Every Place Has a Story

In and out of Vogue: A Vancouver art deco story

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The Vogue Theatre opened in April 1941 and was designated as a national historic site in 1993.

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

Dal Richards opened:

On April 15, 1941 the Dal Richards Big Band was the opening act for the Vogue Theatre, a combination vaudeville and movie house located on Granville Street near the Commodore.

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The Top 10 Most Expensive Houses in BC: nine are in Vancouver

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If you’re a property owner in Metro Vancouver and looking for relief in this year’s property tax bill, well let’s just say it’s not going to happen. For property owners living in one of the priciest regions of the country—the West Coast real estate market keeps going up—and so does your bill.

The good news is that BC Assessment also released the 500 most expensive properties in the province today, and it gives you a glimpse into how the rich get richer.

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Meet Nellie Yip Quong

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This is an excerpt from Sensational Vancouver.

Eleanor Lum

Wayne Avery knew nothing about the history of his house until one day he saw an elderly Chinese woman peering through his front room window.

He invited her inside and discovered that she was Eleanor (Yip) Lum, and that she had been born in one of the bedrooms of his Strathcona house in 1928 by Nellie Yip Quong who later adopted her.

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Doors Open Vancouver

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The second Doors Open Vancouver is coming up this Saturday October 3, and will give you a behind-the-scenes look at 18 city-owned buildings. Since you won’t have time to see all of them – here’s my top six: 

1. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Training Centre:

Go see the city’s only burn building (meaning one that’s lit on fire), find out about the heavy urban search and rescue team, and of course, check out the hot firefighters.

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The Orpheum Theatre and a conversation with Paul Merrick

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Dan Rickard photography

A couple of weeks ago, Judy Graves, Tom Carter and I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Orpheum Theatre.

The “new” Orpheum was designed in 1927 by Marcus Priteca, a Seattle-based architect who fashioned the theatre in a Spanish renaissance style and gave it an opulent air with some sleight of hand tricks.

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Mayor Gerry McGeer’s $20 Million Tear-Down

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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 property at 4812 Belmont is apparently the 6th most expensive listing in Vancouver.

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A brief history of Vancouver’s City Halls

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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.

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Then and Now: Images of Vancouver

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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.

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