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What was here before? The Kingsgate Mall
The thing about the Kingsgate Mall at Broadway and Kingsway is you either love it or you hate it. It’s weird or wonderful, strange or quaint, creepy or quirky, but it rarely goes unnoticed. The cupola...
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Saving History: Crime Maps, Surveillance Albums and Mugshot Books
If you enjoy a good murder story, love heritage buildings, or just want to see what a morgue looks like, then you need to make your way down to the Vancouver Police Museum. For those of us who write...
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Top 10 History Blogs for 2017
For my last post of 2017, I have compiled a list of my favourite history blogs. To make the list, the blog had to written by an individual and have a strong Metro Vancouver flavor. In alphabetical...
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Saving History: The Rec Room and the Player Piano
By Michael Kluckner Michael Kluckner is a writer and artist with a list of books that includes Vanishing Vancouver and Toshiko. His most recent book is a graphic novel called 2050: A Post-Apocalyptic...
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The Babes in the Woods Murder Investigation Turns 65
Sunday January 14 marks the 65th anniversary of the discovery of the Babes in the Woods. The murder of the two small children in Stanley Park is one of Vancouver’s most enduring murder mysteries and is...
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Vancouver Archives Receives Two Million Negs
City archivist Heather Gordon says the recent donation of a whopping two million negatives from the Sun and Province (Postmedia) photo library is the largest photographic collection that Vancouver...
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Saving History: the autographed lights from the Orpheum Theatre
A couple of weeks ago Bill Allman, Tom Carter and I were sipping martinis and discussing bits of history that have been saved from the dumpster. The subject of the rescued lights from the Orpheum...
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Fifty Years Ago: Vancouver International Airport
On February 7, 1968 a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight from Honolulu was on final descent into Vancouver when it hit a small fog patch just above the runway. The Boeing 707 touched down, swerved out of...
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Saving History: the life’s work of J.F.C.B. Vance, Vancouver’s first forensic...
In July 2016, several large cardboard boxes filled with photographs, clippings, forensic samples, and case notes pre-dating 1950, and thought to be thrown out decades ago, were discovered in a garage...
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$1.49 Day Woodward’s. $1.49 Day Tuesday
Sixty years ago today, CKNW creative director, Tony Antonias wrote the famous Woodward’s $1.49 day jingle. Antonias, a New Westminster resident and former Aussie—who like most of us ex pats have kept...
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The shootout at False Creek Flats
On February 26, 1947 Vancouver Police officers Charles Boyes and Oliver Ledingham were murdered in a shootout at False Creek Flats. The officers are remembered in an exhibit at the Vancouver Police...
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Emily Carr’s James Bay
Emily Carr died on March 2, 1945, and since March 8 is International Women’s Day, it seems fitting to write a blog about this famous artist and take you on a tour of her James Bay neighbourhood. The...
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The Photography of Bob Cain
I had the pleasure of chatting with Bob Cain this week and discovering his beautiful photographs. The interurban to Marpole. Bob Cain photo, 1957 Bob grew up in Marpole, at a time when a swing bridge...
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Finding the Rhea Sisters
Courtesy Ital Decor I was driving along Hastings the other day when I saw a huge statue in the yard of Ital Decor in Burnaby. It looked suspiciously like one of the WW1 nurses that guarded the 10th...
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Vancouver’s Monkey Puzzle Tree obsession
In 2012, I wrote a book called Sensational Victoria and one of my favourite chapters was Heritage Gardens. I visited and then wrote about large rich-people’s gardens like Hatley Park, and smaller ones...
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The Mysterious Visit of John and Yoko to Stanley Park
By Lani Russwurm Several years ago, I came across an art project by the Goodweather Collective that re-imagined a Vancouver in which the City had left select old growth trees in those roundabouts that...
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A Short History of Cates Park
If you’re looking for something a little different, skip Quarry Rock, Honey’s Donuts and the ice-cream shops of Panorama Drive and head to Cates Park. There’s a ton of history spread over the six...
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Our Missing Heritage: 18 Lost Buildings of Vancouver
Originally from Edmonton, Raymond Biesinger is a Montreal-based illustrator whose work regularly appears in the New Yorker, Le Monde and the Guardian. In his down-time, Biesinger is drawing his way...
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Mount Pleasant’s Coulter House
Did you see the article in the Georgia Straight last week headlined “Modest Vancouver heritage home proposed to be reborn as boutique restaurant”? The accompanying picture showed a funky purple...
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City Reflections: The Epic
I am excited to tell you that City Reflections is now on YouTube. As you’ll read in John Atkin’s story, it was a massive volunteer undertaking by members of the Vancouver Historical Society. It has...
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