Vancouver History

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History My friend Angus McIntyre was a Vancouver bus driver for 40 years and often took photos of heritage buildings, neon signs, street lamps and everyday life on his various routes. His photos are always so vivid and interesting (see his posts on Birks and elevator operators)… Continue reading They Paved Paradise and put up a Parking Lot: Larwill Park

Streetcars operated in Vancouver from 1891 to 1955 This story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Brakes fail: On September 3, 1906 the first North Vancouver streetcar began its journey at the ferry dock, travelled up Lonsdale and stopped at 12th Street. Jack Kelly was the conductor aboard that inaugural run.… Continue reading Bring Back the Streetcar!

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Last week I wrote about the oldest house in Vancouver—well at least that’s what they called it when it burned to the ground in 1946. It was built in 1875, and until 1915, its address was Seaton Street. Unlike most of Vancouver’s streets that are named… Continue reading The Life and Death of Seaton Street

Do you remember the little house on Richards Street between Nelson and Helmcken in Yaletown? It was one of the last ones standing and for years had quite the garden and lots of funky birdhouses and wheelbarrows.

If you’re on social media you are likely already familiar with Canadian Colour–beautiful, eye-popping historical photographs of Vancouver’s people, buildings and events. The guy behind these colourized photos is Mark Truelove, a Brit who moved to B.C. 16 years ago, and now lives in Hope. Mark’s day job is web designer/developer, but increasingly he’s doing… Continue reading Colouring History

Fred Herzog, Foncie, Selwyn Pullan, Michael de Courcy, Bruce Stewart, and Angus McIntyre were just a few who took up a camera in the Vancouver of the ‘70s, and were documenting images of everything from buildings to the changing skyline, and from neighborhoods to neon. They also put a spotlight on people—the famous, the quirky,… Continue reading Vancouver in the Seventies

Joe Fortes arrived in Vancouver in 1885 and quickly became one of the city’s most loved citizens. As our first official lifeguard and Beach Avenue resident, he saved dozens of lives. This story is excerpted from: Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History. Joe Fortes: In 1904 Joe Fortes was living in a sweet… Continue reading Remembering Joe Fortes

It was common in the 1970s to get in an elevator with an operator at buildings such as Woodwards and the Bay. Where did they go? By Angus McIntyre “Going up, she said,” is the opening line in the 1970’s pop song Heaven on the 7th Floor about a tryst between a female elevator operator… Continue reading The Missing Elevator Operators of Vancouver

Gordon Price called it “the most important thing that never happened” to Vancouver, and certainly if Project 200 and the rest of the freeway plans had gone ahead, Vancouver would be virtually unrecognizable today. This story is from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History The plan was to construct a $340 million freeway… Continue reading Project 200 and the Waterfront Freeway

It’s the first week of January, 2017 and if you own a house you’ve received your BC Assessment notice. If you’re like us you’re not popping open the champagne quite yet because your house has smashed through the ceiling of the home owner grant and you’re on the hook for a lot more taxes, all… Continue reading The House that Chip Built

For my last post of the year, I’ve chosen the top 10 Facebook group pages. This list is highly subjective and based on a loose criteria—they have to deal with some aspect of the history of Greater Vancouver or Victoria, and you have to be able to see the posts without having to join (I’m… Continue reading Top 10 Facebook Group Pages for 2016

Fans of Michael Kluckner’s history books—Vanishing Vancouver, Vancouver the Way it Was, and several others of his beautifully illustrated history books, might find his latest release a big departure. 2050, A Post-apocalyptic Murder Mystery is a graphic novel, a fictional account of a Vancouver that has been ravished by disease, climate change and a benevolent dictator who keeps the population poor to reduce their carbon footprint and ultimately save the planet. You’ll recognize Orwell, Huxley, and a nod to Mayor Robertson, with “Pleasant Planet”—a drink that keeps the populace both happy and sterile.

Last year, Constable Graham Walker of the Metro Vancouver Transit Police was asked to research the history for their 10-year anniversary. Graham promptly fell down the rabbit hole and his journey has taken him to UBC Special Collections, City of Vancouver Archives, BC Hydro Archives, and the Vancouver Police Museum. Graham’s first surprise was that… Continue reading The 100-year-old Unsolved Murder of Special Constable Charles Painter

I’ve having the immense pleasure of wading through the actual copies of dozens of newspapers from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s for a book that I’m currently writing. Every now and then I stumble across something really special. In 1934, the Vancouver Sun bragged that it was “the only evening newspaper owned, controlled and operated… Continue reading Lovely Vancouver Homes of 1934

  From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Did you know that a commuter train used to run right through downtown Vancouver? I found out about it when I was over at Tom Carter’s studio checking out one of his amazing paintings. There it was, a train chugging across Hastings Street. The train… Continue reading The train that ran down Hastings Street

Joe Ricci’s story is in Sensational Vancouver Joe was a kick-arse Italian cop who worked for the Vancouver Police Department between 1912 and 1928 and didn’t get bogged down in the details. He’d kick down the doors of opium dens, shoot first and ask questions later, and not worry too much about legal things like… Continue reading The Black Hand’s Vancouver Connection

I’m writing a book about John F.C.B. Vance, the first forensic scientist in Vancouver, and this week I wrote about his first day of work as the new City Analyst. My book is non-fiction, but sometimes you need some creative license. My challenge was to get to get Vance from his house in Yaletown to… Continue reading May 1, 1907: A Trip Across Vancouver

The Flying Angels Club House was built in 1906 by the BC Mills  as their offices for sales of pre-fabricated houses, schools and churches. Story in Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Kathryn Murray’s association with the Mission to Seafarers goes back to 1902—the same year the Flying Angels Club came to Vancouver.… Continue reading Hastings Mill and the Flying Angels Club House

If you think that museums are full of old fossils and boring exhibits, it’s time to get yourself down to All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and their Worlds. I went on opening night this week when 20 collectors were hanging out with their obsessions and it’s one of the craziest nights I’ve had in a… Continue reading The Collectors

The Second Narrows Bridge Collapsed on June 17, 1958, tossing 79 workers into Burrard Inlet and killing 18 of them. Sounded like an explosion: Some described the noise of the bridge collapsing into the Second Narrows as gunfire or an explosion, others as a rumble or a loud snapping sound. On June 17, 1958 at… Continue reading The Second Narrows Bridge Collapse