Eve Lazarus
Steveston’s Finn Slough. Shanty slum or quaint fishing village?
Finn Slough:
We biked to Finn Slough last Thursday. It’s located at the end of No. 4 Road about six clicks from Steveston. Depending on what you read or who you talk to, it’s either a quaint little fishing village or a bunch of degenerates squatting on a Richmond waterway.
The story of the Alexander Street brothels is featured in Sensational Vancouver.
Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society, took me on a tour of some new real estate Friday—a dozen brightly coloured orange and blue recycled shipping containers piled on top of each other like giant lego blocks.
Almost 40 years ago, Rosemary Eng and her husband Alan Merridew moved to Vancouver from Chicago to take up a job at the Province. They bought the 100-year-old North Vancouver house, raised their son Peter now 38, and as Rosemary prepares to pack up and leave, she has written the story of her house.
Excerpt from Sensational Vancouver
When I write a history book there’s always one character that really captures my attention. In At Home with History it was Alvo von Alvensleben. In Sensational Victoria it was Spoony Sundher, and in Sensational Vancouver, it’s Vancouver City Police Detective Joe Ricci—a kick-arse cop from the old school.
I first met James Johnstone about 12 years ago when I was writing a series of magazine articles that looked at the idea that a house has a social history or a genealogy much like a person. The idea eventually morphed into At Home with History and James gave me research tips, loaned me books, shared information, took me on a walking tour of Strathcona and gave me a ton of encouragement.
I thought the Marine Building was built by the Guinness family until I started doing some research on this Art Deco icon—one of my favourite buildings in Vancouver. And while the Guinness family did eventually own it, the developer was a local guy who made a fortune during Prohibition.
Joe Hobbs:
Joe Hobbs arrived in Vancouver around 1920—the start of US Prohibition.
Nikki Renshaw is throwing a party to celebrate her house’s 100th birthday. But first she wants to invite as many former residents, owners and relatives as she can find. Thanks to help from uber house detective James Johnstone she already knows their names, but she’s having trouble tracking people who had a connection to her Kitsilano digs prior to the ’70s.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
It turns out that standing in line to buy real estate isn`t some recent Vancouver phenomena—we`ve always done it. Philip T. Timms took this picture in 1909 as hundreds of Vancouver`s wealthiest citizens lined up to buy lots in Shaughnessy Heights from the CPR offices all the way down at the foot of Granville Street.
