Vancouver History: City Scenes
byTrying to come up with themes for history posts is sometimes a bit tough. I’ve done everything from feature photos of long-gone hotels and aerial images of the region, to people walking dogs down Hastings Street a hundred years ago. Sometimes it’s the oddities that are the most interesting, such as that time an elephant went parading down Granville.
Browsing the Vancouver Public Library and City of Vancouver Archives I have come up with a collection of City Scenes — everyday moments in time that have been captured and preserved.
1880s – Hastings and Cambie
VPL Accession Number: 19827
1890s – Streetcar at entrance to Stanley Park
VPL Accession Number: 19797A
1939 – Pender at Beatty, looking West
Archives Item#: CVA 772-5
1946 – Granville at Smithe, The Orpheum
Archives Item#: 1184-2290
1948 – Pedestrians at Hastings & Granville
Archives Item#: CVA 1184-2772
1951 – Granville at Robson
Archives Item#: CVA 772-8
1967 – Granville at Smithe, looking South on Granville
Archives Item#: CVA 780-53
1972 – Beatty between Georgia and Robson
Archives Item#: CVA 780-5
1978 – Balcony on East Pender
Archives Item#: CVA 780-470
I have left in the archive location numbers on each of the photos as you can order prints of historical photos from both the Vancouver Public Library and the City of Vancouver Archives.
3 Comments — Comments Are Closed
Thanks, Beck. I have a very clear memory of the last on your list (“Balcony on E. Pender), such is my age and where I spent the most time in my youth. 🙂
Skanky looking old town isn’t it? And those are some of the more picturesque bits.
I love seeing the old photos of Vancouver. Remember the old film footage they had found of Vancouver? I believe the guy filming it was from Seattle and riding a Trolley downtown. Amazing stuff. I took my father to the exhibit they had at the VAG regarding the photos of the 50’s and 60’s. I think it had more of an impact on him then me. It really brought him back. He kept saying “I remember, this is how it was.”