Vancouver History

Long before the Vancouver Film School occupied the building at East Pender and Columbia Streets, there was a railway station that was later repurposed into the legendary Marco Polo restaurant.  Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Train Station: If you’re walking around Chinatown, you’ll likely notice the four-storey brick building at… Continue reading The Dupont Street Train Station and the Marco Polo Restaurant

If you lived in Vancouver’s West End after 1981 you may not know that street barricades and parklets are a leftover from the West End’s prostitution era West End: Aaron Chapman’s latest book Vancouver Vice, is a colourful history of the West End in the 1970s and ‘80s. In those days up to 300 sex… Continue reading Vice in Vancouver’s West End

Rolie Moore grew up in Burnaby’s Hart House and became the president of the Flying Seven, Canada’s first all female pilot club I had the pleasure of having lunch with the delightful George Garrett at Hart House last week, a restaurant I’ve wanted to visit ever since I first heard that one of its inhabitants… Continue reading Rolie Moore, the Flying Seven and Burnaby’s Hart House Restaurant

Maximum Security: BC Penitentiary was a maximum-security federal prison plagued with riots throughout its 100-year life. There was the 1975 riot and hostage taking resulting in the death of Mary Steinhauser, a 32-year-old social worker. She was one of 15 hostages shot when police stormed the prison. Long before that, there was the 1934 riot… Continue reading Jack Webster and BC Penitentiary

Part of the Shogun mini-series based on James book is being filmed in North Vancouver’s Princess Park. Story from Sensational Vancouver Princess Park: I was walking in Princess Park this morning and noticed that a film crew is preparing to shoot some scenes for a mini-series based on James Clavell’s 1975 book Shogun. While North… Continue reading Scenes from James Clavell’s Shogun filmed in Princess Park

If you lived in Vancouver in the late 1960s, you’ll likely remember the four bizarre red Georgia Street pylons. The pylons ran from Granville to Howe Streets between July 1967 and December 1969. According to a news media release at the time: “The 60-foot towers, symbolic of giant torches, a traditional heraldic device, are a… Continue reading The Giant Georgia Street Pylons of 1967

In February, we learned that the Babes in the Woods, the two little boys who were murdered in Stanley Park 75 years ago—were Derek D’Alton aged seven and his brother David, six. Genetic genealogy—the latest crime fighting tool was able to do what seven decades of police work could not—identify the little boys through familial… Continue reading Meet Olivia McCarter

Before we had the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, there was the Crystal Pool.  The story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History. Crystal Pool: Joe Fortes taught hundreds of children how to swim in English Bay, If the much-loved life guard were still alive when Crystal Pool opened in July 1929, it’s hard… Continue reading Crystal Pool (1929-1974)

Angus McIntyre took this photo of the Royal Hudson at Arbutus and Broadway in 1977 travelling to the US on a three-week promotional tour Going South: This photo of the Royal Hudson travelling along the Arbutus corridor at Broadway on March 20, 1977 is one of my favourite Angus McIntyre photos. If you’re a regular… Continue reading The Royal Hudson

The second CPR station at the foot of Granville Street didn’t make it until its 15th birthday. It was replaced in 1914. From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Even if you don’t love the architecture—and I am a fan of anything that’s gothic and grim and wears a turret—you’ve got to admit… Continue reading The Second CPR Station

Barr and Anderson, was a Vancouver company founded in 1898 and the name behind the mechanical work in some of our oldest buildings – a few of which still stand. Founded in 1898: Back in the 1960s, Doug Archer was an apprentice plumber with Barr and Anderson, a Vancouver company founded in 1898 and the… Continue reading Barr and Anderson: Established 1898

Heritage Vancouver released their annual top 10 watch list last month (for 2021), and rather than look at endangered buildings, they have focused on space. I was interested to find Victory Square on the list—or rather not the square itself, but the buildings that surround it, some of which date back to the 1800s. The… Continue reading Victory Square: What was there before?

Janet Stewart was going through her mother Edna’s things after she passed away recently and came across four sketches by Frits Jacobsen. They showed various Vancouver buildings in the late 1960s. Janet googled his name, came across a story by Jason Vanderhill on my blog, and kindly sent me photos. Hornby and Nelson: I posted… Continue reading Vancouver’s Missing Buildings

Beatrice Lennie created a mural for the Hotel Vancouver’s lobby in 1939. It’s been hidden behind a wall since 1967. This story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History.  Beatrice Lennie: When Beatrice Lennie graduated from the first class at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University… Continue reading Behind the Wall at the Hotel Vancouver

Doug Bennett, lead singer of  Doug and the Slugs and his wife Nancy bought an old house on Semlin Drive in 1987. The house received heritage designation last month. This story is from my book Sensational Vancouver 2146 Semlin Drive: Current owners Adrienne Tanner and Mike Walker now have a Heritage Revitalization Agreement with the… Continue reading Doug and the Slugs (1951-2004)

There is a fake house in Burnaby that has fooled even some of its closest neighbours since 1967. Rumours have spread that it’s everything from a government safe house to an animal crematorium, but the truth is far more interesting. From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History The Fake House: The house is… Continue reading The Fake House and the Thornton Tunnel

  Earlier this month, St. John Alexander invited me to hang out at Overlynn, a Burnaby mansion for a CTV news Halloween segment. I spent an amazing Saturday with St. John, Greg Mansfield and Amanda Quill—two experienced ghost hunters. Listen to Cold Case Canada podcast Episode 34 Charles Peter: As the history geek in the… Continue reading Overlynn: Burnaby’s most haunted mansion

As Chef Jean-Francois Dube discovered in 1999, North Vancouver’s Pacific Starlight Dinner train was haunted In 1997, I was the Vancouver Correspondent for Marketing Magazine and one of a few dozen media invited along to launch BC Rail’s Pacific Starlight Dinner Train. It was a fantastic night, beginning with a musical send-off from the old… Continue reading The Ghost Train

October is women’s history month, and I can’t think of anyone more inspirational than Ivy Granstrom: Queen of the Polar Bears This story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Meet Ivy Granstrom: Ivy Granstrom participated in 76 consecutive polar bear swims. She began in 1928, as a 16-year-old, which, incidentally, was… Continue reading Ivy Granstrom: Queen of the Polar Bears

On April 28, 1947, Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 3 took off from Lethbridge, Alberta on a routine flight to Vancouver. It never arrived. Rice Lake: A couple of Sundays ago, my friend Virginia and I went for a walk around North Vancouver’s Rice Lake. We stopped to pay our respects at the two boulders near the… Continue reading Remembering Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 3