Every Place Has a Story

A Cabin, a Fireplace and a Murder

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This was supposed to be a short and happy seasonal post about a cabin and a Christmas log, but then I stumbled across a murder.

Like everyone else, I’m familiar with Shaw’s fire log, but I’d never given any thought to its origins. Then Kyla and Grant Stuart Gardiner’s monthly newsletter came in the mail and talked about its history.

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The Knight Street Bridge: Part 2

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The Knight Street Bridge photo essay is the second in a three-part series by Angus McIntyre. The photos were taken on Angus’s Konica Autoreflex T Camera.

December 31, 1972 was an unseasonably warm Sunday and Angus McIntyre jumped on his bike and headed to the Fraser River. He spent the day documenting the construction of the Knight Street Bridge and the Arthur Laing Bridge – the two Fraser river crossings that would replace the Fraser Street swing span bridge from Vancouver to Mitchell Island and the fixed trestle bridge to Lulu Island.

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Margaret Fane, Western Canada’s First Commercial Aviatrix

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December 7 is International Civil Aviation Day. It’s a great excuse to write about Margaret (Fane) Rutledge (1914-2004), founder of the Flying Seven and one of the country’s first female pilots.  

Edmonton:

Margaret Fane was born to an Edmonton family who were obsessed with making things move. Her father, William Fane, began by repairing carriages, and by 1928 owned what was reputedly the “largest automobile repair plant in the west.”  He was the founding member of the Edmonton Glider Club, and in 1933, hand built a glider in his shop.

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The mysterious graves at UBC’s Gage Towers

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Gregg Doughty has worked at UBC as horticulturist and arborist since 1991. For the last few decades, he has tried to find out the names of the people buried in two unmarked graves. The university prefers not to talk about it. They’re worried that the graves may be vandalized or frighten students living in the adjacent Walter Gage residences.

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The Fraser Street Swing Span Bridge

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The Fraser Street Swing Span Bridge was built in 1894 and linked what’s now Fraser Street with No. 5 Road, Richmond. It was demolished in 1974 after completion of the Knight Street Bridge. This is part one of a three-part series about crossing the Fraser River in 1972 by Angus McIntyre

On December 31, 1972, Angus McIntyre, 25 was living at the Fairmont Apartments at 10th Avenue and Spruce Street.

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Gim Wong: Kick-ass Dragon Man

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On June 3, 2005, 82-year-old Gim Foon Wong set off on his Ride for Redress. Starting at Mile Zero in Victoria, he planned to arrive in Ottawa July 1 on his Honda Goldwing motorbike, accompanied by his son Jeffrey. He planned to have a few words with Prime Minister Paul Martin about the brutal Chinese head tax that cost his mother and father each $500 in the early 1900s.

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The Dupont Street Train Station and the Marco Polo Restaurant

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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 the corner of East Pender and Columbia Streets, now home to the Vancouver Film School.

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