If you’ve tried to drive on or off the North Shore, you’re likely no stranger to gridlock and road rage. An online petition was posted on change.org last week hoping to tap into that frustration. The petition is asking for a third crossing to take pressure off our aging bridges in the face of massive… Continue reading Third Crossing – Here we go again

If you live on the North Shore, chances are that you spend at least some of your summer at West Vancouver’s Ambleside Beach. Did you know that you are sitting on reclaimed land? Prior to 1965, much of this land was a swamp. In 1914, Ambleside was subdivided into lots and filled with makeshift homes… Continue reading A Brief History of Ambleside Beach

A Fred Hollingworth designed studio and carport, has been given a last-minute reprieve from the bulldozer, as the District of North Vancouver looks for a way to save the structures, according to an article by Brent Richter in the North Shore News this week. I spent quite a bit of time in that studio with… Continue reading Selwyn Pullan’s Studio

Of the many places that victims of the Empress of Ireland disaster hailed from, one of the most obscure was Comaplix, a sawmill town on the northeast arm of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay.

Freda Evans, 27 ran the Lardeau Hotel there with her husband Russell.

I had lunch at the Tomahawk Restaurant with my friend Bill Allman last week. A North Van resident, Bill first came here with his grandmother in 1969 when he was just a wee little lad, and he still drops by at least once, sometimes twice a week. Chuck Chamberlain, the second-generation owner—his dad Chick founded… Continue reading The Tomahawk Restaurant

In the mid-1970s Bruce Stewart took his camera down to North Vancouver’s Cates Park and captured these fabulous images of the annual Canoe Festival hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. The Whey-ah-Wichen (Cates Park) Canoe Festival kicks off today (July 4) in North Vancouver and runs until Sunday. It’s a chance to see one of the… Continue reading Whey-ah-Wichen Canoe Festival

A page that lists and honours the missing people of Prince George, BC and for all those who were murdered and have not received justice The List: I wrote a lot about Prince George in my book Cold Case BC: The Stories Behind the Province’s Most Intriguing Murder and Missing Person Cases. When I looked… Continue reading Prince George’s Missing and Murdered

The Gutenberg bible is one of the most valuable and sought after books in the world. Our Vancouver Public Library owns one of its pages.

I gave the first talk about my new book Beneath Dark Waters at Black Bond Books in Ladner Thursday night. I’ve been researching and writing this book for several years and usually when I tell people what I’ve been working on, few have ever heard of the Empress of Ireland, the CPR liner that sank… Continue reading Empress of Ireland: The Vancouver Connection

On March 17, the District of North Vancouver unanimously approved a luxury townhome development on a chunk of land minutes from Edgemont Village. The North Shore News reported that the project included a community amenity contribution of $136,000 that could go to the district’s affordable housing fund. How generous. The 30,000 SF site was listed… Continue reading Shalal Gardens and the Disappearing West Coast Modern Houses

Last week, I wrote a blog about the demise of Henry Hudson Elementary – the 1911 red brick building that housed generations of Vancouver school children. I asked you to share your stories, and many of you did. Japanese Community: Debra Kato’s grandmother (born in 1911 the same year the school opened) went to Henry… Continue reading Henry Hudson Elementary School: (1911-2025)

Last chance to try and snag a brick or two before the 1911 Henry Hudson Elementary School in Kitsilano is just a distant memory. Demolition of the red brick building started Thursday. The Namesake: Since it’s out with the old, I’m wondering if a name change was considered for the new school? Henry Hudson, it… Continue reading RIP Henry Hudson Elementary School

Wanted! The Provincial government is looking for a home for several tons of black marble, currently residing in a Coquitlam storage facility. The marble is about 12 feet high and roughly six feet wide, and that’s all there is left from Vancouver’s Centennial fountain that first sat outside the former Vancouver courthouse in 1966. It… Continue reading Wanted! Home for Centennial Fountain Sculpture

I thought I’d end the year with a fun little story from my book Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History. Thanks for following my sporadic posts this year and here’s to surviving 2025. Happy New Year! At 6:00 am on Sunday January 1, 1922, Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island switched from driving on… Continue reading We Drove on the Left Side of the Road

The Bridge: I love the Yarrawonga Mulwala bridge. It’s flawed and quirky and it turned one hundred this weekend. The anniversary celebrations were at the lake this morning, where temperatures were already well into the 30s by 11:00 am. And even in the absence of King Charles (he sent his regrets) and Australian Prime Minister… Continue reading Yarrawonga Mulwala Bridge turns 100

In August 2019, I was sitting on a Zodiac in the middle of the St. Lawrence River piloted by a French Canadian marine biologist. The trip was arranged by Hugh Verrier, and we were right above the wreck of the Empress of Ireland, a CPR-liner that sunk in 14 minutes after being rammed by a… Continue reading Why I wrote a book about the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck

I’ve been to Jericho Beach dozens of times over the years and often bike along the path that snakes through Spanish Banks, Jericho and spits out onto Point Grey Road. It wasn’t until recently that I found out the area was once part of the largest military training base in Western Canada. Flying Boats: The… Continue reading The Base at Jericho Beach

Deidre Keohane (Deirdriu Ni Cheochain) moved into the Birkdale Apartments on West Broadway with her boyfriend Marty Lacroix in 1980. Birkdale Apartments: The Birkdale Apartments first appears in the city directories in 1922, and at some point became the Burkdale Apartments on the front of the building. Not long after moving in, 22-year-old Deidre, an… Continue reading The Ratdale Apartments on West Broadway

One of my favourite parts about writing this blog is getting comments from people that add to the story, and often take it in a whole new and unexpected direction. I get really excited when someone sends me a 100-year-old postcard or a photo of Vancouver that’s never been seen outside the family album. Maria… Continue reading A postcard from the Wigwam Inn

Before it was a housing development and golf course, Westwood Plateau was a 1,400 acre-odd parcel of land that included a racetrack. All photos by Bruce Stewart in 1970. Two of the streets in the development – Deer’s Leap Place and Carousel Court – were named for the track’s most challenging sections. According to a… Continue reading The Westwood Racing Circuit (1959-1990)