July 5, 2018 at 6:00pm its an evening in the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden hosted by the Friends of the Vancouver City Archives. Join the Friends for Chinese tea, award-winning traditional Chinatown pastries and a presentation by Professor Alison Bailey in the Garden’s Hall of One Hundred Rivers while raising funds for important… Continue reading Tea, Talk & Treats: an evening in the Chinese Garden…
Eat, drink, laugh – see and be seen! Friends of the Vancouver City Archives are hosting the Hugh Pickett Gala October 16, 2017, at the Sylvia Hotel – one of Hugh Pickett’s favourite Vancouver hang-outs. An evening of live music, bubbly, hors d’oeuvres and many guests from the local entertainment industry – ‘a good time to be had… Continue reading Gala Ala Hugh…
The debate over 105 Keefer is an important one, not just because it’s a significant chunk of development on a critical site in Chinatown, but with the reimagined parkland and residential communities that will emerge from the North East False Creek planning program, this site will be a major gateway to the historic quarter.… Continue reading Gone But The Significance Remains…
Just what might be the seven wonders of Vancouver? There are perhaps some obvious ones that we might think of, but there might be some hidden in plain sight! On April 13th. the Space Centre is posing this question as part of their ongoing speakers series and I get to take over the planetarium theatre… Continue reading The Seven Wonders of… Vancouver?
Today, Vancouver is praised for its record of good planning and livability, but it wasn’t always so. In the 1950s planners and politicians saw the east side neighbourhoods as a threat to the well being of the city and they set out to wipe out the blight. From the 1957 redevelopment report: “…delay is expensive.… Continue reading The Neighbourhood That Saved Vancouver
Chinatown’s boundary has been shaped by many factors beyond the community’s control. Industry on False Creek, rail yards, ship yards crowded the southern edge. In the 1960s the edge is defined by the freeway planning that creates the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts. To the east, urban renewal truncates the neighbourhood at Gore removing businesses, clan associations… Continue reading Considering Chinatown: boundaries, impacts and going slow & messy
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
Luckily this sad accident wouldn’t happen today, but 120 years ago stumping was quite common and the blasted stumps caused havoc with roads and streetcar lines… from the Vancouver World, 1913. And here’s a Stumping Powder box from James Island just off Sidney on Vancouver Island.
A curious and short item from the Los Angeles Herald 1898: VANCOUVER, B. C. Jan. 16.—Mayor Templeton died this afternoon of an apoplectic stroke. Mr. Templeton is the third one of Vancouver’s mayors to die a sudden death. Templeton was born in 1853 in Belleville Ontario and arrived in the town of Granville, the future… Continue reading “A Fatal Office”
The poor old former Louvre Hotel. Today a portion of the building is propped up with steel posts, bolts and plywood because of some careless demolition next door. Let’s hope the building survives this latest threat. The Louvre has a fascinating history which I wrote about 5 years ago. Here’s the link.
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 