Browsing the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s roster of upcoming bus and walking tours I found the mother of all tours – the history of local histories – the Musqueam Tour! Metro Vancouver is situated within the unceded traditional territories of Coast Salish First Nations, specifically Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, and Squamish. The Musqueam people have lived on the […]

Sometimes when we think we’re just getting to know the ins and outs of our 128-year old city we learn something new. From the funny and fascinating to historical fact, here is a random group of 11 Vancouver History Tidbits: Although she’s often mistaken for one, the Girl in Wetsuit statue in the water along […]

It seems that “March Weather” in Vancouver has always meant that a stroll at the beach is in order, making us the envy of our East Coast counterparts who may still have snow in their forecast. In my search for early spring photos in the City of Vancouver Archives today I found an image of […]

Converted from apartments in 1929, The Ritz Hotel in Vancouver was located at 1040 West Georgia. Radio station CJOR started there in 1926, before moving out in 1930, and the building was demolished in 1982. [Source: Emporis]. The hotel had another prominent tenant whose name keeps coming up in relation to the property: Mabel Ellen […]

Vancouver Whitecaps FC will enjoy its 40th anniversary this year and even the Heritage Horns at Canada Place, which will sound after every victory this season, are in the mood to celebrate. In case you didn’t know that the Whitecaps were turning 40, or that the club had four decades of history, the following is […]

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation has posted on their Facebook page that The Dorothies are getting ready to be moved to a new location. “Ever seen two mirror image heritage homes on stilts? The move is scheduled for March 10th 17th, where the homes will be relocated to a larger lot, restored and become central to […]

The Sinking of The Greenhill Park is one of my favourite tracks off The Matinee’s latest album We Swore We’d See the Sunrise. It’s a beautiful and haunting song with a very real — and very tragic — event behind its name. An event that took place 69 years ago (tomorrow) in Vancouver’s harbour. March […]

The Academy Awards (Oscars) are taking place on Sunday, March 2, 2014 and when I was browsing the City of Vancouver Archives recently, I found the iconic statuette in a most unusual place: perched outside a building on Burrard and Georgia. Zoomed in. May 1955: Photograph by Walter E. Frost. Archives# CVA 447-330 Oscar’s Steakhouse […]

Over the last few of years I have featured themed collections of photos from the City of Vancouver Archives on my site. However, this month I thought I would change things up a bit and issue a challenge to my readers and local photographers. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create […]

A little while ago I shared a collection of historic/archive photos with the Robson Street Business Association and today they returned the courtesy by sending me this awesome Robson Street Video from 1964. From BC History on YouTube: Robson Street Stores (B&W, sil.) aired on the CBUT (CBC Vancouver) show Town Crier, July 1964. “When […]