I am thrilled to have the book launch for Sensational Vancouver at the Vancouver Police Museum on Tuesday. The Museum is housed in the old coroner’s court and morgue on Cordova which makes an authentic backdrop for all the great displays. A large chunk of the material for my book came straight from the Museum’s… Continue reading Mug-Shot Books and the Vancouver Police Museum

Mayor Gerry McGeer lived at 4812 Belmont Avenue in Point Grey between 1927 and his death there in 1947. At around 10:00 pm on June 17, 2022 the house burned to the ground. It was unoccupied and apparently under renovation after not getting a demolition permit Sixth most expensive listing: As of August 2014, the… Continue reading Mayor Gerry McGeer’s $20 Million Tear-Down

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Before Vancouver settled on its current City Hall on West 12th, it had been housed in a number of really interesting buildings. The first council started out in a tent shortly after the Great Fire wiped out most of the city in 1886. The tent was… Continue reading A brief history of Vancouver’s City Halls

The gorgeous woman pictured on the cover of Sensational Vancouver and featured in my chapter on Legendary Women is Tosca Trasolini. Tosca was a member of the Flying Seven, Canada’s first all-female aviators’ club. The club formed in 1935—the year she turned 24—after Margaret Fane—one of the Flying Seven flew to California to meet with… Continue reading Tosca Trasolini and the Flying Seven

Barry Downs architect designed his gorgeous West Coast Modern house in West Vancouver in 1979. He lived there until his death in July 2022 at 92. From Sensational Vancouver Barry Downs house sits on top of a cliff 120 feet above West Vancouver’s Garrow Bay. The house is almost invisible from the busy street and… Continue reading West Coast Modern and Architect Barry Downs

Depending on where you live, you’ve probably noticed large sculptures and other forms of public art popping up around your neighbourhood. I was at Spanish Banks as part of a tour by the Musqueam last Saturday and was delighted to discover these enormous pieces of furniture sculpted by Brazilian artist Hugo Franca from fallen trees.… Continue reading Public Art in Vancouver

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

Last week I wrote about Darren Bernaerdt who teaches Photoshop at Langara College. Each year Darren sends his students to the Vancouver Archives to look at old photographs, choose one that resonates with them, research it and then go out and photograph the same scene from the same angle and merge them together. The results… Continue reading Then and Now: Images of Vancouver

Four years ago Darren Bernaerdt decided to give photography students at Langara College a different kind of assignment. He sent them to Vancouver Archives to research 100-year-old photographs of the city, and then he put them on the streets to capture those same images, matching the exact perspective and angle of view. While it could… Continue reading Merging Time: A photographic essay of Vancouver

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Bryan Adams has collected a ton of hardware over the years, but the one I find the most interesting is the City of Vancouver Heritage Award he was given in 1998 for transforming a derelict Gastown warehouse into a world class recording studio. The building restoration… Continue reading From Vancouver City Hall to Bryan Adams’ Recording Studio: repurposing old buildings

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

I was standing on the 7th floor of the Regent Hotel a few weeks back when a rat the size of my miniature schnauzer blew past. I just managed to stop myself from vaulting on top of John Atkin’s shoulders (the tallest structure in the hallway). John, it turns out, doesn’t just know buildings and… Continue reading Vancouver’s Regent Hotel

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to get in on a tour exploring several DTES buildings with Judy Graves, Tom Carter and John Atkin. Judy spent decades advocating for the homeless, and this is her stamping ground. Tom lives and paints from his downtown loft, and John lives in Strathcona, so I’m… Continue reading Exploring the DTES – Main Street Barber Shop

It was Anzac Day in Australia yesterday, an important national holiday back home that honours those who fought and were slaughtered at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. I was thinking of this when John Mackie’s story in the Vancouver Sun today caught my eye. A 12-page letter written by Victor Odlum and dated May 1,… Continue reading Vancouver’s Odlum Family and their Fabulous Houses

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

“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… Continue reading Canada’s First Parachute Jump was at North Vancouver’s mudflats

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

Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag. It’s one of three in Metro Vancouver designed by Ross Lort It feels a bit like whack a mole. One hobbit house gets a reprieve from the bulldozer and the next one comes up for sale. Fortunately the Lea Residence has a heritage designation, which means it… Continue reading Vancouver Hobbit House has $2.5 million price tag

Story from Sensational Victoria The Tilikum lives at the Maritime Museum in Victoria and it’s well worth the visit. At 38-feet long it looks like a flimsy thing to take out in Victoria Harbour on a windy day, let alone around the world, but in 1901 Captain John Voss and Norman Luxton, a reporter from… Continue reading Captain Voss and his Venturesome Voyage at BC Heritage Week

In 1912, when it was tough for a woman to make a decent living, Christina Haas arrived in Victoria and bought herself a brothel. Thomas Hooper once had the largest architectural practice in Western Canada. He designed hundreds of buildings including the Victoria Public Library, the Rogers Chocolates and the Munro’s Books Building in Victoria.… Continue reading Christina Haas’s Cook Street Brothel