Eve Lazarus
If you lived in Vancouver’s West End after 1981 you may not know that street barricades and parklets are a leftover from the West End’s prostitution era
West End:
Aaron Chapman’s latest book Vancouver Vice, is a colourful history of the West End in the 1970s and ‘80s. In those days up to 300 sex workers—male and female—strolled the streets—40 to 50 of whom might be working on any given day or night.
Rolie Moore grew up in Burnaby’s Hart House and became the president of the Flying Seven, Canada’s first all female pilot club
I had the pleasure of having lunch with the delightful George Garrett at Hart House last week, a restaurant I’ve wanted to visit ever since I first heard that one of its inhabitants was the amazing Rolie Moore.
Maximum Security:
BC Penitentiary was a maximum-security federal prison plagued with riots throughout its 100-year life. There was the 1975 riot and hostage taking resulting in the death of Mary Steinhauser, a 32-year-old social worker. She was one of 15 hostages shot when police stormed the prison. Long before that, there was the 1934 riot when 78 prisoners refused to work unless they were paid.
Part of the Shogun mini-series based on James book is being filmed in North Vancouver’s Princess Park.
Story from Sensational Vancouver
Princess Park:
I was walking in Princess Park this morning and noticed that a film crew is preparing to shoot some scenes for a mini-series based on James Clavell’s 1975 book Shogun.
If you lived in Vancouver in the late 1960s, you’ll likely remember the four bizarre red Georgia Street pylons. The pylons ran from Granville to Howe Streets between July 1967 and December 1969.
According to a news media release at the time: “The 60-foot towers, symbolic of giant torches, a traditional heraldic device, are a fitting expression for Canada’s 100th birthday.”
Reaction:
Not surprisingly, the pylons which ran between Granville and Howe Streets, brought out intense emotions.
In February, we learned that the Babes in the Woods, the two little boys who were murdered in Stanley Park 75 years ago—were Derek D’Alton aged seven and his brother David, six. Genetic genealogy—the latest crime fighting tool was able to do what seven decades of police work could not—identify the little boys through familial DNA.
Before we had the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, there was the Crystal Pool.
The story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History.
Crystal Pool:
Joe Fortes taught hundreds of children how to swim in English Bay, If the much-loved life guard were still alive when Crystal Pool opened in July 1929, it’s hard to imagine that the parks board would have got away with separate swim days—six days for whites, one day for “coloureds and Orientals”*—segregating their mostly young customers for the next 17 years.
Angus McIntyre took this photo of the Royal Hudson at Arbutus and Broadway in 1977 travelling to the US on a three-week promotional tour
Going South:
This photo of the Royal Hudson travelling along the Arbutus corridor at Broadway on March 20, 1977 is one of my favourite Angus McIntyre photos.
