REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE. CLAIM OF SAMUEL GREER TO CERTAIN LANDS AT ENGLISH BAY. Mr. Speaker.. Your Committee appointed to enquire into the claim of Samuel Greer to certain lands in the vicinity of English Bay beg respectfully to report as follows:— We met on Saturday, the 14th April, 1888, at 10 o’clock, and inasmuch… Continue reading Samuel Greer and Certain Lands at English Bay
French conceptual artist Daniel Buren is the fifth artist to take over the Grand Palais in Paris. His offering is Excentrique(s), a giant kaleidoscope-style installation that fills the building’s nave. The 2012 Monumenta site-specific commission in the vast, airy nave of Paris’s Grand Palais is like being plunged into a pool of coloured light. Daniel… Continue reading Kaleidoscope eyes: Daniel Buren’s Monumenta installation in Paris
We have some more Sunday Changing City tours ready to go. 10 bucks, 10:00 am in the morning. Join us on these dates: May 27th. Southeast False Creek: A Revisit. Since our last visit, numerous projects are now out of the ground changing the face of this former industrial area. Join us for a look… Continue reading More Walking Tours
In 1918 there was a suggestion that pigs should be raised in Stanley Park. No reason was given why this was a good idea.
There are places that we pass by every day and don’t really pay attention to. But if we just take the time to take a closer look we might be surprised. I had the priviledge of taking a delightful Jane’s Walk on Sunday with Joe Thompson in Thorton Park in front of the old Canadian… Continue reading Looking at Trees
As part of the research into the development of Chinatown along Pender Street I’ve been looking at False Creek and its changing shorelines. this quick sketch shows the original and early 1900s shorelines before fill pushed the shoreline out to its present location. When the Great Northern Railway set up its station in 1910 at… Continue reading False Creek in Chinatown
An interesting post on the Daily Undertaker regarding architecture and loss… “There is a kind of afterlife that exists in our physical world. Our actions and experiences continue to resonate long after the situations they were born in are gone. Whether our loved one is with us, in another place, or dead, these experiences make… Continue reading Ghost Buildings
In 1910 crows in Stanley Park became targets.
We often hear about Harry Houdini doing his escape act at the Sun Building on Pender Street in 1923, where he was suspended from the third floor and wriggled free from a straight jacket. But before him was Harry Gardiner the “Human Fly” who visited Vancouver in Novemebr 1918 to scale the walls of the… Continue reading The Human Fly
Joe Fortes was a well-loved Vancouver humanitarian, who provided lifeguarding services and swimming instruction at English Bay beach during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lisa Smith and Barbara Rogers have studied Joe’s life for the last eight years and have compiled a thorough account of his life history including his many adventures both… Continue reading Joe Fortes – The Book
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 