Coal Harbour is the name for a section of Burrard Inlet lying between Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula and the Brockton Point of Stanley Park. It has also now become the name of the neighbourhood adjacent to its southern shoreline. Neighbourhood Coal Harbour is used to designate the relatively new official neighbourhood of the City of Vancouver bounded by roughly Burrard Street and Pender near the Financial District to West Georgia Street near the West End in the south to Stanley Park in the north. The neighbourhood consists of numerous high-rise residential apartment and condominium towers with luxury townhome podiums. Features The northwestern section near Stanley Park features picturesque parkland, private marinas, several rowing and boating clubs, high-end shops and restaurants, and a community centre designed by architect Gregory Henriquez. To the east is Deadman's Island, the site of the naval station and museum , where the harbour itself opens up to the Burrard Inlet. Towards the Financial District in the southeast, the neighbourhood is dominated by high-rise office buildings, hotels and numerous apartment towers. Immediately south lies Vancouver's Luxury Zone along Alberni Street. Coal Harbour is home to Vancouver Harbour Water Aerodrome, located a few blocks from Canada Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre. Within the harbour is a floating gas station for marine vessels. The 2010 Winter Olympics cauldron is installed at Jack Poole Plaza. The six floating homes in Coal Harbour, along with the twelve across town in False Creek are the only legal floating homes within the city of Vancouver. History The discovery of coal in the harbor in 1862 inspired the name. In the days when the area along West Pender Street was an upper-class residential district, Coal Harbour was known as Blueblood Alley because of the many large mansions along it. Notable inhabitants and developments in Coal Harbour's past include: Squamish settlements, notably on Deadman Island, Brockton Point and Lumberman's Arch. In 1862 minor exploration began of the visible coal seams on the flank of the bluff overlooking the harbour, first noted by Captain Vancouver. This bluff was approximately where most of West Hastings Street is today. The coal was low-grade, but its occurrence in clays similar to porcelain-making clays of the English Midlands led to the staking of what is known as the Brickmaker's Claim by the Three Greenhorns. The Brickmaker's Claim is now the West End. No clay was ever mined nor porcelain ever