Carnegie Community Centre Archives

The second Doors Open Vancouver is coming up this Saturday October 3, and will give you a behind-the-scenes look at 18 city-owned buildings. Since you won’t have time to see all of them – here’s my top six:

1. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Training Centre:

Go see the city’s only burn building (meaning one that’s lit on fire), find out about the heavy urban search and rescue team, and of course, check out the hot firefighters.

Tactical

2. Vancouver Police Department’s Tactical Training Centre:

Where cops go to fire guns and learn other skills (Waterboarding 101 anyone?)

Photo courtesy greenbuildingaudiotours.com

3. Stanley Park Train

The Stanley Park Miniature Train Yard—It has been around since 1947, and should be on the must-do list of any visit to Vancouver (with or without kids). It may even have its Halloween clothes on.

Stanley Park Train

4. Carnegie Community Centre:

Built in 1903 as the Carnegie Library, now operating as the Carnegie Community Centre at Main and Hastings. Right next door are some of the cleanest washrooms I’ve ever seen. You could eat off the floor.

CVA Bu P116.1

5. The Orpheum Theatre:

For all the different architectural influences, and because it wasn’t demolished

Dan Rickard photo. www.danrickard.ca

5. Vancouver City Hall

Go just to see our Mayor’s ceremonial office and council chambers. Who knows you may even have a strange encounter with the mayor himself.

Vancouver City Hall from Yukon, 1937, Leonard Frank photo CVA City P21

Sharp eyed-readers will notice that this post was written last year for the first Doors Open Vancouver. I’ve updated a little, but overall, I stand by my choices. If you got to these ones last year check out the other 12 on display at Doors Open Vancouver 2015

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to get in on a tour exploring several DTES buildings with Judy Graves, Tom Carter and John Atkin. Judy spent decades advocating for the homeless, and this is her stamping ground. Tom lives and paints from his downtown loft, and John lives in Strathcona, so I’m the only one from the ‘burbs (and with a driver’s licence as it turns out.)

Originally the Carnegie Library built in 1901 — Carnegie Community Centre at Main and East Hastings

We started at the Carnegie Community Centre, which is an amazing place that I’ve driven past thousands of times, but never ventured inside. I fell in love with Ken Clarke’s sculptures that are on display there. Ken is one of the artists that works out of the Hungry Thumbs Studio, housed at 233 Main Street, between a couple of rooming houses with reputations as former brothels and crack joints. The building has 10 of Ken’s gargoyle-like heads lined up above the door.

Jeff Burnette, a glass blower, gave us a tour of the studio. Jeff has a huge collection of toy ray guns, which makes sense when you see his art—dozens and dozens of brightly coloured glass ray guns. There are artists working in neon, in clay, cement and plaster. Downstairs are the incredible mosaics and stained glass works of Bruce Walther.

But what was really fascinating was the building’s history.

233 Main Street — Barber shop mirror still intact 70-odd years after the last haircut

Number 233 Main first appears in the city directories in 1913, the offices of A.M. Asancheyev, real estate agent. Most of the store operators along Main (which changed its name from Westminster Avenue in 1910) were Japanese, and the downstairs was occupied by a series of barbers over the years.

Long before it housed mosaics and signage, the space was a barber shop and bath house. Although about seven decades have gone by since it was used for that purpose, the white tiled floors are still intact, the barber shop mirror is still there and remnants of the bath house remain.

For more on the DTES

The Regent Hotel

The Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret

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