Louis the celebrity parrot inherited a three-storey mansion and managed to stave off development for 17 years, before the estate succumbed to “progress” and was bulldozed to make way for the Chateau Victoria Hotel in 1966.
I’m one of the few people in this city that’s never been to the Penthouse Night Club, and fortunately for me I’ll still get the chance because of the quick response by Vancouver firefighters early this morning.
Yes, it’s a strip club with dubious connections, but it’s also one of the longest running family businesses in the city and its history of bootlegging and bad cops is also the history of early Vancouver.
Looking for a mansion on the right side of town? 3390 The Crescent is on the market for $31.9 million. I’m guessing the owners are receptive to a lower bid, since it was up for sale last year for only $17.9 million.
When it comes to West Coast architecture, Fred Hollingsworth is a rock star. He invented the Neoteric style —affordable family housing with simple post and beam construction.
The 2012 Greater Vancouver Fire Fighters Hall of Flame Calendar officially launched on September 8 at Chill Winston’s, a restaurant in a heritage building in Vancouver’s Gastown. Since it’s the Calendar’s 25th anniversary, and because the front page and several of the fire fighters were shot at Firehall No. 6 in Vancouver’s West End, there’s a lot of nice history attached to this year’s fundraiser.
The two-storey Commercial Block at East 8th and St. Andrews in North Vancouver is getting a makeover. New owner Brad Hodson plans to return it to 1912 with a large coat of Strathcona red paint trimmed with Victorian peridot and Edwardian buff accents.
For the past four years Brad has driven by 277 East 8th on the way to his wine making business at 2nd and Lonsdale.
Sylvia Holland was the first registered female architect in British Columbia. After her husband died, she took her two children and moved to Los Angeles where she worked for Universal Studios and later MGM as a background artist. Walt Disney hired her as one of his first women animators.
See the full story in Sensational Victoria: Bright lights, red lights, murders, ghosts and gardens
I had a really interesting chat with Theo Halladay recently.
See the full story in Sensational Victoria: Bright lights, red lights, murders, ghosts and gardens
When I was mapping out a walking tour of James Bay for Sensational Victoria not too long ago, I came across the Coach House, an early carriage-style residence tucked away at the point where Marifield Avenue runs into St.