The following was researched, contributed and written by Raul Given what I research on my day job, it is also ironic (or coincidental, perhaps) that I now live in an area that used to be industrial and is now being transformed into a residential zone (while attempting to preserve the historical industrial heritage). With the […]

This morning’s dose of random history bites is courtesy of VancouverHistory.ca. In 1988: Point Roberts, the little tip of Washington State that’s accessible by land only through BC, finally got its own US-based telephone service. B.C. Tel had been serving the area up until this year. In 1958: Under construction, the Second Narrows Bridge collapsed […]

Photo Credit: Joe Pelletier’sGreatest Hockey Legends I was recently inspired to write another post of this nature based on how I was able to enlighten folks to the fact that there was much more to Joe Fortes than an oyster bar. Whenever I hear the ad for Cyclone Taylor Sports on morning radio it gets […]

Our good friend Henry, who spends time all across the world but is still nice enough to send del.icio.us links our way for blogging purposes, sent along a this information. A new Canadian chamber opera based on the life of the late writer, poet and actress Pauline Johnson will have its world premiere in Vancouver […]

“The Medium is the Message”, coined by Marshall McLuhan was a question tonight as we played Trivial Pursuit 80s edition with the Carlsons. It sparked a brief discussion about Canadian Heritage Minutes that used to play during commercial breaks when we were in high school, as there was a feature on McLuhan. A friend of […]

When I was little I thought there was a mermaid perched on a rock almost 100 feet from the Sea Wall in Stanley Park. As it turns out one of the most recognizable marine landmarks in this city, the statue Girl in Wetsuit, actually does have a mermaid involved in her history. Photo credit: Pat […]

The other day during our multi-hour walk through the park, John and I came across a a tree that had been tagged in a way I hadn’t seen before. You’ll usually find fluorescent flags hanging off branches as route or survey markers but since the storms we’ve mostly seen spray-painted dots, rags and other indicators […]

I’m a nut for trivia and lesser-known facts. I also love feeding my brain with all kinds of nuggets of information especially when it comes to our fair region. I recently found a new section of my favourite Vancouver history website that features “Oddities“: bits of news that probably weren’t news at the time, but […]

In 1986 he was named Vancouver’s “Citizen of the Century” and he was pretty much just a regular guy who happened to spend most of his time saving lives. You’ve probably seen the restaurant that’s famous for its seafood and that yellow cab out front, and maybe you’ve been to the library named in his […]

The Yale (also formerly known as “The Colonial Hotel”) was once a bunkhouse for CPR employees but later this century it became a hotbed of live music and blues activity. It’s welcomed acts like Colin James, Jimmy Page, Jim Belushi, Buddy Miles, and is a staple venue for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Yesterday plans […]