Vancouver History

SkyTrain officially opened for business on January 3, 1986. The first train left New Westminster station at 5:20 am. Angus McIntyre tells me that the initial test section opened in June 1983. “You could take a free ride from Terminal and Main Station.” He has the First Riders Club certificate to prove it.

In 1965, George Klippert was arrested and charged with four counts of gross indecency. He admitted to having consensual sex with four different adult males. A psychiatrist assessed him as “incurably homosexual.” Klippert was labeled a dangerous offender and sentenced to life in prison.

Bruce Stewart sent me an email a couple of weeks ago, saying that he had come across some photos of store windows that he’d taken in the 1970s, was I interested in seeing them. Of course I was, and I think you’ll love them as well. Where most of us will see a jumbled store… Continue reading Vancouver’s Store Windows – an Essay in Photos

The Lonsdale Quay fountain broke down in 2020 and cost $300,000 to fix. So we didn’t. Now we can gaze upon the $200 million Superyacht instead

If you’ve tried to drive on or off the North Shore, you’re likely no stranger to gridlock and road rage. An online petition was posted on change.org last week hoping to tap into that frustration. The petition is asking for a third crossing to take pressure off our aging bridges in the face of massive… Continue reading Third Crossing – Here we go again

In the mid-1970s Bruce Stewart took his camera down to North Vancouver’s Cates Park and captured these fabulous images of the annual Canoe Festival hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. The Whey-ah-Wichen (Cates Park) Canoe Festival kicks off today (July 4) in North Vancouver and runs until Sunday. It’s a chance to see one of the… Continue reading Whey-ah-Wichen Canoe Festival

The Gutenberg bible is one of the most valuable and sought after books in the world. Our Vancouver Public Library owns one of its pages.

Last week, I wrote a blog about the demise of Henry Hudson Elementary – the 1911 red brick building that housed generations of Vancouver school children. I asked you to share your stories, and many of you did. Japanese Community: Debra Kato’s grandmother (born in 1911 the same year the school opened) went to Henry… Continue reading Henry Hudson Elementary School: (1911-2025)

Last chance to try and snag a brick or two before the 1911 Henry Hudson Elementary School in Kitsilano is just a distant memory. Demolition of the red brick building started Thursday. The Namesake: Since it’s out with the old, I’m wondering if a name change was considered for the new school? Henry Hudson, it… Continue reading RIP Henry Hudson Elementary School

I thought I’d end the year with a fun little story from my book Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History. Thanks for following my sporadic posts this year and here’s to surviving 2025. Happy New Year! At 6:00 am on Sunday January 1, 1922, Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island switched from driving on… Continue reading We Drove on the Left Side of the Road

I’ve been to Jericho Beach dozens of times over the years and often bike along the path that snakes through Spanish Banks, Jericho and spits out onto Point Grey Road. It wasn’t until recently that I found out the area was once part of the largest military training base in Western Canada. Flying Boats: The… Continue reading The Base at Jericho Beach

Deidre Keohane (Deirdriu Ni Cheochain) moved into the Birkdale Apartments on West Broadway with her boyfriend Marty Lacroix in 1980. Birkdale Apartments: The Birkdale Apartments first appears in the city directories in 1922, and at some point became the Burkdale Apartments on the front of the building. Not long after moving in, 22-year-old Deidre, an… Continue reading The Ratdale Apartments on West Broadway

One of my favourite parts about writing this blog is getting comments from people that add to the story, and often take it in a whole new and unexpected direction. I get really excited when someone sends me a 100-year-old postcard or a photo of Vancouver that’s never been seen outside the family album. Maria… Continue reading A postcard from the Wigwam Inn

Before it was a housing development and golf course, Westwood Plateau was a 1,400 acre-odd parcel of land that included a racetrack. All photos by Bruce Stewart in 1970. Two of the streets in the development – Deer’s Leap Place and Carousel Court – were named for the track’s most challenging sections. According to a… Continue reading The Westwood Racing Circuit (1959-1990)

The Dewdney Trunk Road Pleasure Faire was held over three days in September 1971, on land that was designated to become a federal penitentiary in Mission, BC. All photos by Bruce Stewart The Deluxe group—Alan Clapp, Dan Clemens, Ian Ridgway and Ray Clark—applied for the permit, and Clemens and Ridgway spent the summer deconstructing barns… Continue reading The Mission Pleasure Faire of 1971

I went to the PNE last week, the first time in more than 15 years. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty underwhelming. For this post, I thought I’d draw from comments left on my August 17 blog and on my Facebook page Every Place has a Story. The general consensus from fairgoers seems… Continue reading The PNE: Then and Now

The PNE kicks off today (Saturday August 17) and runs until September 2. In 1992, I worked at the Vancouver Sun and that year I spent most of my August shifts at the PNE. One day I’d write about the rodeo clown who had broken every bone in his body at least once. The next… Continue reading The PNE in the ’70s: A photo essay by Bruce Stewart

Last week’s blog on Kitsilano featuring Bruce Stewart’s photos, brought back memories and a healthy does of nostalgia from those of you who were lucky to have known Kits in the ‘70s. In this week’s blog I’m delighted to bring you photos from Angus McIntyre, Gord McCaw, Peter Dobo and a couple more from Bruce,… Continue reading More Photos of Kitsilano in the 1970s and ’80s

I lived at three different addresses along West 3rd in Kitsilano between 1984 and 1995. And, while I loved the beach, the restaurants, West 4th Avenue, and Granville Island, I would have liked to have known Kits in the 1970s. An essay in photos by Bruce Stewart Kits Pool: Fortunately, Bruce Stewart spent half of… Continue reading Kitsilano in the ’70s: a photo essay

The Nanaimo to Vancouver bathtub race ran from 1967 to 1996  When I moved to Vancouver in the mid 1980s, I lived in an apartment at Third and Cypress in Kitsilano. Over the next 12 years, I moved two more times up Third Avenue, and one of my summer highlights was heading down to the… Continue reading The Nanaimo to Vancouver Bathtub Race