City of Vancouver Archives

Last year, Constable Graham Walker of the Metro Vancouver Transit Police was asked to research the history for their 10-year anniversary. Graham promptly fell down the rabbit hole and his journey has taken him to UBC Special Collections, City of Vancouver Archives, BC Hydro Archives, and the Vancouver Police Museum. Graham’s first surprise was that… Continue reading The 100-year-old Unsolved Murder of Special Constable Charles Painter

When I was researching my 2007 book At Home with History I spent most of my life at the Vancouver Archives and on the 7th floor of the Vancouver Public Library. Now, instead of trekking downtown, much of the information is available to me here at home. Today, the digital world just got a bit… Continue reading Online Porn for History Nerds

In February heritage men told us their favourite building and the one building we should have saved. To keep the world in balance, I’ve asked the same question of women working in and with heritage—our answers may surprise you. Caroline Adderson: Caroline Adderson is an award-winning Vancouver author  and the person behind Vancouver Vanishes Favourite… Continue reading Heritage Streeters with Caroline Adderson, Heather Gordon, and Eve Lazarus

The Georgia Viaduct knocked out a lot of buildings in 1971 including Hogan’s Alley and Vie’s Chicken and Steakhouse. Urban Renewal: The photo (above) was shot in 1971 and appears in Sensational Vancouver’s Walk on the Wild Side chapter to illustrate “urban renewal”—the City of Vancouver’s excuse for trying to demolish Strathcona and Chinatown. It’s… Continue reading The Georgia Viaduct

For the first half of last century, houses lined the water side of Beach Avenue, from the Burrard Street Bridge to Stanley Park From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History When I first started researching Alvo von Alvensleben some years ago I made several road trips to see how many of the buildings… Continue reading The Former Houses of Beach Avenue

On February 23, Jennifer Clay gave an A to Z workshop to home owners wanting to research the history of their homes. Jennifer has written a guest blog based on her presentation. By Jennifer Clay I live in a 1926 heritage home in North Vancouver, and while I had a vague idea of the previous occupants of… Continue reading Researching John Bull’s House

I met with Will Woods for coffee last week. Will is a young Brit who moved to Vancouver six years ago with his wife and little boy, and like a lot of us transplants, fell deeply in love with the history of the city. You may have seen him hunched over the card files at… Continue reading Forbidden Vancouver

This is one of my favourite finds at the Vancouver Archives. The house at 755 Bute Street is long gone, but was once owned by Dr. James Farish, a Vancouver ear, eye and nose specialist. On September 4, 1918, Victor Bishop, 23, was home on leave from the War, when the builders—Jimmy and Henry Hoffar, asked him to take their seaplane for a test spin over Burrard Inlet.