Eve Lazarus
The Navvy Jack house was built in the late 1860s or early ’70s which makes it one of the oldest houses in Metro Vancouver. Lloyd and Bette Williams took care of it for nearly 50 years, now it’s in the hands of the District of West Vancouver
Jane Williams kindly gave me a tour of her parent’s house at 1768 Argyle Avenue last week.
If you live on the North Shore, chances are that you spend at least some of your summer at West Vancouver’s Ambleside. Did you know that you are sitting on reclaimed land? Prior to 1965, much of this land was a swamp.
In 1914, Ambleside was subdivided into 17 lots and filled with makeshift homes and a few businesses.
If you live in North Vancouver you may have noticed the old Tudor-style house at Chesterfield and Osborne in the upper Lonsdale Area.
It’s hard to see these days, because several years ago we allowed developers to build two large “carriage” houses, in what was once a magnificent garden filled with hollies, laburnums, cedars, black walnuts, a cherry tree, a rose garden, and a large rhododendron.
It’s hard to fathom how anyone could think that a belly flop competition was a good idea, but Tom Butler did back in the ‘70s, and as it happens, it was.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Stunts:
Former Sun reporter, turned PR guy, Butler was the master of the photo op.
When Tom Butler talked the prime minister’s wife, Margaret Trudeau, into turning up at the opening night of the Daddy Long Legs Disco at the International Plaza Hotel in North Vancouver on July 31, 1979, her appearance scored national attention for the nightclub.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
North Vancouver Disco:
The only thing I could find out about the Daddy Long Legs disco was from a Globe and Mail article dated August 4, 1979 which focused on PR superstar Tom Butler rather than the venue he was promoting.
The Switzer house of West Vancouver was designed one Sunday, painted pink, and received attention from all over the world.
840 Mathers:
In 1960, the Taylor Way interchange on the Upper Levels Highway looked radically different than it does today. That year, local builder Henry Switzer placed his shocking pink house at 840 Mathers Avenue at the end of 9th Street.
Do you remember the Seven Seas Restaurant? It was moored at the foot of Lonsdale from 1959 to 2002. The restaurant had a crazy 48-foot neon sign easily visible from East Vancouver, and it was the place where locals had their first drink, got engaged, and ate at the city’s biggest seafood buffet.
Confused by the new parking restrictions and hostile signage at Lynn Valley? Creeped out by the guy in blue that follows you around the parking lot? Not sure where LV shopping Centre starts and where LV Village takes over? Wondering why they can’t just enforce a one or two-hour parking limit and let customers park where they want?
