“Most people don’t realize that Vancouver, right from the beginning, was all about vice.”

So says Vancouver Police Museum’s (VPM) Chris Mathieson in the intro to this video, detailing the VPM’s popular walking tour of Vancouver, Sins of the City.

Sins of the City is a guided tour through Vancouver’s edgier, seedier history. A chronicle of all things “naughty”, the tour takes you through historic Vancouver while regaling you with tales of bootleggers, brothels, drugs, racial and labour riots, murder, and our (according to VPM and, I suppose, current denizens of the Edgewater Casino) “considerable predilection for gambling.”

The $15 ticket ($12 for students) for the Sins of the City Walking Tour gets you into the Vancouver Police Museum itself for free on the day of the tour, too.

The Sins of the City Walking Tour runs every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday through summer (May 1 – August 30, 2010).

If you’ve been on this tour before, I’d love to hear what you thought! Please share your opinions in the comments.