The other day I wanted to put up a post about some local history but I wasn’t exactly sure which direction to go. I put the call out on Twitter and received some great questions and responses so I created this tidbits series. @jbuffoonery – Asked about Vancouver’s neon history I wrote my own post […]

I was struggling to find inspiration this morning although I knew I wanted to publish a history post this week. I put the call out on Twitter and received several inquiries about Vancouver history landmarks and tidbits. Since the response was so great, this will be a new series of user-generated responses to local history […]

Those who frequent this site often may notice that I have a bit of a passion for all things history in and around Vancouver. This weekend a very special event is taking place in the downtown Eastside (our city’s oldest neighbourhood) and everyone is welcome to join in person or online. Start Time: Saturday, February […]

Vancouver History: The Three Greenhorns John Morton, Sam Brighouse and William Hailstone

The first time I heard of St Paul’s Hospital was when I was talking to my friend (and neighbour) about where we were born. We were about 9 or 10 years old and she told me she was born at St. Paul’s in Vancouver, which seemed strange to me since my brother, sister and I […]

For some reason this morning Avalon Dairy popped into my head and I figured that having a farm in the middle of a single-family residential neighbourhood in South Vancouver is definitely something worth exploring. Photo credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr Last year John and I did the Amazing Hunt, a really fun, local version of TV’s […]

I recently received an email about the Pattullo; in fact more information came in this email than I could find anywhere else online or on any of my favourite history sites. As I trust the source (more than any online source), I’ll share what has been revealed to me. “Enclosed attached pics are of the […]

My personal history with Pattullo goes back about 29 years however the name played an important role for me in high school biology. I used to be able to remember that the knee cap was called the “patella” since it was like a bridge between the femur and tibia (at least in my mind it […]

With dozens of centimeters of snow on the ground (and still falling) the city is muffled in a powdery silence. Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr Here’s a quick roundup of Vancouver History notes, with a Christmas theme. December 24, 1951. Sultry Hollywood actress Yvonne De Carlo, dubbed the “most beautiful woman in the world,” […]

Update December 21, 2008: I’ve promoted this post to the front page of my site in honor of the 20cms of snow we’ve received over the last 24 hours. When I was younger we would get some real snow days – the kind where you’d spend all day in your one-piece snow suit and only […]