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What was there before? The Courthouse
The Vancouver Courthouse, bordered by Georgia, Hornby, Howe and Robson, was designed by celebrity architect Francis Rattenbury in 1907 and completed in 1911. Since 1983, it has been home to the...
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The East Cordova Street Murder Factory
When I was going through John Vance’s personal files for Blood, Sweat, and Fear, a small article torn from the pages of the long defunct Vancouver Star caught my eye. Vance’s handwriting dated it...
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Saving History: The Lost Scrapbooks from the Marco Polo
By Tom Carter Tom Carter is an artist, a musician, a historian, and a private collector. He has kindly agreed to write a guest blog about one of his most exciting finds. There are some “holy grails”...
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West Vancouver’s Ambleside: Then and Now
If you live on the North Shore, chances are that you spend at least some of your summer at Ambleside. Did you know that you are sitting on reclaimed land? Prior to 1965, much of this land was a swamp....
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The Navvy Jack House: Past, Present and Future
Navvy Jack House, 1957. Photo courtesy West Vancouver Archives Jane Williams kindly gave me a tour of her parent’s house at 1768 Argyle Avenue last week. Her father, Lloyd Williams died in April at the...
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Vancouver’s Buried Houses
A few weeks ago, Michael Kluckner ran a painting of a Kitsilano house on his FB page. I googled the address and was astonished to find that the house was still there on busy 4th Avenue, buried behind...
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The amazing photography of Stephen Joseph Thompson (1864-1929)
Cordova Street looking west in 1898 with the Dunn-Miller building. Courtesy CVA I’m obsessed with a photographer named Stewart Joseph Thompson. I became aware of him a few weeks back when Pamela Post...
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Saving History: Twinning the Lions Gate Bridge
Lions Gate Bridge in 1940. Courtesy CVA 586-462 The Lions Gate Bridge spans the first narrows in Burrard Inlet, connects Vancouver to the North Shore, and is one of the most iconic structures in the...
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The Buntzen Power Stations on Indian Arm
A couple of weeks ago, I took a boat ride up Indian Arm with Belcarra Mayor Ralph Drew and the Deep Cove Heritage Society. It’s hard to imagine that over a century ago Indian Arm was thriving and...
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The PNE: Party Like it’s 1957
The last time I went to the Pacific National Exhibition was about a decade ago when my kids were still small. I’m guessing it hasn’t changed all that much. But I bet 60 years ago it was a whole...
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Victory Square: what was there before?
Before Victory Square was Victory Square and home to the Cenotaph, it was a happening part of the city known as Government Square, because it was the site of the first provincial courthouse. The...
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More of Vancouver’s Buried Houses
Last month, Michael Kluckner wrote a guest blog about the hidden houses of Vancouver. It was hugely popular and readers wrote in to let me know about more of these houses. Today’s blog is a compilation...
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The Brutal Murder of Vancouver Poet Pat Lowther
Pat Lowther died on September 24, 1975, her head smashed in with a hammer at her East Vancouver home. This is a short excerpt from At Home with History: the secrets of Greater Vancouver’s Heritage...
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Our missing heritage: the forgotten buildings of Bruce Price (1845-1903)
In the 1970s, the Scotia Tower and the hideous Vancouver Centre—currently home to London Drugs—obliterated a block of beautiful heritage buildings at Granville and Georgia Streets. The development took...
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City on Edge
On June 14, 1994, I started my shift in Surrey. My assignment for the Vancouver Sun was to wait until the end of the Stanley Cup final between the New York Rangers and the Canucks, catch the SkyTrain...
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The Tragic Death of CPR Constable Thomas Sharpe
A couple of months ago Murray Maisey sent me a clipping from the World regarding the death of Thomas Sharpe. Because Constable Sharpe worked for the CPR, I forwarded the clipping to Graham Walker, who...
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Aborted Plans: All Seasons Park
When I think of all the demolition and destruction that we’ve put Vancouver through over the last century, it amazes me that we still have Stanley Park. It’s not from lack of trying though, developers...
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The Ghosts of the Fireside Grill
The Fireside Grill is situated on a ley line that runs down West Saanich Road, through Wilkinson Road, toward the Four Mile House—a reputably haunted inn—to the Portage Inlet and Esquimalt Harbour....
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Our Missing Heritage: King Edward High School
On June 19, 1973, a three-alarm fire broke out at Vancouver City College at West 12th and Oak Street. Over a thousand students were in class and safely evacuated, but it was too late for the school,...
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Vancouver’s Parking Meters turn 71
On November 12 it will be 71 years since the first parking meters hit Vancouver. The fee was five cents an hour. For the first 30 years, police had responsibility for checking the meters, and I bet...
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