That was the headline in the August 18, 1965 edition of the Vancouver Sun and the report went on to say that the then 49 year bridge “full of humps and bumps, is slowly collapsing under its own weight, city engineer Ran Martin reported Tuesday. Martin told city council $100,000 in maintenance work could keep… Continue reading Georgia Viaduct Overweight…
Researching houses is always interesting. There is the architecture, or lack of it, the builders and the context that prompted a development or subdivision and there are the lives of those that once inhabited a house, sometimes ordinary, a few times interesting and occasionally linked to intriguing events. Soon after the 4th Avenue streetcar line… Continue reading From Point Grey to a Train Robbery
In the stuff that lies around on my desk, I have a photo of the figurehead of the Empress of Japan taken in 1928 just after it was installed in Stanley Park. As the ship was being broken up near the Second Narrows bridge on the North Shore, Vancouver Province publisher Frank J. Burd had… Continue reading There be Dragons…
The Friends of the Vancouver City Archives have a walking tour coming up in October. The Georgia Viaducts, the only visible reminder of the grander city-wide freeway plan of the 1950s, will soon be a memory with their impending demolition. On this walk we’ll explore their history and development, the freeway fight and explore a… Continue reading The Roads to Nowhere
We forget sometimes what Vancouver used to look like before we got down to some serious city building. The overall impression of the downtown was that it was a sea of parking lots and garages. Here’s a shot from the Archives (CVA 515-25) looking south along Richards, Homer and Hamilton streets from Georgia.
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…
Here’s the entrance to the Massey Tunnel soon after its official opening by the Queen.
From the Montreal Herald’s Dominion edition 1889
There’s a parade finishing up at Hastings and Carrall c.1899 and this wagon features the products of the Royal City Planing Mill. The mill was at the foot of Carrall Street on False Creek and that might be where it’s going as it turns the corner onto Carrall. CVA 677-27
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 