Since 2001, Heritage Vancouver has published a Top Ten Endangered Sites list bringing attention and awareness to buildings and landmarks around the city that may be threatened.
1923 – St Paul’s Hospital on Burrard. Archives item# Bu N251.
From the first list in 2001: “Because of demolition, redevelopment, or neglect threatens so much of our heritage, it was tough to limit the list to ten. Sites were selected on the basis of urgency, importance and their ability to generate public interest. Each year, HV will feature a new list of endangered sites within the City of Vancouver, a look back at the year’s success stories, and a post mortem of endangered sites lost during the previous twelve months.”
Heritage Vancouver is hosting their annual Top Ten Endangered Sites Bus Tour to promote the launch of the list on Saturday, May 4, 2013 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Tickets are $40 ($35 for Heritage Vancouver members) and they are available for purchase in advance — this event often sells out entirely so booking early is recommended. Participants can then meet in the Museum of Vancouver parking lot
Climb aboard for an exclusive guided tour of Heritage Vancouver’s 2013 Top Ten Endangered Sites! Be the first to visit the sites on the Top Ten this year with Heritage Vancouver’s own heritage experts. Tour guides Donald Luxton, well-known author, and the President of Heritage Vancouver, and Anthony Norfolk, head of our Advocacy committee, will fascinate you with their stories of this year’s endangered sites. The bus will stop at two surprise sites and you will have the opportunity to explore these endangered sites in detail and have a conversation with community members.
The 2012 Endangered Sites List included:
1. Main Post Office (1958)
2. Historic Movie Theatres (Hollywood, Ridge)
3. St. Paul’s Hospital: Historic Burrard Building
4. Schools: Sir James Douglas Elementary (1910-12)
5. Strathcona North – Vancouver’s First Neighbourhood
6. Shaughnessy: Land Speculation
7. Wilmar Estate (1925)
8. West End Housing
9. Grandview Neighbourhood
10. Downtown Granville Street (800-1200 blocks)
Follow Heritage Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information about the bus tour, the endangered sites, and the society.
Another Vancouver Biennale art project has been donated to the City of Vancouver, this time it’s Echoes by Montreal artist Michel Goulet. Echoes is a set of stainless steel chairs that were originally in the sand at Sunset Beach in 2005 and were moved to Kits Beach for Biennale in 2009.
From far away it looks as though someone abandoned a picnic in a hurry (and took off with a table) but up close, the chairs have much more meaning. Each has phrases etched in the seats and when the sun hits them all at the right angle they form a poem in shadows. “Public installations of artistic and whimsical chairs with thought provoking, often bilingual aphorisms have become a signature trademark of this Quebec based artist. A favourite of passersby this donation has been made possible by the 2005-2007 Vancouver Biennale Legacy Foundation.”
In honor of this, Echoes is today’s Vancouver Icon photo feature:
Other Vancouver Biennale Legacy works include 217.5 Arc x 13′ and A-Maze-Ing Laughter.
Previous Vancouver Icons posts: 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.
Grain Tasting Bar is the latest main lobby attraction at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver that combines rustic and contemporary elements with chic ambiance. Local craft beer specials on game nights, wood-fired pizzas, and featured BC growers, distillers, and brewers make this new hot spot shine.
Photo courtesy of Grain Tasting Bar
Chef Thomas Heinrich is originally from Australia and come to Vancouver by way of the Hyatt Regency Chicago. “Combining his innate attention to detail with a deep rooted desire to showcase the best from local growers and producers is translated at Grain. Quality ingredients, meticulous preparation and a genuine love for flavor allow our food to speak for itself.”
Lunch menu features are grouped by “lettuce” and “bread” categories and include dishes like Gelderman Farms Pork & Crispy Kale Salad, Seared Vancouver Island Albacore Tuna Salad, along with sandwiches like Roasted Pork, Little Farms Chicken, Skuna Bay Salmon, and more.
If you would like to try Grain Tasting Bar for yourself they have offered up a $100 gift card for a Miss604 reader. Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
Grain Tasting Bar is open every day from 11:00am until 1:00am. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook for daily specials and the freshest menu updates.
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. You must be of legal drinking age (19+) to enter and win. The gift certificate is for food only and excludes alcohol purchases. Please enjoy responsibly.
Update The winner is Lori-Vancouver Superhost!
Other conferences might claim to have been the first social media or blogging conference in the country or the province but you’re hearing it from me today that Northern Voice was the very first.
Northern Voice launched in the late winter of 2005 solely to talk about personal blogging. Before social networking, before professional blogging, before businesses had “new” media strategies, there was Northern Voice. The event, that combines a free-form unconference on one day and a full conference schedule the next, always been affordable and ripe with opportunities to connect, not just network, with others. With that said, it’s returning for the 9th year this June and organizers are currently looking for speakers.
When June 14 to June 15, 2013
Where H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and Museum of Vancouver
Do you love the web? Do you like to create and share? Or have a unique experience to offer? Then Northern Voice 2013 is the place for you. We are now looking for speakers for the 2013 conference. If you have a topic to speak about, a story to tell or want to develop and run a panel; we encourage you to send in your awesome submissions by April 12, 2013. Please limit your submission to one typed page (250 words) when you send your submission in or if you do so via email include links to online properties you may have.
We’ve always loved attending Northern Voice. It’s where…
…I took a blurry photo with Matt Mullenweg, Founder of WordPress and posed for a silly photo with Stewart Butterfield, Co-Founder of Flickr
… I took this photo of Tod Maffin doing a CBC tour and it remained my #1 most-viewed photo for over a year
… I could sit behind moose antlers or beside Jeremy David in a Pokemon outfit
… I read strange quotes on screen from Darren Barefoot and Rob Cottingham
… I could wear the conference’s Bloggable t-shirt and a sheriff badge while liveblogging
… I met Bryan Alexander (author of The New Digital Storytelling) and hung out with awesome people like Bev Davies and Kris Krug
It’s also where I have been inspired by Nora Young, Robert Scoble, Anil Dash, and Tim Bray. If you would like to be a part of this warm and welcoming event that helped me with my blogging journey, send in your talk ideas by Friday, April 12, 2013 for consideration. Follow @NorthernVoice on Twitter for more information such as ticket sales and schedules.
Diva at the Metropolitan Hotel on Howe Street’s focuses on delivering Pacific Northwest flavours through breakfast, lunch, and dinner with playful twists on classic dishes. I popped in for a power lunch earlier this month to experience Executive Chef Hamid Salimian’s latest offering – the Food Truck-Inspired Lunch.
John and I first met Chef Hamid in Whistler back in 2010 and we had the pleasure of experiencing his creative culinary talents a few months later when he was at a hotel restaurant in Richmond. His dishes were gastronomical wonders, I wrote: “I had never seen a puffed fois gras, a powdered popcorn crumble on an amuse bouche, fried salmon skin that tasted like wood smoke and marshmallows, or a shrimp bar with soy caviar and squid ink garnish. Even the classic beef tenderloin was topped with a buckwheat crisp. The dishes burst with flavour and made a conscious effort to combine textures playfully.” Fortunately, Chef Hamid is still as adventurous with techniques and flavours as ever over at Diva at the Met.
With food trucks being a popular lunchtime stop around downtown, Diva at the Met decided to play on their popularity and truly make some of their dishes their own with the help of Chef Hamid’s imagination.
Food Truck-Inspired Menu
- Butter chicken basmati rice, cilantro yogurt, fried cauliflower, lime
- Barbecue eel banh mi sandwich chicken liver pate, pickled carrot, daikon, cilantro (choice of fries or salad)
- Classic poutine french fries cheese curds, beef brisket, gravy
- Diva corn dog truffle mayo, grainy mustard, house made sauerkraut & thrice cooked kenebec fries
Each item from the food truck menu (which is not prepared in a truck but in Diva’s open kitchen) is $17 which gives the Diva Corn Dog the distinction of being the most expensive corn dog in Canada [HuffPo].
“Our food truck-inspired dishes, especially the Diva Corn Dog, take classic street foods and amp them up with high-end ingredients and bold flavours,” said Chef Salimian. “We’ve had great feedback on the Diva Corn Dog since it was first introduced, which is why we’re giving it a permanent home on our menu – it’s fun, yet sophisticated and shows how you can turn something as humble as a corn dog into a showstopping menu item.” [Press Release]
I of course had to try the Diva Corn Dog. I quickly found out that it is not your run of the mill corn dog though, it is seriously gourmet. The homemade sausage is comprised of sweetbread, bone marrow, truffle and foie gras. It’s incredibly decadent with a crunchy cornmeal exterior and I enjoyed each bite that I swiped through the truffle mayo. The sauerkraut was a nice touch as well, adding crisp and contrasting flavours – something Chef Hamid does very well.
My lunch date (the lovely Mom604) decided on the lobster grilled cheese on brioche, which came with kenebec fries (no longer available).
The staff was friendly and attentive, the atmosphere was a nice calming contrast to the bustle of the downtown streets outside, and an hour was more than enough time for us to enjoy our meal and not feel rushed before returning to work. In fact we even had time for dessert: a selection of sorbets and The Oreo with vanilla pudding, aerated chocolate, cassis sorbet.
The Diva Corn Dog is a permanent menu item and the rest of the food truck items get changed up every so often. Diva also offers a prix-fixe lunch menu which is refreshed as seasonal and locally-sourced ingredients become available. Follow along on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about their latest menu offerings.
