#1 Hollywood Theatre
Community cultural spaces
The Art Deco Hollywood Theatre is a precious community landmark built in 1935-36, and one of our last intact neighborhood theatres. The current owner has not expressed interest in retaining the interior of this significant theatre and has not found a buyer who would maintain its public assembly use. The only proposal so far would retain the facade, make significant changes to the interior and end the building’s use as a cultural community space.
#3/ Kerrisdale Baptist Church
Our heritage churches
With declining attendance at many Vancouver churches, potential church closures are rampant, and threaten the loss of many significant heritage buildings. When these buildings close, Vancouver communities lose more than Sunday worship space; they lose space for the countless social and cultural activities that churches accommodate seven days a week.
#5/ South Vancouver High School
A memory in the community
The history of South Vancouver High School is associated with four generations of school buildings. John Oliver High School is slated for demolition, the ‘Barn’, already vacant, could be demolished, as could Sandford Fleming. Once the Vancouver School Board is finished with its current demolition program, these three South Vancouver High School buildings may be nothing but a fading memory.
#2/ First Shaughnessy
The push is on!
With the upcoming review of the effectiveness of the 1982 First Shaughnessy Overall Development Plan, requests for demolitions are piling up at City Hall. Architects are targeting the pre-date (1940) revered and treasured houses, in an attempt to get demolition approvals before any real constraints are enacted. The Fleck Mansion (1924), as well as houses at 1288 The Crescent, 1263 Balfour and 3990 Marguerite, are imminently threatened.
#4/ Morrisette Farm House
Historic Vancouver farms
There is an immediate threat to two identified historic farmhouses, the Morrisette Farm house (1912) in Dunbar, a designated heritage building, and the Avalon Dairy in Killarney. The threat to these two early farm buildings, and the continuing demolition of others, demonstrates the necessity of identifying historic farmhouses that still survive.
#6/ Firehall No. 5
Modernist firehalls
The City’s current plan is to replace Firehall No. 5 (1952) at 3090 East 54th & Kerr with a new facility incorporating social housing. This is symptomatic of a general lack of consideration for the heritage value of postwar modernist architecture. It is important to give consideration to adapting No. 5 and other modernist fireballs to modern use or repurposing for another use rather than demolishing them.
#7/ World War One Memorials
Lest we forget
2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the ‘Great War’. After Armistice in 1918, monuments commemorating the lives of Canadians killed in overseas conflict have occupied a prominent place in our urban cultural landscape, rooting us to our history and reminding us of these monumental events. There are also memorials that commemorate others lost in World War Two and Korea. Unfortunately, some of these significant memorials are neglected, deteriorating or are at danger of being lost.
#9/ East Hastings Street
Heatley to Campbell
In 1996, Vancouver City Council approved a policy to “let go” of the industrial frontages along East Hastings from Heatley Ave to Victoria Drive. The draft Local Area Plan proposes the creation of a ‘high-street’ along East Hastings from Heatley to Clark as a part of the renewal of the area. Ill-considered development along this corridor could impact critical heritage and cultural landmarks at an accelerating rate. Unrecognized but important heritage assets remain unprotected and could be lost.
#8/ Arthur Erickson House & Garden
Arthur Erickson is considered Canada’s greatest architect of all time. His house and garden was his inspiration, his haven, and one of his most delicate design accomplishments. It is a work of art, it is unique, and it is intact. Without being designated a heritage site and receiving appropriate funds and City-controlled entitlements for retiring outstanding debts, preserving and restoring the house and garden, the Arthur Erickson Foundation’s broad missions and objectives of fostering Arthur Erickson’s legacy, will be severely compromised by the loss of this unique iconic and historical site.
#10/ Commercial Drive
Grandview’s main street
Commercial Drive has evolved over the years into a street that is an interesting mixture of textures, tastes, cultures and activities. It is outstanding not only for its significant heritage buildings but also for its sense of place, experience and uniqueness. As Vancouver continues to grow eastward, the pressures to develop this site to its allowable four-storey height limit could create a dreary blandness that would destroy what is important about ‘The Drive.’
Public awareness plays a huge role in preserving our local history. Follow Heritage Vancouver Society on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr for more information and the latest heritage updates.
Fan Expo Vancouver returns to the Vancouver Convention Centre April 18th to April 20th bringing with it celebrity guests, your favourite writers, actors, and more. This comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming show – expected to draw 25,000 fans – is packed with industry professionals, sketch duels, cosplay, workshops, and plenty of opportunities to shop.
Morning Press Conference: Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings), Manu Bennett (Arrow), John De Lancie (Star Trek), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm St)
As throngs of cosplayers, fans, enthusiasts, and families filed lined up outside the Vancouver Convention Centre this morning I had the privilege to interview Billy Boyd ahead of the second action-packed day of Fan Expo Vancouver. Billy is well-known for his character Peregrin “Pippin” Took in the Lord of the Rings series, making him a big draw at fan expos and conventions.
“I’ve been to Canada quite a lot, I’ve worked in Canada quite a lot, but never been to Vancouver,” Billy Boyd told me before the doors to the exhibition opened up for the day.
Interviewing Billy Boyd. Photo by John Biehler, through Glass
With only a few days in town, Billy managed to meet up with friends who live here and he also made it up to Grouse Mountain yesterday, before the skies clouded over. “The only thing I’ve worried about, because I’m going to stay for a few days, is that it’s going to rain like from now until I think the end of time.” We laughed and I assured him that it would probably only rain straight through to June now. “I left Glasgow for that, you know. It seems to rain more here than Glasgow!”
By next week he’ll be off to Calgary for another event and with his family in tow, he’s making this trip a Canadian adventure for them all. “The last time I was in Calgary I jumped off a mountain.” I asked if it was on purpose and Billy assured me it’s something he would never normally do, but it was for a TV show.
“If there’s one way of getting you to do something you don’t want to do it’s to put a camera on it, because then you’re like ‘God it’s going to be there forever’. Like if I was just there with no cameras I wouldn’t have done it.” Billy was a guest for an episode of Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie (Series 5, Episode 5, 2009) where they really did climb and jump off a mountain in the Rockies, although he says the jump experience was just awful.
“Everyone who I work with, who I meet in Canada, they either live in Vancouver or they love Vancouver.”
Safely on the ground this weekend at Fan Expo, I asked what he gets asked about the most when fans sign up for meet and greets, Q&A sessions, and photo ops. At the top of his list was Hobbit feet — he gets asked about Hobbit feet the most.
Aside from that, the questions he doesn’t like to get asked are ‘what was the best thing that happened?’ or ‘what was the worst thing that happened?’ because they’re too random. “There was hundreds of great things. It’s like saying to somebody ‘what is the best thing that happened in your life?’ and you’re like oh well I had a nice ice cream last Tuesday, but then I had a baby so that was kind of better.”
On top of portraying a memorable Hobbit, and his roles as Barret Bonden in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Glen in Seed of Chucky, Billy Boyd is also the lead singer of the Glasgow-based band Beecake. They’ve been awarded VisitScotland’s award for Best Live Act at the Tartan Clef Music Awards and released an EP, “Please Stay” in June of 2012.
“I was just working last night on a new song because we’re going a new album.” Preparing at first for another EP, Beecake will be putting out a full album since Billy says they have just enough songs. “We are getting really excited about it, I think it’s going to be our best album. We’ve got a new drummer so that’s put a new kind of energy into the band and he’s very keen to tour.”
Billy says that they’ll most likely finish the album by the end of the summer and then they will hopefully go on tour by the end of the year. I asked if it was a different experience to tour as an actor — to events like Fan Expo — and to tour as a band.
“Yeah it’s totally different, you’re right, because as an actor – there’s something quite exciting about arriving in a town that you’ve never been and you’re just yourself. I like to go out and just walk and then you find a place, like I found a little oyster bar last night.”
“But, it’s even more exciting when you’re there with friends and then you know you get to share that experience rather than it just being you. There’s some fun about just being you but it’s definitely more fun when it’s with friends. Most of the guys in the band I’ve been friends with since school so we know each other pretty well so it’s not like it’s hard work.”
Fan Expo Vancouver 2014
You can catch Billy Boyd at Fan Expo Vancouver today and tomorrow before he heads to Calgary Expo April 24-27. Fan Expo is open today until 7:00pm and Sunday, April 20th from 10:00am to 5:00pm at the Vancouver Convention Centre. You can still book your autographs and photo ops with Billy Boyd either online or on site.
Check the Fan Expo Vancouver guest list online for the latest announcements and follow Fan Expo Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
During the month of April I will be featuring a Cherry Blossom Photo of the Day, sourced from the Miss604 Flickr Pool and/or the #Photos604 tag on Instagram. You can barely walk a full block in the city without encountering a photographer capturing this pink blooms — or stopping yourself — so it’s the perfect time to start this series. Enjoy!
A series of clever animations, Do We Need To Be Touching, was created by Nathan W. Pyle to illustrate basic etiquette and tips for navigating New York City. It’s a rather long list but some helpful panels can also be applied to Vancouver (transit, busy downtown streets, etc.) so I have plucked them out for your enjoyment:
Over the last few of years I have featured themed collections of photos from the City of Vancouver Archives on my site. However, this month I thought I would change things up a bit and issue a challenge to my readers and local photographers. The challenge was to create your own photos to replicate a handful of archive photos that I have selected.
I put the call out to local photographers last month to see if they could capture updates for a handful of archive photos I posted. Thanks to London Drugs for their support, I have three winners to announce.
