It's amusing to think that Vancouver's favorite statue is a testament to the virtues of drink. At least that's one interpretation of the jaunty 'Gassy' Jack Deighton bronze, perched atop a whiskey barrel here in Maple Tree Sq. Erected in 1970, it recalls the time when Deighton arrived here in 1867 and built a bar, triggering a development that soon became Vancouver.
Rivaling the nearby Steam Clock for most-photographed Gastown landmark, Gassy is popular enough to have his own Twitter account, where he spends his days whining about the indignities wrought by passing pigeons. The statue is roughly on the site of Deighton's first bar; he soon built a second, grander one nearby.
