At their November 29, 2016 meeting City Council approved the recommendations of the Civic Assets Naming Committee to name a new road in the redevelopment of the Arbutus Shopping Centre as Lahb Avenue. Lahb is Chinook for the Arbutus tree. This is the first Chinook word used for a street in Vancouver. This approval continues the… Continue reading The First Chinook Street Name
The Holborn Group’s refusal to excise the Trump name from their Georgia Street project is an insult to all residents of Vancouver. Regardless of whether it is private property, that there are contracts or operating agreements in place, Holborn is morally and ethically wrong to continue to promote the name of someone who is openly… Continue reading It’s Quite Simple: Dump Trump
Tom Carter and I are at the Vancouver Historical Society in October
The conceptual design for the Vancouver Art Gallery was unveiled yesterday. It’s a perfect Vancouver building. There’s no extraneous swirls or doodads ala Gehry, just a thoughtful response to the program and site. There are echoes of the architecture of coastal First Nations, the Pacific Rim (it’s almost pagoda like in some aspects) and the… Continue reading A Very Vancouver Building
I recently had the pleasure of leading a walk in the West End for the Vancouver Heritage Foundation as part of their Sunday coffee series at JJ Bean. Their newest location on Bidwell is behind the preserved facade of Maxine’s Beauty School. The most oft asked question about that location is the tunnel that supposedly… Continue reading Who was Maxine Anyway
From Chief James Hobart, Spuzzum First Nation Dear Friend in Heritage Tourism: The Spuzzum First Nation on behalf of the Alexandra Bridge Project Partners invites you to join their petition drive to restore the historic 1926 Alexandra Bridge. MLA Laurie Throness has promised to personally deliver this petition asking Transportation Minister Todd Stone to show leadership in… Continue reading The Alexandra Bridge Needs Your Help
North Vancouver once ran a fleet of ferries across Burrard Inlet delivering passengers and cars to the city. On the Vancouver side the vessels jockeyed for space between a variety of vessels to off load their cargo. Foot passengers and cars had to cross the very busy CPR tracks that ran along the south shore, so… Continue reading A Tunnel in Gastown…
From the Montreal Herald’s Dominion edition 1889
Stanley Park’s 125 year modern history in a timeline. Just in time to celebrate the birthday.
In 1908, Recreation Park at the corner of Smithe and Homer played host to the circus. The banners advertise such side show attractions as Mungo, a Maori Chief, The Randalls, champion sharpshooters and the intriguing sounding William Doss, the Human Telescope. Here’s a 1902 New York Times article describing Mr Doss’ abilities: “Wille Doss, the Human… Continue reading In The Background: William Doss
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 