Since I’m celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Miss604 on November 13th, I figured that a retrospective series was in order leading up to the event. Over the last 10 years I have personally published over 6,240 posts while family and friends have contributed over 200 guest posts. I’ve decided to pick out my Top 10 posts in various categories and showcase them this week.

Top 10: History Posts on Miss604

For this collection I have selected posts that garnered a lot of views, took a decent amount of research, or were the most fun to put together:

10. Foncie’s Photos

Overview of the Foncie’s Photos Flickr Group

Foncie Pulice, Vancouver’s most famous street photographer, perfected the genre throughout the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s in downtown Vancouver. In his lifetime, Foncie took over 15 million photos of Vancouverites as they strolled through the city, including one of my Opa on Granville Street in 1956. Foncie’s amazing collection, the memories his images trigger, and the snapshot in time where he captured my dear Opa make his one of my very favourite stories to share.

9. Henry John Cambie

I have profile many historical figures in nearly 500 Vancouver history blog posts but I decided to include this one about John Henry Cambie because it was one of many where relatives of the subjects actually contacted me. Chief August Jack Khatsahlano is another example of an important figure whose family lives in Vancouver today, and has happened to contact me through my blog.

8. English Bay Pier

1905 – Archives item# CVA 677-227. Photographer: Philip Timms.

Having lived in the West End for the last decade I am always fascinated by this neighbourhood’s history. One day I was searching through old newspaper archives, as I have been known to do, and I found mention of the English Bay Pier. This led to research, a visit to the Vancouver Archives, and a what became a popular blog post.

7. Archive Photos of the Day

1920: Vancouver Women’s Hockey Team. Archives Item#: CVA 99-58

I first began sharing photos from the City of Vancouver Archives and Vancouver Public Library Archives in 2010 and for the last six years I have assembled vintage image collections every few weeks that showcase glimpses of life in Vancouver throughout the last century. I’ve featured the the extraordinary and the mundane: From hockey, beaches, local mountains, North Shore ferries, and Christmas decorations to lighthouses, ice cream, moustaches, a giant ski jump, and hundreds more.

6. Reservoir in Stanley Park

Cropped and zoomed in. Archives item# MAP 777.

Stanley Park is my favourite place in the city so naturally I have also looked into its history quite a bit over the years. This post starts off with: “The other day I was looking at an old map of Stanley Park from 1907,” another day in the life of Miss604 moment. That old map prompted me to look into a square formation that was once a reservoir, and is now a ballpark.

5. Women in History

1929: Sister Frances of Strathcona receiving a “Good Citizenship Medal” from the City. Archives item# CVA 99-1874. Photographer: Stuart Thomson

There have been, and continue to be, some remarkable women who have called Vancouver home. My profile of these ladies in Vancouver history started with my appreciation for Pauline Johnson and it continues to grow as I find interesting subjects all the time. A few that I have profiled so far include: Sister Frances of Strathcona, Mable Ellen Boultbee, Anna Ethel Sprott, and Doreen Reitsma.

4. Joe Fortes

1910s: Joe Fortes in front of his cottage at the foot of Bidwell St (1700 Beach Ave). Archives# CVA 371-1977

Vancouver’s “Citizen of the Century”, Joe Fortes, was one of my first history profiles, back at a time when most people associated the name with a lovely restaurant on the corner of Thurlow and Robson. Joe Fortes taught hundreds of children to swim, saved over 100 lives, and became a legend and inspiration for the city.

3. Visiting the Vancouver Archives

The biggest help and most treasured resource in my pursuit of learning and sharing Vancouver history is the City of Vancouver Archives, officially opened in 1933 by Major J.S. Matthews — the man who saved Vancouver. In 2009 I got a behind the scenes tour of the archives, browsing the minutes of the first ever city council meeting and soaking up every ephemeral gem, from film reel canisters and maps to photographs.

Speaking of awesome tours, an honourable mention goes to the exclusive tour I had of the clock tower at Sinclair Centre in 2010.

2. The Mayor of Gastown

“Ace” Aasen. Windsor Star/CP.

Do you know the Mayor of Gastown?

I first read about Ace” Aasen — the self-proclaimed Mayor of Gastown — in an old newspaper archive. I then dug around to find several other stories about the neighbourhood’s popular unofficial ambassador who lived in the Hotel Europe in the 1970s. This post combines a bit of research, articles from local publications, personal accounts, and the story of one heck of a character.

1. Charlie’s Tree

Photo courtesy of Antonio @ Vendramin’s Views.

My most popular history post of all time was about Charlie’s Tree, a monument I had driven by every Sunday as a child on the way out to my grandmother’s house in Langley on Highway 1. Covered in vines, with a small Canadian flag tacked to the front, all that was legible along those drives was a sign with the words “Charlie’s Tree”. In 2012, after passing it again and noticing that it has been more decorated in recent years, I decided to look into its history. What I found was a courageous and powerful story that I am very happy I took the time to learn.

More themed Top 10 posts will follow this week and be sure to get your tickets to the #Miss604is10 anniversary party:

Thanks to #Miss604is10 major sponsors London Drugs, Patio Social, Granville Liquor Store, Honda Canada, Granville Island Brewing, and Tourism Surrey.

Miss604 is pleased to announce a new promotional partnership with the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards (the “Jessies”). On the first Thursday of every month, I will feature a list of productions that are registered for the Jessie Awards, including their dates, locations, and more. The goal of this partnership is to promote eligible shows and further the Jessies’ mandate of educating the public about professional theatre in Vancouver. Miss604 is proud to be the Official Blogger of The Jessies.

Vancouver Theatre Listings: November 2014

(Left) Small Parts: Jeff Gladstone and Eileen Barrett photo by Johnny Liu
(Right) Saint Joan: Photo of Meg Roe by David Cooper
(Bottom) Showdown: Chirag Naik, Lili Beaudoin, Jordan Jenkins, by Dana Paul

Snapshots Collective presents
Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook by Stephen Schwartz
Studio 1398 on Granville Island (1398 Cartwright St)
Until November 8th, 2014
Website | Tickets

Western Gold Theatre presents
Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
PAL Theatre (581 Cardero St)
Until November 9th, 2014
Website | Tickets

Staircase Theatre presents
Hunters & Gatherers by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Havana Theatre (1212 Commercial Drive)
Until November 15, 2014
Website | Tickets

We’re All Good People Collective presents
Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire
Studio 1398 on Granville Island (1398 Cartwright St)
November 19th to November 29th, 2014
Tickets

The Arts Club Theatre presents
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville St)
Until November 23rd, 2014
Website | Tickets

Touchstone Theatre presents
Late Company by Jordan Tannahill
Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch (1895 Venables St)
November 21st to November 30th, 2014
Website | Tickets

Green Thumb Theatre presents
Showdown by Jamie Norris
On tour to Elementary Schools throughout the province
Until November 27th
Website

Solo Collective presents
Small Parts by David Hudgins
Performance Works on Granville Island (1218 Cartwright St)
November 12th to November 23rd, 2014
Website | Tickets

Firehall Arts Centre presents
Urinetown: The Musical by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann
Firehall Arts Centre (280 East Cordova)
Until November 29th, 2014
Website | Tickets

For more information about professional theatre in Vancouver, follow the Jessies on Twitter and Facebook.

Since I’m celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Miss604 on November 13th, I figured that a retrospective series was in order leading up to the event. Over the last 10 years I have personally published over 6,240 posts while family and friends have contributed over 200 guest posts. I’ve decided to pick out my Top 10 posts in various categories and showcase them this week.

Top 10: Food Experiences on Miss604

My best food experiences over the years have been selected based on the menu, the scenery, and the company that was with me:

10. Treetop Tapas and Grill

The ideal girls weekend checklist: Stay at an awesome resort by the sea (check). Spend all day at the spa (check). In your spa robes, visit the bistro for all-you-can-eat tapas and some cocktails (check). You can do all of this at Tigh-Na-Mara’s Grotto Spa and Treetop Tapas and Grill. My stay at Tigh-Na-Mara in 2009 with Keira was definitely made for this list.

9. ART Restaurant at Four Seasons Seattle

There are many excellent places to dine in Seattle, and we usually gravitate towards those of the “brewpub” variety however it was at ART Restaurant at Four Seasons that I first had what have become some of my favourite flavour combinations. John and I enjoyed Crab wrapped in cucumber, sunchoke bisque, pan seared halibut with fiddleheads, and Giorgio’s Limoncello. It was this limoncello that led to me ordering it on special occasions at Nook in Vancouver (usually on my birthday).

8. Nanaimo Bar Trail

In a stroke of pure genius, Chelsea Barr of Tourism Nanaimo created a list of all of the places in downtown Nanaimo where you could get Nanaimo Bars and Nanaimo Bar inspired confections, drinks, and desserts. I first experience the self-guided Nanaimo Bar Trail in 2010 and again in 2013. Highlights include the gluten free bar at Mon Petit Choux and the Nanaimo Bar Martini at Modern Cafe.

7. Brunch at Reflections

While it’s only open seasonally, Reflections at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia is a lovely oasis in the city where you feel like you found a secret patio between downtown towers that’s just for you and your party. John and I enjoyed a very cozy brunch in one of their cabanas on a rainy afternoon, complete with champagne and strawberries, while we snuggled under a blanket and the outdoor fireplace roared. It was definitely one of the most romantic brunches I’ve ever had.

6. Circle Farm Tour

Every Vancouverite who truly believes in supporting local producers and eating local ingredients needs to check out a Circle Farm Tour. These self-guided routes lead you from farm to artisan, to farm. Maps are provided for Harrison Mills & Agassiz, Langley, Pitt Meadows & Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, and Abbotsford. One of my Circle Farm Tour Highlights was doing the Slow Food Cycle Tour in Harrison/Agassiz in 2012 and the farmer + media dinner earlier this season.

5. Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress

You have a slice in New York, poutine in Montreal, fish and chips in London, and when you’re in Victoria, you enjoy Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress. While craft beer culture has taken the city by storm, the classic and timeless tradition of afternoon tea is a must-do. I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy it twice, once in 2010 with Keira and in 2011 with my family, which included a mini Princess Tea for my niece.

4. Araxi Longtable Series

Get a table long enough to seat a few hundred people and set it up in a clearing on the farm where most of the ingredients for dinner will be sourced. This is the epic event that is the Araxi Longtable Series. John and I have covered two long table events, the first at North Arm Farm in Pemberton and the second at Lost Lake in Whistler. Both featured BC-fresh dishes served up on location by Executive Chef James Walt and his team and paired with BC wine.

3. Tacofino Food Truck

No Vancouverite’s list of food destinations would be complete without mentioning our famed food trucks and street vendors. The very first of which I visited was Tacofino Food Truck, and I’ve been back several times since. The food is delicious but Tacofino is also a meeting place at lunch hour, where I find Keira or John downtown and we take a moment out of our day to enjoy the city and devour devilishly good fish tacos. Everyone has a favourite food truck, and this one is definitely mine.

2. Ka’anapali Fresh Festival Maui

The best food festival I have attended in my years of blogging is the Ka’anapali Fresh on Maui. Over several days we attended seminars, tours, and tasting events that served up local, Maui fare using the best ingredients the island has to offer. At the market there were farm-fresh eggs, pineapples, smoothies, broccoli, bok choy, green beans, kale, pohole (young fern shoots), and offerings from the Alii Kula Lavender Farm. We had MauiGrown Coffee, Maui Blanc Pineapple Wine, Moloka’i purple sweet potato gnocchi, and of course SPAM hash from the breakfast buffet at the hotel.

1. Hastings House on Salt Spring Island

Apple juice from the orchard, edible flowers from the garden, lamb from the meadow, and spot prawns from the waters off Salt Spring Island. Hastings House, situated on the hill between Ganges Harbour, surrounded by forest and meadow, is one of the places on earth where I am the absolute happiest.

Our first time at Hastings House was in 2011 and last winter we spent a few winter nights there again, holed up in the manor overlooking the harbour and tending to the crackling fireplace. Hastings House also hosts a Chefs Across the Water series where they fly in Canadian and international chefs to cook pairing dinners using Salt Spring Island ingredients.

For its amazing scenery, dedication to local produce and ingredients, its afternoon tea to its evenings sipping wine by the inglenook fireplace in the manor, Hastings House tops the list when it comes to culinary experiences for me. A very honourable mention goes to Harbour House on Salt Spring just down the hill from Hastings House. When in season, 80% of their food served comes from the island.

More themed Top 10 posts will follow this week and be sure to get your tickets to the #Miss604is10 anniversary party:

Thanks to #Miss604is10 major sponsors London Drugs, Patio Social, Granville Liquor Store, Honda Canada, Granville Island Brewing, and Tourism Surrey.

“It was intense,” my niece told me this morning when I asked her about the show last night. I took her to see Stickboy at Vancouver Opera, which was composed by Neil Weisensel and written by Shane Koyczan. Given my general knowledge of the libretto — based on Koyczan’s powerful book about a boy who, after enduring years of bullying from his classmates, finally snaps and becomes a bully himself — intense was expected and delivered.

Photo by Tim Matheson for Vancouver Opera

Stickboy at Vancouver Opera

My first impressions, when I sat down inside the Vancouver Playhouse, was that this really was going to be original. Not just original but a fusion of classically presented opera and contemporary sets, lyrics, and themes. Surtitles in english for an english opera, a set that doesn’t look to change, and costumes that consisted of gumboots and parkas. You didn’t get lost in a fantasy like you might watching a classic opera. It was real, raw, and packed a punch.

“Survival isn’t an instinct, it’s an act of sheer will.”

We follow a “Boy” at school from the age of 10 until high school graduation and throughout that journey we hear administrators say things we’ve heard before when it comes to bullying but under the lights of the Playhouse it really made you think, and made you want to act. It made you want to do more to change the way everyone looks at bullying and the bullied.

Giant Ant Media‘s animations brought the set to life with powerful imagery and striking drawings and Shane Koyczan’s voice cut through the music providing narration at times. Kudos as well to Neil Weisensel for composing music that complimented Koyczan’s poignant words.

Sunny Shams, who played the main character with no name, just “Boy” made you feel his pain and heartache, made you fear him, and made you feel for him. His interactions with “Grandmother” Megan Latham didn’t just pull at your heartstrings, it tugged them as though trying to set something free from a powerful grip.

The tears I held back last night have started to flow as I write this review. Stickboy was beautiful and it was disturbing, and you should experience it for yourself today at 2:00pm because every other evening performance (through November 7th) is entirely sold out — and I know exactly why.

Follow the Vancouver Opera on Twitter for the latest show information and updates.

Craft beer fans in BC and Alberta will be able to celebrate the holidays with a special treat starting December 1st if they pick up the “Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown” 24-pack of Central City and Parallel 49 beer.

The Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown features 22 of the best and most sought-after craft beers from Central City and Parallel 49, as well as two special collaboration beers, one from each brewery. This marks the first time two North American craft breweries have come together to collaborate on an advent-style holiday beer pack.

The case includes Central City’s Dubbel Trubbel, a classic Belgian Brown ale made with a world famous Belgian Abbey yeast — a great beer to have during the holidays — along with Parallel 49’s collaborative beer, the Schwarzwald Chocolate Cherry Porter which is inspired by Black Forest cake. Where these beers are in the Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown gift pack is a mystery.

This advent-style calendar box, with individual cutouts so you can enjoy a beer-a-day in December, retails for $74.95 a case and is available now in government liquor stores across BC and parts of Alberta.

Thanks to Central City, I have a Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown case to give away to one lucky Miss604 reader — or the craft beer lover in their life. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment naming a beer by either Central City or Parallel 49 (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, November 12, 2014. Must be 19+. Please enjoy responsibly.

Update The winner is Alex W!