Central Pacific Station: Why Are So Many Movies Filmed Here?

This train station has played a role in Vancouver’s history as well as in many movies and TV shows.

Central Pacific Station, located at 1150 Station Street near Science World, was the western terminus of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway, completed in 1919, but was not the first railway terminus in the area. Adjacent to the Great Northern Railway terminus (Union Station) which was demolished in 1965.

While Central Pacific Station continues to connect travelers to other Canadian provinces and the United States, the train station also has a historical connection to the surrounding neighborhood, specifically Hogan’s Alley.

Some of the first black residents in Strathcona were railroad porters who wanted to find lodgings close to work, and the Central Pacific Station employed many black men from the neighborhood.

During the 1940s, employment discrimination limited opportunities for blacks in occupations such as barbering and cooking. Working as a railroad porter, although accompanied by long hours, low pay, discriminatory treatment, and little to no job security, was one of the few employment opportunities available.

Over the years, the appearance of the train station has remained mostly the same, with the exception of a neon sign reading “Pacific Central” that was added in the 1950s. a time when Vancouver glowed with a multitude of neon lights.

Central Pacific Station was designed in a beaux-arts style structure and featured a lunch counter, barbershop, and a ticket office that sold tickets for both railroads and steamships.

Perhaps the historic appearance of the station’s granite, brick and andesite (volcanic stone quarried on Haddington Island located off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island) exterior and ornamented, classical interior with ceiling moldings, skylights, smooth stone facade, and the Doric columns at the entrance make it so attractive in movie sets.

In Hollywood North, the train station was located in several major cities, including Los Angeles, Boston, Portland, New York as Penn Station, New Jersey as Newark Penn Station, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Here are all the movies and TV shows filmed at this historic train station:

• Psych
• The lightning
• Crooks
• The X-Files
• Christmas story 2
• Fringe
• Once upon a time
• Arrow
• Legends of Tomorrow
• Fascinated
• The day the Earth stood still
• Batwoman
• Are we there yet?
• The Company You Keep
• The Journey of Natty Gann
• This (1990)
• MVP: Most Valuable Primary
• The Christmas Train
• Whoever finds it keeps it
• A Twist of Faith
• Barber Creek Breakaway
• The Commish
• The Da Vinci Investigation
• MacGyver
• Motivation
• The Man in the High Castle
• Wisdom of the Crowd