At the foot of Keefer Street in 1913 you would have been confronted with the smell, dirt and dust of the Vancouver Gas Company’s coal gas plant. The street was nothing more than a dirt track from Main Street to the edge of False Creek. There was no Columbia Street south of Pender Street, just… Continue reading Oh, Just A Little Bit of Change…
There are so many examples of cities using light in interesting ways. Imagine if Chinatown in Vancouver hosted a lighting festival… This is from Frame Magazine. It may not be as drastic as in some parts of the world, but the Netherlands gets dark pretty darn early during winter. To break the blackness, Amsterdam Light Festivalilluminates… Continue reading Let There Be Light…
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
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC with a walking tour. Robert Sung and I are presenting a walking tour of Chinatown which looks at the area’s history and society buildings. Be prepared to climb some stairs as we’ve lined up a selection of society buildings for the tour. It’s… Continue reading On the Streets and Up the Stairs in Chinatown
Shore Street was just a short bit of road on the west side of Main Street that disappeared when the Georgia Viaduct was constructed in 1914. Here the tops of a house and a couple of rooming houses poke above the northern edge of the deck of the new viaduct. The street gained notoriety when… Continue reading A Bit of a View of Shore Street
We don’t often get to see Shanghai Alley like this. Taken in the 1940s this Archives image shows the west side of the alley looking north and the tenements built in 1905 by Yip Sang which helped establish the alley. CVA 586-4593
This image appeared on Ebay many months ago and it was described as a Chinatown funeral in Vancouver c.1900, but I couldn’t place the location. But behind the crowd in the window of the corner storefront is a sign for the Opera Resort, this puts it at the south east corner of Carrall and Pender… Continue reading Carrall and Dupont (Pender) Street
In 1958 Vancouver’s old City Hall met the wrecker’s ball. This was the city’s second city hall after the 1886 fire and was once home to the public market and a theatre. The old hall was replaced with a short lived public market building. Archives photo 2010-006.155
From the press release: The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC (CCHSBC) is pleased to announce that long time Chinatown advocate Fred Mah is to honoured for his contributions to the Chinese Canadian community and to Vancouver at the society’s annual banquet March 9, 2013. Ken Yip, CCHSBC president said “we are delighted that we… Continue reading Fred Mah Chinese Canadian Historical Society Honouree for 2013
Chinatown, a complex and fascinating neighbourhood and Vancouver’s oldest community is now one of Canada’s newest National Historic sites. Join John Atkin and Jeannette Hlavach, authors of the application for historic site status, as they explore the history and development of this area and look at what it takes to get a place on the… Continue reading What’s up with Chinatown?
What Floats to the Top of My Desk 