Elephants
My favorite cheap plastic toy. And it actually walks.
Author: John Atkin
John Atkin is a civic historian, author, and walking tour guide in Vancouver.
Elephants in a book
I thought I’d try on-demand publishing by reprinting a small children’s book from the 1840s on elephants. The History an… Description of the… By S. Babcock Book Preview
Market Alley in the 1920s
Here are the fire insurance maps from the late 1920s showing Market Alley between Carrall and Main Street. Market Alley was once filled with a variety of businesses including restaurants, laundries, pawnbrokers and merchants. Despite what some publications say, there was no general curfew in Chinatown imposed by the authorities. Alleys such as Market… Continue reading Market Alley in the 1920s
Granville Street, back to the future
An illustration from the 1960s for a proposed redesign of the street. I find it interesting to compare this with the current redesign which is explained in detail here.
Heritage house demolished
1636 Avondale, a marvelous 1926 house by Fred Townley, was demolished recently. Townley was the other half of Townley and Matheson the architects of Vancouver’s City Hall.
New Video from the Heritage Foundation
There are no Tunnels in Chinatown
I get a lot of e-mails asking about underground Vancouver and specifically Chinatown. Tunnel myths are found in almost every Chinatown in North America and their origin would seem to coincide with the rising tide of anti-Asian feeling in the late 19th century. In the popular press three common vices always ascribed to the Chinese… Continue reading There are no Tunnels in Chinatown
Make Your Own Streetcar
On the City Reflections site Jason Vanderhill has some great papercraft streetcars you can assemble to create your own fleet of BCER streetcars.
Wandering the Cemetery
It’s always interesting what you find wandering through the cemetery. This headstone, which used to vertical until laid flat in the 1960s, is for John Henry Laplant who drowned at Hastings Mill in 1909. The top is based on the design of a Roman tomb, similar to these in Tyre, Lebanon. Update: The headstone has… Continue reading Wandering the Cemetery
The Drug War
Situated in one of the grubbier Downtown Eastside alleyways, 34 Market Alley is a popular stop on local historical walking tours, and for good reason. An opium factory that operated here in 1907 inspired Canada’s first drug laws. Read more at http://pasttensevancouver.wordpress.com/ A great blog about Vancouver history.
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 