March 21, 2012
Photo: Enter the Labyrinth on Flickr. Via Flickr: Strathcona Labyrinth. Seen on a Vancouver 4/3’s group… http://t.co/tLUpsEHW
— Tom Wiebe (@TomWiebe) July 7, 2012
This last image is a mystery. It’s published by a Vancouver based magazine, included in their Flickr album, yet it’s not the same Labyrinth I encountered though it shares the Strathcona Labyrinth Moniker.
The photograph being black and white suggests it was taken in another era. Further, we can draw clues from the architecture in the background and we may date the photograph.
Perhaps there once was a Labyrinth painted long ago on a street in the Strathcona Neighbourhood of East Vancouver?
And the Labyrinth I found is simply a homage to what once was?