The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC (CCHSBC) has two new books out which you should read. Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian & Aboriginal Potluck is a new edition of the publication with a new forward by Jean Barman. It’s chock-a-block full of stories and recipes from the Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal perspective. It’s great… Continue reading Two Books to Add to Your Bookcase
Friends of the Archives Fall Fundraiser: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 7:00 pm-9:00 pm Doors open 6:00 pm H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street Join Andy Coupland and John Atkin as they explore the changing nature of Vancouver through before-and-after images selected from the blog Changing Vancouver and the Vancouver Archives. Set against the background… Continue reading An Ever-changing City
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
An amazing evening of food and entertainment. And you get to support the Garden too. Get your tickets now – they go fast!
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.
“lower floors of Haddington Island stone, the upper floors in pressed brick trimmed with ornamental terra-cotta. the main entrance trimmed with Bancroft Cipolino marble, the stairs finished in the same material…” “designed to be as fireproof as possible” The building was equipped with high speed elevators that ran on DC electricity, from the same source… Continue reading Proposed Building for the World Newspaper
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 January 1931 Vancouver Sun and Google Street View
I finally got myself organized and have posted my Jane’s Walk: Scrap Metal, False Creek, and Taxi Cabs: a walk on Vernon Drive It will be a walk the length of Vernon Drive south of Venables. We’re meeting on the south east corner of Venables and George Street, 7:00 pm. As usual, rain or shine.
Poking around the back alleys of the city and had to capture the Louvre Hotel wall sign again. As it ages the layers are revealed.
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 