Women's history Archives | Eve Lazarus Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:31:22 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 Elsie MacGill (1905-1980) https://evelazarus.com/elsie-macgill-1905-1980/ https://evelazarus.com/elsie-macgill-1905-1980/#comments Sat, 07 Oct 2023 14:17:13 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=14065 October is Women’s History Month in Canada. This gives me a great excuse to write about Elsie MacGill, the Queen of the Hurricanes. Elsie Gregory MacGill grew up on Harwood Street in Vancouver’s West End in the early years of the twentieth century. While other little girls in her dance class dreamed of performing on… Continue reading Elsie MacGill (1905-1980)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/elsie-macgill-1905-1980/feed/ 7 Rolie Moore, the Flying Seven and Burnaby’s Hart House Restaurant https://evelazarus.com/rollie-moore-and-the-flying-seven/ https://evelazarus.com/rollie-moore-and-the-flying-seven/#comments Sat, 30 Apr 2022 14:19:51 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=12404 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

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/rollie-moore-and-the-flying-seven/feed/ 16 Behind the Wall at the Hotel Vancouver https://evelazarus.com/behind-the-wall-at-the-hotel-vancouver/ https://evelazarus.com/behind-the-wall-at-the-hotel-vancouver/#comments Sat, 27 Nov 2021 15:21:12 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=12003 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

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/behind-the-wall-at-the-hotel-vancouver/feed/ 9 Remembering Olga Hawryluk (1922-1945) https://evelazarus.com/remembering-olga-hawryluk-1922-1945/ https://evelazarus.com/remembering-olga-hawryluk-1922-1945/#comments Sat, 20 Nov 2021 16:39:27 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=11993 Thursday November 25 is International Day. Remembering Olga Hawryluk, 23, murdered May 3, 1945.  From Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance and the Blood, Sweat and Fear podcast. Granville Street: On May 2, 1945, Olga finished her shift at the Empire Café on West Hastings at 2:30 am and was walking to… Continue reading Remembering Olga Hawryluk (1922-1945)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/remembering-olga-hawryluk-1922-1945/feed/ 6 Ivy Granstrom: Queen of the Polar Bears https://evelazarus.com/ivy-granstrom-queen-of-the-polar-bears/ https://evelazarus.com/ivy-granstrom-queen-of-the-polar-bears/#comments Sat, 09 Oct 2021 13:55:06 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=11855 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

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/ivy-granstrom-queen-of-the-polar-bears/feed/ 12 The Flying Seven and the Cambie Street Rocket Ship https://evelazarus.com/the-flying-seven-and-the-cambie-street-rocket-ship/ https://evelazarus.com/the-flying-seven-and-the-cambie-street-rocket-ship/#comments Sat, 11 Jan 2020 02:37:11 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=9792 The Flying Seven formed in 1935 and were Vancouver’s all-female aviators’ club  Vancouver’s aviatrices: This is one of my favourite photos. It ran with a story in Sensational Vancouver and shows six members of the Flying Seven posed in front of the rocket ship at Vancouver International Airport. The Flying Seven were Vancouver’s all-female aviators’… Continue reading The Flying Seven and the Cambie Street Rocket Ship

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-flying-seven-and-the-cambie-street-rocket-ship/feed/ 12 May is Asian Heritage Month – Meet Mary Chan https://evelazarus.com/may-is-asian-heritage-month-meet-mary-chan/ https://evelazarus.com/may-is-asian-heritage-month-meet-mary-chan/#comments Thu, 30 May 2019 21:35:58 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=9361 Can’t let Asian Heritage Month go by without a nod to Mary and Walter Chan, the Strathcona activists who helped keep the bulldozers at bay and rallied the community to preserve not only Chinatown, but a big chunk of our city’s culture and heritage. Chan family outside 658 Keefer ca.1968. From L to R: Larry… Continue reading May is Asian Heritage Month – Meet Mary Chan

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/may-is-asian-heritage-month-meet-mary-chan/feed/ 2 Emily Carr’s James Bay https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-james-bay/ https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-james-bay/#comments Sat, 03 Mar 2018 16:28:03 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=8122 Name recognition: Her name adorns a university, a school, a bridge, and a library. She is the subject of several documentaries, museum exhibits, books and plays. In 2009, her painting Wind in the Tree Tops sold for more than $2.1 million, one of the highest-priced Canadian paintings ever sold at auction. Tourists visit her family… Continue reading Emily Carr’s James Bay

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/emily-carrs-james-bay/feed/ 20 Muriel “Capi” Wylie Blanchet (1891-1961) https://evelazarus.com/muriel-capi-wylie-blanchet-1891-1961/ https://evelazarus.com/muriel-capi-wylie-blanchet-1891-1961/#comments Sat, 04 Mar 2017 22:27:13 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6985 Muriel “Capi” Wylie Blanchet of Vancouver Island died in 1961 without ever knowing what an incredible success her book would become. Capi’s story is part of the “Legendary Women” chapter in Sensational Victoria. Capi Blanchet was found dead in 1961, slumped over her typewriter while writing a sequel to The Curve of Time. For a writer,… Continue reading Muriel “Capi” Wylie Blanchet (1891-1961)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/muriel-capi-wylie-blanchet-1891-1961/feed/ 13 Women’s History Month: Remembering Kiyoko Tanaka-Goto https://evelazarus.com/womens-history-month-remembering-kiyoko-tanaka-goto/ https://evelazarus.com/womens-history-month-remembering-kiyoko-tanaka-goto/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2016 17:59:30 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6758 Kiyoko Tanaka-Goto may not be the first person who springs to mind for women’s history month, but she was brave and entrepreneurial and succeeded at a time when there were few opportunities for women, especially ones who weren’t white. From: Sensational Vancouver Kiyoko Tanaka-Goto was an enterprising Japanese woman who was born in Tokyo and… Continue reading Women’s History Month: Remembering Kiyoko Tanaka-Goto

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/womens-history-month-remembering-kiyoko-tanaka-goto/feed/ 1 Women Police Officers on Patrol https://evelazarus.com/women-police-officers-on-patrol/ https://evelazarus.com/women-police-officers-on-patrol/#comments Sat, 13 Aug 2016 14:37:41 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6664 The Vancouver Police Museum’s Kristin Hardie solved the mystery of this ca.1940 photo. The women police officers on patrol are Bessie Say and Jeanette Heathorn. This great Foncie photo of two women police officers ran in Sensational Vancouver, in a chapter called “Lurancy Harris’s Beat.” Lurancy was the first female police officer in Canada when… Continue reading Women Police Officers on Patrol

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/women-police-officers-on-patrol/feed/ 3 Phyllis Munday (1894-1990) https://evelazarus.com/phyllis-james-munday-1894-1990/ https://evelazarus.com/phyllis-james-munday-1894-1990/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2015 00:48:13 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=6074 This is an excerpt from Sensational Vancouver: A reporter once asked Phyllis Munday if she’d ever been really frightened during all her years of climbing mountains. “Thunderstorms,” she told him. “I hated thunderstorms.” What she didn’t mention was the time she saved husband Don Munday’s life from a grizzly bear by charging at it with… Continue reading Phyllis Munday (1894-1990)

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/phyllis-james-munday-1894-1990/feed/ 5 Joy Kogawa’s House https://evelazarus.com/joy-kogawas-house/ https://evelazarus.com/joy-kogawas-house/#comments Sat, 09 May 2015 23:55:31 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=5487 Because May is Asian Heritage Month it seems fitting to run a story about Joy Kogawa. The following is an excerpt from the Legendary Women chapter in Sensational Vancouver. Joy Kogawa’s childhood house is a modest wood-framed bungalow in South Vancouver. There’s really nothing architecturally significant about it except that it’s one of the few original… Continue reading Joy Kogawa’s House

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/joy-kogawas-house/feed/ 1 Rena’s Gravestone Garden https://evelazarus.com/renas-gravestone-garden/ https://evelazarus.com/renas-gravestone-garden/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2015 18:14:54 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=5321 Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Rena Del Pieve Gobbi came under fire last week for using discarded gravestones to hold up her garden. The garden is at Commercial and Powell, wedged in between the Maple Leaf Storage and the train tracks. Since 2001, Rena, an artist and documentary film-maker, has… Continue reading Rena’s Gravestone Garden

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/renas-gravestone-garden/feed/ 4 Meet Lurancy Harris: Canada’s First Woman Police Officer https://evelazarus.com/meet-lurancy-harris-canadas-first-woman-police-officer/ https://evelazarus.com/meet-lurancy-harris-canadas-first-woman-police-officer/#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2015 22:40:29 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=5299 Lurancy Harris and Minnie Millar became the first two women police officers in Canada when they were hired by the VPD in 1912 The following is an excerpt from Sensational Vancouver. Joins VPD: Lurancy Harris was a 48-year-old seamstress from Nova Scotia had moved to Vancouver in 1911 and rented a small apartment on Robson… Continue reading Meet Lurancy Harris: Canada’s First Woman Police Officer

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/meet-lurancy-harris-canadas-first-woman-police-officer/feed/ 5 Black History Month: Valerie Jerome https://evelazarus.com/black-history-month-valerie-jerome/ https://evelazarus.com/black-history-month-valerie-jerome/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2015 19:04:09 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=5192 Most people have heard of Harry Jerome. His name adorns recreation centres and his statue is in Stanley Park. At one time he was the fastest man alive, setting a total of seven world records. In 1970 he was made an officer of the Order of Canada. Fewer people remember his sister Valerie, yet she… Continue reading Black History Month: Valerie Jerome

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/black-history-month-valerie-jerome/feed/ 33 Meet Nellie Yip Quong https://evelazarus.com/nellie-yip-quong/ https://evelazarus.com/nellie-yip-quong/#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2014 23:41:23 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=4873 This is an excerpt from Sensational Vancouver. Eleanor Lum Wayne Avery knew nothing about the history of his house until one day he saw an elderly Chinese woman peering through his front room window. He invited her inside and discovered that she was Eleanor (Yip) Lum, and that she had been born in one of… Continue reading Meet Nellie Yip Quong

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/nellie-yip-quong/feed/ 8 Who was Maxine? https://evelazarus.com/who-was-maxine/ https://evelazarus.com/who-was-maxine/#comments Sun, 14 Sep 2014 02:06:30 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=4808 John Atkin can be a bit of a kill joy, always squashing rumours about secret tunnels in Chinatown, ghosts in the Dominion Building, and well, blood in Blood Alley. John squashes another rumour in his story about a tunnel that supposedly connected a sugar baron to a brothel, but in doing so he uncovered some… Continue reading Who was Maxine?

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/who-was-maxine/feed/ 8 The Curve of Time: national bestseller after more than 50 years https://evelazarus.com/the-curve-of-time-national-bestseller-after-more-than-50-years/ https://evelazarus.com/the-curve-of-time-national-bestseller-after-more-than-50-years/#comments Sat, 30 Aug 2014 21:16:05 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=4763 It’s been incredibly exciting seeing Sensational Vancouver claim the top spot on the Best of BC list for the past four weeks, and it’s made me pay close attention to the book section in the Vancouver Sun. What I’ve noticed is that M. Wylie Blanchet’s The Curve of Time, has ranked in the top 10… Continue reading The Curve of Time: national bestseller after more than 50 years

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]]> https://evelazarus.com/the-curve-of-time-national-bestseller-after-more-than-50-years/feed/ 8 Tosca Trasolini and the Flying Seven https://evelazarus.com/tosca-trasolini-and-the-flying-seven/ https://evelazarus.com/tosca-trasolini-and-the-flying-seven/#comments Sat, 19 Jul 2014 20:21:42 +0000 https://evelazarus.com/?p=4647 The gorgeous woman pictured on the cover of Sensational Vancouver and featured in my chapter on Legendary Women is Tosca Trasolini. Tosca was a member of the Flying Seven, Canada’s first all-female aviators’ club. The club formed in 1935—the year she turned 24—after Margaret Fane—one of the Flying Seven flew to California to meet with… Continue reading Tosca Trasolini and the Flying Seven

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