Every Place Has a Story

Malcolm Lowry’s North Vancouver

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Malcolm Lowry may be North Vancouver’s most talented, paranoid alcoholic. He wrote Under the Volcano, his most famous book, from a shack in Cates Park. Lowry died on June 26, 1957 at 48.

Under the Volcano:

Born in England, Lowry lived in Vancouver for more than 15 years. He had a variety of addresses on Vancouver’s West Side and in the West End, but most of his time was spent near Deep Cove in North Vancouver.

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Foncie’s North Vancouver Connection

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When Foncie Pulice was 21 in 1934, he quit house painting and went to work for Joe Iaci and his street photography company Kandid Kamera.

Foncie, to my knowledge, never crossed the bridge or took the ferry to North Vancouver—at least not for his work. He did capture many of our most colourful citizens.

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Van Tan–North Vancouver’s Nudist Camp

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From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

I’ve lived in Lynn Valley for 20 years and while I’ve heard rumours of a nudist camp at the top of Mountain Highway, I always thought that it was an urban myth. After reading an article this week, I found their website, fired off an email, and accepted an invitation from PR director Daniel Jackson to spend this afternoon at Van Tan.

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The unsolved murder of North Vancouver’s Jennie Eldon Conroy

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Look for the full story of Jennie Eldon Conroy in Cold Case Vancouver: the city’s most baffling unsolved murders

A couple of weeks ago, Daien Ide, reference historian at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives came into the possession of a photo album. At first she thought it was just a nice family photo album once owned by a Miss J.

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Canada’s First Parachute Jump was at North Vancouver’s mudflats

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“Straight as a plummet the steak of red below the long streak of white dropped for fully 100 feet. Then with a couple of preliminary flutters, the rushing air entered the distending ring of the parachute and it opened like a huge umbrella. A great sigh of relief went up from the 6,000 and some odd pairs of eyes who were watching the daring feat.”
The World, May 25, 1912.

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The Hunting Lodge on Somerset Street in North Vancouver

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The house on Somerset Street in North Vancouver was built in 1912 as a hunting lodge for Alvo von Alvensleben. 

The story of Alvo von Alvensleben and the hunting lodge on Somerset appears in At Home with History: the secrets of Vancouver’s heritage houses:

A couple of weeks ago I was taking photos of this house on Somerset when Bob Findlay politely asked me what I was doing skulking around in his bushes.

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North Vancouver’s Andrews on 8th

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I haven’t been past the blue building for several months, so it was a nice surprise to drop in for coffee and a veggie panini at Andrews on 8th.

Don’t let the unfinished paint job fool you; it’s a major work in progress by Brad Hodson, owner of Valley Estates, a make-your-own-wine store that shares the commercial block with the cafe.

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