Both Heritage Vancouver and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation host fascinating walking, neighbourhood, and housing tours around Vancouver. One upcoming event that caught my eye, aside from tomorrow night’s dinner in the Marine Building penthouse, is a walking tour with twist. Photo credit: davefisher99 on Flickr – Submitted to the Miss604 Flickr Pool. Walking Tour & […]

Walking past the box office of the Spanish Revival style building, I opened the doors to the Patricia Theatre and was greeted with the haunting aroma of buttered popcorn. A poster board propped up in the entranceway spelled out the future of the historic Powell River theatre rather bluntly: Digital or Dark? The Patricia is […]

It was on March 10th 1870 the settlement know locally as Gastown was given its official name: Granville Townsite. Lord Granville was the Colonial Secretary at the time and the Granville Townsite was selected as the terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway. It wasn’t until 1886 that the townsite was renamed, when it incorporated, as […]

This morning it was announced that Sears was closing its downtown Vancouver location, along with others in Calgary and Ottawa, by October 31st [News1130]. While rumours are flying about what will move into the Pacific Centre Sears spot, which they took over from Eaton’s back in 1999, my immediately reaction was that now we can […]

Painted on the sides of brick buildings that lined Hastings and other downtown thoroughfares that have existed for the better part of the last century, there was obviously a time when Vancouver’s ghost signs were just signs. Thanks to the Vancouver Archives, here’s a quick look at these painted adverts in their heyday. 1917 – […]