Free concerts and the CBC in Vancouver go hand-in-hand, and while it’s a little too chilly — and soggy — to host their popular outdoor Musical Nooners at this time of year, they are bringing back the CBC Toque Sessions free concert series.

Now in its 5th year, the CBC Vancouver’s Toque Sessions free concert series runs each Thursday and Friday beginning at 7:30pm in Studio One at the CBC Broadcast Centre at 700 Hamilton Street (between Robson and Georgia) from January 23rd until February 28th, 2014.

There are 12 shows lined up for this season and reservations are not available so be sure to secure your place in the rush line by 6:30pm each show day.

For more information on the CBC Toque Sessions follow @CBCVancouver or #cbctoques on Twitter.

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival returns this month as two dozen local purveyors offer up over 60 delightfully tasty and creative cocoa concoctions.

Photo credit: stephbond on Flickr

Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival

Now in its fourth year, the festival is presented by CityFood Magazine and will run from January 18th until February 14th, 2014. A full list of participating cafes and bakeries will be posted later this week but a teaser video released a few days ago has a few hints.

There’s Australian black liquorice and organic dark chocolate ganache from GEM Chocolates; a blend of cinnamon, star anise, cloves, fennel and peppers with dark chocolate from Soirette Macarons & Tea; hibiscus, Barry Callebaut white chocolate and a mountain berry marshmallow, from Terra Breads; banana bread, banana liquor, Michel Cluizel dark chocolate, and banana bread gelato in hot chocolate from Bella Gelateria and much more!

The entire event is a fundraiser for the Downtown Eastside women’s job skills program of the PHS Community Services Society + EastVan Roasters. Follow CityFood Magazine on Facebook for Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival updates.

The title of this post is misleading. First, the Vancouver School of Theology (“VST”) has just sold their iconic building to UBC’s School of Economics. Second, UBC is not technically in the City of Vancouver. Details aside, the VST’s grand Iona Building is a UBC staple and is frequently used in local film and television production. As photogenic as it is, it’s today’s Vancouver Icon:

Photo credit: I am I.A.M. on Flickr

The stone-faced Vancouver School of Theology, built in 1927 as a seminary for Protestant clergy, has been sold to the university for $28 million, it was announced today. It will become the new home of UBC’s school of economics. [Vancouver Sun]

Photo credit: Tlaloc Xicotencatl on Flickr

Photo credit: Tlaloc Xicotencatl & Arbron on Flickr

Photo credit: kiszka king & lawrence’s lenses on Flickr

Photo credit: Decaseconds on Flickr

In 1927, Ryerson College, Westminster Hall, and the Congregational College of British Columbia were amalgamated to form the United Church‘s Union College of British Columbia, housed in the west wing of the Iona Building, constructed that year. In the 1930s, the tower section was added. [VST]

Photo credit: patrick h. lauke on Flickr

Photo credit: photocafe on Flickr

VST has trained thousands of United, Anglican, Presbyterian and other clergy in the past 86 years. But principal Richard Topping says the building, with its stunning views of Bowen Island and Howe Sound, is too large and too costly for its 115 full- and part-time students.

The Christian graduate school will move this summer into a smaller, adjacent building on the north side of the UBC campus, called Somerville House. The school will retain its A-frame Chapel of Epiphany. [Vancouver Sun]

Photo credit: Tlaloc Xicotencatl on Flickr

Previous Vancouver Icons posts: Gate to the Northwest Passage, St Paul’s Hospital, Capilano Lake, Stawamus Chief, Nine O’Clock Gun, Malkin Bowl, Search, Vancouver Rowing Club, Echoes, Point Atkinson Lighthouse, English Bay Inukshuk, Hollow Tree, Hotel Europe, Lions Gate Bridge Lions, LightShed, Granville Bridge, 217.5 Arc x 13′, Canoe Bridge, Vancouver Block, Bloedel Conservatory, Centennial Rocket, Canada Place, Old Courthouse/Vancouver Art Gallery, Dominion Building, Science World, Gastown Steam Clock, SFU Burnaby, Commodore Lanes, Siwash Rock, Kitsilano Pool, White Rock Pier, Main Post Office, Planetarium Building, Lord Stanley Statue, Vancouver Library Central Branch, Victory Square, Digital Orca, The Crab Sculpture, Girl in Wetsuit, The Sun Tower, The Hotel Vancouver, The Gassy Jack Statue, The Marine Building, and The Angel of Victory. Should you have a suggestion for the Vancouver Icons series please feel free to leave a note in the comments. It should be a thing, statue, or place that is very visible and recognizable to the public.

I love the pictorial history of Vancouver and Seize the Time: Van­cou­ver Pho­tographed, 1967–1974 is one of the most unique reads of its kind. While even my collages of photos from the City of Vancouver Archives often reach back a century, Vladimir Keremidschieff’s images highlight a very unique time in Vancouver’s not-so-distant past.

New Star Books

Starting as a freelance in 1967, Vladimir Keremidschieff photographed rock concerts, protest demonstrations, and sometimes street scenes and ordinary people for the Vancouver Sun, the Province, and the Georgia Straight. Toward the end of his seven-year stint, he was going down to Seattle to shoot more of the same, and never returned to Vancouver permanently. He now lives in Australia. The images in Seize the Time — the phrase comes from placards carried in a 1970 protest in support of abortion rights and Black Power — recall a much smaller Vancouver of a much simpler age that was nonetheless far more exciting than the present.

George Fetherling of The Georgia Straight writes: “The photographs are generally interesting qua photographs, full of visual information and social history, with figures frozen in stillness or captured in frantic motion. Depending on your actuarial circumstances, they are either an aid to nostalgia or a handy crash course in a period of history that is quickly receding from memory.”

The images are all in black and white, for intended publication in newspapers at the time, and Keremidschieff shares insightful notes throughout the book. He captured Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then-mayor Tom (Terrific) Campbell, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and more.

Book Week Giveaway

Here’s how to enter to win today’s featured Book Week title Seize the Time: Vancouver Photographed, 1967–1974:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

Update The winner is Jason Gallant!

I will draw one winner at random from all entries on Wednesday, January 15, 2013 at 12:00pm.

Nominations are now open for the 2014 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in Vancouver. This is the 31st anniversary of the awards which celebrate women in various fields who have inspired, educated, and paved the way for future generations.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Since 1984, the awards have paid tribute to 374 outstanding women and organizations. You can nominate a deserving woman in any of the following categories: Arts, Culture & Design; Business & the Professions; Community Building; Education, Training & Development; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Health, Wellness & Active Living; Non-Profit & Public Service; Technology and Science Research; and Young Woman of Distinction.

The nomination period ends Friday, March 7, 2013 at 12:00pm. The 31st annual YWCA Women of Distinction Awards ceremony will take place on June 3rd at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. There is a reception, gala dinner, silent auction, and awards ceremony.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Nomination Information Session

A free nomination information session will be held on Tuesday, 14 January, 2014 at the YWCA (535 Hornby Street 4th Floor, Welch Room).

Follow the YWCA of Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information. Miss604 is a proud social media sponsor of this event for the 5th year.

YWCA Metro Vancouver is dedicated to achieving women’s equality. Their mission is to touch lives and build better futures for women and their families through advocacy and integrated services that foster economic independence, wellness and equal opportunities.