Saving History

I walked by the Navvy Jack House in West Vancouver just before Christmas and was delighted to see the amount of progress made since summer.

Urban Repurpose is a hoarders delight. It’s crammed full of furniture, books, music, art, books and panels from the St. Alice Hotel

By Sébastien Hudon In the summer of 2020, my colleague Louis Pelletier, an historian of early cinema, and I learned that some very old film reels were to be auctioned off in England and bids would be accepted online. The one that caught our attention related to the Empress of Ireland. Louis and I grew… Continue reading The Story of a Missing Film and a Broken Ring

Thought I’d take a break from my summer break to write up this post about Sandon, a super interesting town in the Kootenays. We dropped by there last week on our way to Nelson because I’d heard it was a ghost town and a graveyard for Vancouver’s Brill Trolley buses. We arrived there via a… Continue reading The Brill Trolley Buses of Sandon, BC

Looking at the outside of the plain two-storey building at Victoria Drive and Truimph Street, you’d never guess that Fraser Wilson’s  mural runs the full length of a 25-metre wall. The building is the home of the Maritime Labour Centre, and Fraser Wilson painted the mural in 1947. Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the… Continue reading Fraser Wilson and the (mostly) Working Man’s Mural

An Interview with Jazmin Welch, book designer about working on Vancouver Exposed I’m excited to tell you that Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History is now in bookstores. And, while the saying goes “don’t judge a book by its cover,” I have to disagree. A great cover not only helps to sell the… Continue reading An Interview with Vancouver Exposed Book Designer Jazmin Welch

When David Rowland heard that Woodward’s was closing in 1993, he phoned up the manager and put in an offer for the department store’s historic Christmas windows. They agreed on a price, and David became the proud owner of six semi-trailer loads of animated teddy bears, elves, geese, children, a horse and cart and various… Continue reading The Woodward’s Christmas Windows

Iaci’s Casa Capri Restaurant at 1022 Seymour Street was a Vancouver institution for more than 50 years. It closed in 1982. Story from: Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Rick Iaci was driving down Seymour Street one day when he was horrified to see dozens of framed photographs being thrown into a dumpster… Continue reading Iaci’s Casa Capri

With Aimee Greenaway, Nanaimo Mysteries curatorAimee Greenaway was reading Blood, Sweat, and Fear when she came across George Hannay, a safe cracker from Nanaimo. She’d heard a story about the former BC Provincial police officer turned criminal, but this was the first time she’d seen evidence of his crimes. Aimee thought Hannay’s story would make… Continue reading Nanaimo Mysteries

Chris Wright wants to start a cultural movement around history.  A former location scout for the film industry and a treasure hunter with a metal detector, he is the owner of The History Store in Mount Pleasant. The store has been there almost a year, but unless you have an appointment, it’s only open from… Continue reading The History Store

In July 2016, several large cardboard boxes filled with photographs, clippings, forensic samples, and case notes pre-dating 1950, and thought to be thrown out decades ago, were discovered in a garage on Gabriola Island. They form the basis of Blood, Sweat, and Fear: the story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver’s first forensic investigator.  Crime Scene: I… Continue reading The life’s work of Inspector Vance, Vancouver’s first forensic investigator

A couple of weeks ago Bill Allman, Tom Carter and I were sipping martinis and discussing bits of history that have been saved from the dumpster. The subject of the rescued lights from the Orpheum Theatre came up, and next thing he knew, Bill had agreed to write this blog. By Bill Allman Deep in… Continue reading Saving History: the autographed lights from the Orpheum Theatre

By Michael Kluckner Michael Kluckner is a writer and artist with a list of books that includes  Vanishing Vancouver and Toshiko. His most recent book is a graphic novel called 2050: A Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery. He is the president of the Vancouver Historical Society and a member of the city’s Heritage Commission. We inherited a player piano when we… Continue reading Saving History: The Rec Room and the Player Piano

If you enjoy a good murder story, love heritage buildings, or just want to see what a morgue looks like, then you need to make your way down to the Vancouver Police Museum. For those of us who write about crime, the museum is ground zero when it comes to information, because apart from the static… Continue reading Saving History: Crime Maps, Surveillance Albums and Mugshot Books

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Last year, Daien Ide, reference historian at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives was sitting at her desk when she got a tip. A 1994 model of a proposed Lions Gate twinned bridge had turned up at the Burnaby Hospice Thrift Store on Kingsway with a… Continue reading Saving History: Twinning the Lions Gate Bridge

In 2017, Tom Carter bought scrapbooks from the Marco Polo that were found in a Chinatown dumpster. The club closed in 1983. From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History By Tom Carter Tom Carter is an artist, a musician, a historian, and a private collector. He has kindly agreed to write a guest blog… Continue reading The Lost Scrapbooks from the Marco Polo