Sensational Vancouver

Arthur Erickson is featured in an exhibition at the West Vancouver Art Museum with photos by Selwyn Pullan I dropped by the West Vancouver Art Museum Wednesday and joined a tour led by curator, Hilary Letwin. If you haven’t been there before, the Museum is by the Municipal Hall on 17th Street, just off Marine… Continue reading Arthur Erickson’s Pad  

Multiplexes will soon replace single family homes all over Vancouver. How many stories will be erased from our history? I was reading an article in the Vancouver Sun yesterday called “Multiplexes may be coming to your neighbourhood soon.” It’s City Hall’s way of densifying our neighbourhoods, replacing those entitled single family homes with up to… Continue reading The House that Joe Built

About six years ago, I was doing some research for my book Sensational Vancouver and took a tour of Strathcona with James Johnstone. I was excited to meet Paul Yee, a historian who now lives in Toronto, and has written several brilliant books which include Salt Water City, Tales from Gold Mountain, and most recently, A… Continue reading Paul Yee’s Vancouver Archives

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

Never heard of Manson’s Deep? You’re not alone. It’s one of the deepest points in Howe Sound just off Point Atkinson. It’s also been a burial ground for old sailors since 1941. Manson’s Deep gets its name from Captain Thomas Manson who came to Vancouver from Scotland in 1892. According to an article by Kellsie… Continue reading Vancouver Heritage House Tour and Manson’s Deep

There is a chapter on West Coast Modern Artists and Architects in Sensational Vancouver. If you love West Coast modern like I do, check out the art and architecture exhibit at the West Vancouver Museum this summer. Work from all the greats is there—Fred Hollingsworth, Arthur Erickson, B.C. Binning, Ned Pratt, Ron Thom, Gordon Smith,… Continue reading West Coast Modern on Display

  It may not be the grandest house on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s tour, but I bet 446 Union Street house is one of the most interesting, at least when it comes to its social history. From: Sensational Vancouver   Adamo Piovesan built the brick house in 1930 for his wife Maria and their four… Continue reading 446 Union Street

The Vancouver Police Museum has put together Red Light Rendezvous—a new tour for those of us who can’t get enough of the gritty history of downtown Vancouver. Cat Rose, who is a crime analyst by day, is also the person behind the Police Museum’s other popular Sins of the City tour: Vice, Dice and Opium… Continue reading Red Light Rendezvous at the Vancouver Police Museum

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

The Vogue Theatre opened in April 1941 and was designated as a national historic site in 1993. From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Dal Richards opened: On April 15, 1941 the Dal Richards Big Band was the opening act for the Vogue Theatre, a combination vaudeville and movie house located on Granville… Continue reading In and out of Vogue: A Vancouver art deco story

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

Arthur Erickson is one of Canada’s most famous architects, yet his own house and garden ranks #8 on Heritage Vancouver’s top 10 endangered sites for 2014.  Arthur Erickson’s fingerprints are all over some of Metro Vancouver’s most iconic buildings—the Museum of Anthropology, Simon Fraser University and dozens of residential houses. Unusual for an architect, Erickson… Continue reading Arthur Erickson’s House and Garden are on the Endangered List

This totally true ghost story took place in the West End’s Mole Hill. The full story, and those of other haunted houses appeared in Sensational Vancouver Mole Hill: In the 1960s, the City of Vancouver started buying up a mixture of Queen Anne and Edwardian houses along Comox Street in the West End, intending to… Continue reading The Ghosts of Mole Hill

The Georgia Viaduct knocked out a lot of buildings in 1971 including Hogan’s Alley and Vie’s Chicken and Steakhouse. Urban Renewal: The photo (above) was shot in 1971 and appears in Sensational Vancouver’s Walk on the Wild Side chapter to illustrate “urban renewal”—the City of Vancouver’s excuse for trying to demolish Strathcona and Chinatown. It’s… Continue reading The Georgia Viaduct

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

I’ve been posting pictures of the BC Electric Building on Facebook this week, but I haven’t posted this one—it’s on the back of Sensational Vancouver and in the chapter on West Coast Modern. The photo was shot by Selwyn Pullan in 1957, the same year BC Electric completed this ground breaking piece of architecture. While… Continue reading The incredible photography of Selwyn Pullan

I am thrilled to have the book launch for Sensational Vancouver at the Vancouver Police Museum on Tuesday. The Museum is housed in the old coroner’s court and morgue on Cordova which makes an authentic backdrop for all the great displays. A large chunk of the material for my book came straight from the Museum’s… Continue reading Mug-Shot Books and the Vancouver Police Museum

Mayor Gerry McGeer lived at 4812 Belmont Avenue in Point Grey between 1927 and his death there in 1947. At around 10:00 pm on June 17, 2022 the house burned to the ground. It was unoccupied and apparently under renovation after not getting a demolition permit.  Sixth most expensive listing: As of August 2014, the… Continue reading Mayor Gerry McGeer’s $20 Million Tear-Down

Barry Downs architect designed his gorgeous West Coast Modern house in West Vancouver in 1979. He lived there until his death in July 2022 at 92. From Sensational Vancouver Barry Downs house sits on top of a cliff 120 feet above West Vancouver’s Garrow Bay. The house is almost invisible from the busy street and… Continue reading West Coast Modern and Architect Barry Downs

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Bryan Adams has collected a ton of hardware over the years, but the one I find the most interesting is the City of Vancouver Heritage Award he was given in 1998 for transforming a derelict Gastown warehouse into a world class recording studio. When Adams bought… Continue reading From Vancouver City Hall to Bryan Adams’ Recording Studio: repurposing old buildings