Eve Lazarus
Our second Hotel Vancouver opened its doors in 1916 and was the most elegant and ornate building that we have destroyed.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Built in 1916 and pulled down just 33 years later to make way for a parking lot, the second Hotel Vancouver was a replacement for the original Hotel Vancouver which was built in 1888.
I’ve having the immense pleasure of wading through the actual copies of dozens of newspapers from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s for a book that I’m currently writing. Every now and then I stumble across something really special.
In 1934, the Vancouver Sun bragged that it was “the only evening newspaper owned, controlled and operated by Vancouver Men,” and on page 2 of the Sunday October 6th edition was this short sidebar that ran with the headline “Lovely Vancouver Homes.” Below, in what was clearly an early advertorial disguised as editorial, were the photos of five newish homes that had recently sold.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Did you know that a commuter train used to run right through downtown Vancouver? I found out about it when I was over at Tom Carter’s studio checking out one of his amazing paintings. There it was, a train chugging across Hastings Street.
Joe Ricci’s story is in Sensational Vancouver
Joe was a kick-arse Italian cop who worked for the Vancouver Police Department between 1912 and 1928 and didn’t get bogged down in the details. He’d kick down the doors of opium dens, shoot first and ask questions later, and not worry too much about legal things like warrants and warnings.
I’m writing a book about John F.C.B. Vance, the first forensic scientist in Vancouver, and this week I wrote about his first day of work as the new City Analyst. My book is non-fiction, but sometimes you need some creative license. My challenge was to get to get Vance from his house in Yaletown to Market Hall, a lovely long-gone gothic building on Westminster (Main Street) which doubled as City Hall.
The Vancouver Police Museum’s Kristin Hardie solved the mystery of this ca.1940 photo. The women police officers on patrol are Bessie Say and Jeanette Heathorn.
This great Foncie photo of two women police officers ran in Sensational Vancouver, in a chapter called “Lurancy Harris’s Beat.” Lurancy was the first female police officer in Canada when she was hired along with Minnie Millar by the Vancouver Police Department in 1912, and one of my favourite historical characters.
The Canadian National Steamship terminal was a funky Spanish Colonial-style building that sat on the pier at the foot of Main Street from 1931 to 1983.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Foot of Main Street
Before CRAB Park was created in 1987, there was a funky Spanish Colonial-style building that sat on the pier at the foot of Main Street.
On July 26, 1924, Janet Smith was found shot in the head by a .45 calibre automatic revolver in the basement of a Shaughnessy house. The murder of the Scottish nanny rocked Vancouver. The murder touched on high-level police corruption, kidnapping, drugs, society orgies and rampant racism. This is a short excerpt from my book At Home with History: The Secrets of Greater Vancouver’s Heritage Homes
3851 Osler Street
Janet Smith was an attractive 23-year-old Scot who looked after Fred and Doreen Baker’s baby daughter.
