While reading VancouverHistory.ca I always check out the sidebar where there’s a teaser for the book, the Street Names of Vancouver by Elizabeth Walker. It asks, “Who was Davie? Why do we have a Broadway? What street was named for a Spanish Secretary of State?” and until the other day my previous knowledge of the […]

It has been over a year since John and I received a preview copy of the 1907 trolley car footage of Vancouver on DVD. The film is the earliest footage of Vancouver and was shot with a hand-crank camera mounted on the front of a B.C. Electric Railway streetcar by William Harbeck of Seattle. Included […]

Oodles of glorious sunshine being predicted for this weekend gets me thinking about outdoor activities. Should a Metro Vancouverite feel like a mini-escape, perhaps even a multi-hour adventure in a single day, what are the options? I’ve decided to pull from a pool of childhood Sunday drive memories and highlight a few gems in this […]

The thing I love about living in the West End is that once you walk in a block from the bustling Robson or Davie Streets the sound of cars and crowds turns into lawn mowers and birds chirping. Green grass grows in small corner parks like urban savannas while sunbathers find a level surface on […]

I just realized that my last few posts were pretty bullet-pointed so I apologize for this. The first Vancouver History: Oddities entry was well-received so here’s another. 51 years ago Vancouver’s first shopping mall, Oakridge Centre, opened its doors. We were out that way last week and it took me a minute to remember that […]

This afternoon my dad pulled out his digital camera and showed me a photo of a nice man that sort of looks like he could be one of my mom’s cousins in Germany. Turns out my dad visited with one of the most successful race car drivers of all time, Mario Andretti, while he was […]

Larry Kwong was the first Chinese-Canadian to play in the NHL. Read his story…

There are pivotal characters that have put Vancouver on the map in many different realms, from First Nations literary works, legendary hockey skills, to helping children learn to swim in English Bay. Vancouver’s history is made by its people, from many generations. Anyone who has passed by the intersection of Georgia and Hornby may have […]

Update: January 5, 2009 – it was on this day in history that the Denman Arena hosted its first professional hockey game [VancouverHistory – h/t VancouverBOT]. In honor of this, I’m promoting this blog post from April 2008 to the front page of my website. Mixing my new parks series with the staple history tidbits, […]

During one of our most recent treks through a muddy Stanley Park we finally made it over to the Pauline Johnson memorial. [See: The Lions – The Two Sisters, Pauline Johnson Opera] You can find the memorial between The Teahouse and Third Beach, just off the side of Stanley Park Drive.