Eve Lazarus
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.
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.
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.
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 workers—male and female—strolled the streets—40 to 50 of whom might be working on any given day or night.
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 was the amazing Rolie Moore.
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 when 78 prisoners refused to work unless they were paid.
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.
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 fitting expression for Canada’s 100th birthday.”
Reaction:
Not surprisingly, the pylons which ran between Granville and Howe Streets, brought out intense emotions.
