Category: History

Awards · Elsewhere · History

Historic Seattle 2010 Awards

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May is National Historic Preservation Month and Historic Seattle is hosting a very special event   to acknowledge and celebrate the continuing use and good stewardship of our   local cultural and architectural landmarks.  Historic Seattle Second Annual Preservation Awards Ceremony  Reception and Awards Honors with speaker Yale Lewis  Women’s University Club  1105 Sixth Avenue at Spring Street  Tuesday, May 11, 5:30 pm ‐ 7:30 pm; program at 6:30 pm  $50 Historic Seattle members; $60 General Public; $25 students; includes appetizers,  desserts, and wine/beer  Register at historicseattle.org/or call (206) 622‐6952   

Chinatown · History · urban design · Vancouver

Market Alley in the 1920s

John Atkin3 Comments

  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

Chinatown · History

There are no Tunnels in Chinatown

John Atkin2 Comments

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

Cemetery · History

Wandering the Cemetery

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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

History

The Drug War

John AtkinLeave a comment

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.