Vancouver AIDS Memorial Heritage in Vancouver – GayOut Guide
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Vancouver AIDS Memorial

Google (45) 4.6
Tripadvisor (3) 4.3
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G4.6 🦉4.3
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Address
Sunset Beach Park, near 1204 Beach Avenue, Vancouver, BC

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About this place Vancouver AIDS Memorial

Along the seawall lawn at Sunset Beach, a ribbon of twenty weathering-steel panels curves through the grass. Engraved into the steel are roughly eight hundred names — British Columbians who died of AIDS — placed in deliberately random order, as the epidemic itself struck without order or reason. The memorial, designed by artist Bruce Wilson and unveiled during Pride 2004, was a community undertaking: the Vancouver AIDS Memorial Society began raising funds in 2001 and gathered name nominations from families and friends, and further names have been added in later engraving rounds. A line from George Santayana runs through it: "With you a part of me hath passed away." The setting does much of the work. Sunset Beach faces English Bay at the foot of the West End — the neighbourhood that lived the epidemic's worst years — and the panels rust and weather in the sea air, changing as memory does. What you see today: the steel ribbon on the lawn near the Broughton Street end of the park, free and always open. Come at sunset, read a panel of names, and continue along the seawall; Jim Deva Plaza and the Davie Village are a ten-minute walk uphill.

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Gay LGBTQ+ Community oriented Free entry Day venue Year-round

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Google Reviews

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4.6
★★★★★
45 reviews

Based on 45 Google reviews.

Long 龍 鳳 Phượng
Long 龍 鳳 Phượng Jul 2026
★★★★★
JJ
JJ Jun 2026
★★★★★

It’s an important community memorial honoring “the memory of those lost to HIV/AIDS, to the caregivers who eased their passing, and to those who live with the presence of their absence.” However the poorly-written text inscription, which features no dates — either of the unveiling of the memorial itself, or the deaths of any of the names of the hundreds of Vancouverites listed — makes the context of the monument difficult to appreciate.

Bruce Ives
Bruce Ives Apr 2026
★★★★★

Two of my grandchildren had the opportunity to visit the Aids Memorial recently to find my brother’s name. To me it is a privilege to be able to visit such a beautiful place and I am very glad they did.

Morgane
Morgane Sep 2025
★★★★★
Harry Bradley
Harry Bradley May 2025
★★★★★

Touching memorial.

Deepak James
Deepak James Dec 2024
★★★★★
David Tee
David Tee May 2024
★★★★★

This unassuming memorial has a particular significance for me, with the name of a lovely Canadian girl on it , who I met in the summer of 1981 in England. I only found out she had died in 2006, 12 years after she died of AIDS in 1984. It was a moment of reflection, and remembering some lovely times then and in fact 1976 as well when I travelled across Canada and US on a Greyhound Bus, and hired a tandem. (See my review of Spokes bike rental with comparison photos). Carolyn, rest in peace.

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Last updated on 28 September 2026

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