Every Place Has a Story

Vancouver Vanishes with Caroline Adderson

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For a number of years Caroline Adderson wrote outraged letters to City Council about the large scale destruction of heritage houses in her Vancouver neighbourhood. When her letters went unanswered, Caroline sent pictures—she still didn’t get a response.

In January 2013, the award-winning author took her fight to social media and started posting pictures of beautiful character houses and short descriptions of their social history, including the address, when it was built, the first owner and occupation.

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Hidden Pasts, Digital Futures: Vancouver Circa1948

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Last Saturday I time-travelled to Hogan’s Alley and landed smack in 1948. Geographically, I wasn’t really that far away. I was standing inside a large box in Vancouver’s Woodward’s building using my body as a joy-stick to move through the streets of an area that’s been buried under the Georgia Viaduct since 1972.

The National Film Board teamed up with Vancouver artist Stan Douglas, and last year released an app that turned the second Hotel Vancouver and Hogan’s Alley into two digital worlds.

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Heritage Streeters with Michael Kluckner, Jess Quan, Lani Russwurm and Lisa Anne Smith

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Continuing on with a series I started earlier this year, I’ve asked a few friends to tell me their favourite Vancouver building and the one they miss the most.

Michael Kluckner     

Michael is the author of a dozen books. His most recent is Toshiko, a graphic novel set in BC in 1944.

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Our Missing Hotel Heritage: What were we thinking?

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The much lamented—and never should have come down–second Hotel Vancouver should have the number one spot on any much missed heritage building list, but I’d argue that the Devonshire should be a close second. When it comes to hotels, we’ve pulled down a lot of them. Here’s my Top 7 list of downtown hotels missing from our landscape.

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Our missing West End residential heritage: What were we thinking?

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For more stories like this one see Vancouver Exposed: Searching for this city’s hidden history

I was trekking around the West End with artist and historian Tom Carter on Tuesday. I found some pictures of gorgeous old West End houses at the archives and I wanted to see what replaced them.

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Heritage Streeters with Caroline Adderson, Heather Gordon, Eve Lazarus, Cat Rose and Stevie Wilson

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In February heritage men told us their favourite building and the one building we should have saved. To keep the world in balance, I’ve asked the same question of women working in and with heritage—our answers may surprise you.

Caroline Adderson is an award-winning Vancouver author  and the person behind Vancouver Vanishes.

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The Switzer House of West Vancouver (1960-1971)

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Back in September 2013 I blogged about a Fred Hollingsworth designed house in North Vancouver that was sold, torn down and soon after flipped for land value that was more than the original house. Chris left a comment asking me if I could find a photo of another North Shore landmark, a futuristic-looking house that was painted a “shocking pink” and looked like a spaceship.

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Heritage Streeters (with John Atkin, Aaron Chapman, Jeremy Hood and Will Woods)

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One of the things I loved most about being a contributor to Vancouver Confidential was working with reporters, bloggers, artists, tour guides, actors, musicians and academics that cut across both decades and demographics. The experience made me realize what a truly diverse group we have working in the local history and heritage space.

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