Vancouver Heritage Foundation

Il Giardino: The last time we were here, the server was so overcome by the beauty of a group of women sitting near us that he broke into an aria. Turns out that when he wasn’t waiting tables he was singing in an opera. Just one of the pleasant surprises at this downtown restaurant, which… Continue reading The Leslie House

Hastings Sunrise: At just shy of three acres, Burrard View is not a big park. It runs between North Slocan, North Penticton, Yale and Wall Street. The park slopes down to the water and is shaped like half a house. The building on the west side of the park has been the Cottage Hospice since… Continue reading Burrard View Park

The Vancouver Heritage House tour is coming up Sunday June 2, and I haven’t been this excited since Casa Mia was featured in 2014. Don’t get me wrong, the VHF works hard all year to curate a great mix of architectural styles, neighbourhoods and house sizes, but unless you work at, or have a daughter… Continue reading The Vancouver Heritage House Tour, Alvo von Alvensleben and the Old Residence

There are two vastly different West End housing proposals going before Vancouver council this week and both have implications about how we view heritage in our development-mad city. One, in Mole Hill, involves the community’s desire to designate Mole Hill as a Heritage Conservation Area; while the other is a way to redevelop and save… Continue reading West End Heritage–a chance to have your say

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

This is an excerpt from Sensational Vancouver. Eleanor Lum Wayne Avery knew nothing about the history of his house until one day he saw an elderly Chinese woman peering through his front room window. He invited her inside and discovered that she was Eleanor (Yip) Lum, and that she had been born in one of… Continue reading Meet Nellie Yip Quong

John Atkin can be a bit of a kill joy, always squashing rumours about secret tunnels in Chinatown, ghosts in the Dominion Building, and well, blood in Blood Alley. John squashes another rumour in his story about a tunnel that supposedly connected a sugar baron to a brothel, but in doing so he uncovered some… Continue reading Who was Maxine?

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation is piloting a project with the Musqueam Indian Band to offer a tour of Vancouver from a slightly different perspective then the usual whip around Stanley Park, Spanish Banks and the Museum of Anthropology. Actually, we did all those things on a four hour bus ride, but we also got some… Continue reading Celebrating National Aboriginal Day with the Musqueam

Casa Mia is on this year’s Vancouver Heritage House Tour. I finally got to tour it with my partner in crime Aaron Chapman  Casa Mia is featured in Sensational Vancouver: Built on Rum Owned by Rum Runners:  Casa Mia must be one of Vancouver’s most storied old mansions, and at the moment, one of the… Continue reading Casa Mia on this year’s Vancouver heritage house tour

You would think that if a couple of young entrepreneurs wanted to bring business to the Downtown east side, one that offered a safe haven from the streets, served healthy, affordable food, and breathed life back into an old icon, the City and the myriad of agencies that have made an industry out of the… Continue reading Repurposing Vancouver’s Icons–The Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret

In some ways, researching your home is like an archeological dig. But with a bit of patience you can find out who built your home, who lived there before you, who was murdered there, who died of a comfortable old age, perhaps, even, who’s haunting it now. 1. City Directories: I always start with the… Continue reading Who lived in your house — in 10 (mostly easy) steps

It may be long gone, but at least Hogan’s Alley is finally getting the recognition that it deserves. As part of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Places that Matter program, a plaque will be placed near the Hogan’s Alley Cafe at Gore and Union Streets at 2:00 Sunday February 24. Hogan’s Alley Project: The plaque and… Continue reading Hogan’s Alley and the Jimi Hendrix Connection

When I lived in Kitsilano 20 years ago, I used to drop into the grocery store on the corner of Arbutus and 6th. Even back then it was ahead of its time with organic produce and hard-to-find items. But just like The End of the Line and the Corner Store in North Vancouver have transformed… Continue reading Arbutus Grocery

Chances are if you live in Vancouver or Victoria you’ve either been inside a Samuel Maclure house or at least walked by one.