The Vancouver Heritage Foundation, known for hosting unique history-filled tours around the city, presents the Vancouver Special House Tour on September 22nd.
A 2012 tour home. Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation.
Learn more about these unique-to-Vancouver houses, their building styles, and see how owners have transformed and modeled these dwellings.
What is a “Vancouver Special“?
Some say it derives from the “Rancher” turned sideways, to adapt to Vancouver’s narrow lots. Popular and quick to build, thousands of “Vancouver Specials” were constructed in the 1960s and 70s in bluecollar neighbourhoods all over the Lower Mainland, and have become a dominant house type in Vancouver.
The sheer quantity of Specials and their adaptability to two family dwellings has made them very attractive to first time buyers. We are excited to see this stock gain respect and value, so Specials are retained and not sent to the landfill. The highest volume of landfill today is coming from demolished buildings.
The tour will take you through five specials from 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Saturday, September 22, 2012. Tickets are available for $30 and will be going fast (many tours like this tend to sell out).
Follow the Vancouver Heritage Foundation on Facebook and Twitter for more information about tours and special events.
Global Civic will host another Public Salon this month with another great line-up of speakers with diverse backgrounds, topics, and expertise.
The Public Salon hosts eight speakers who each have eight minutes on stage to present on any topic they like. It could be a personal story, a motivational anecdote, photos from an adventure, or professional research findings.
September 20, 2012 Speakers
Rick Antonson, Tourism Vancouver, @MyVancouver on Twitter.
Rick Antonson will consider what inspiration we could gain from the visionary architects of ancient cathedrals who knew they would never live to see their buildings completed.
Devon Brooks, Cofounder of Blo Dry Bar, @devsdevelopment on Twitter.
Devon Brooks defied skeptics when she made a prosperous business out of Blo Blow Dry Bar but she has a deeper message of overcoming that she is compelled to share.
Rudy Buttignol, Knowledge Network, @kpassiton on Twitter.
Rudy Buttignol has transformed the Knowledge Network and made it into a force for independent film producers will ask whether the greatest threat to community is oppression from without or irrelevance from within.
Jem Garrard, Filmmaker, @jemga on Twitter.
Jem Garrard is a young Vancouver filmmaker who is winning awards and recognition for her creativity.
Tim Laidler, Veterans Transition Program
Tim Laidler returned to UBC from the turbulence of war in Afghanistan and now helps young veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Gabor Mate, Physician, Author and Public Speaker
Best-selling author Dr. Gabor Mate has worked in the Downtown Eastside and addiction medicine and will share insights on life and aging.
Gina Morris, Choreographer of Lip Dub Wedding Proposal, @radishPDX on Twitter.
Gina Morris of Portland choreographed a proposal video that has gone viral and champions local design and fashion at her boutique Radish Underground.
Timothy Taylor, Canadian Novelist, @timothy_taylor_ on Twitter.
Timothy Taylor is a Vancouver author that is gaining the attention of the world will explore the meaning of mercy.
Tickets
The Public Salon on Thursday, September 20th will run from 7:30pm until 9:00pm with an optional pre-show dinner at 6:00pm.
Tickets are $16 in advance, $20 at the door, and $90 for the dinner along with premiere circle seats for the salon.
Come early and hear Jeffrey Luo, multiple award-winning pianist who has played with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Not bad for 11 years old. Jeffrey will be playing as the doors open from 7:00 to 7:30pm.
Social
You can follow the presenters on their Twitter accounts (if listed above) and follow @GlobalCivic on Twitter along with the tag #publicsalon on the night of the event.
Past Speakers
Past speakers have included MLA Wally Oppal, Ryan Holmes (Founder of HootSuite), Top Chef Canada’s Dale MacKay, Mark Brand (Boneta, Save on Meats), Tsawwassen Chief Kim Baird, Terry McBride (CEO, Nettwork Music), John Fluevog, Ken Lum, Chip Wilson (Founder of Lululemon), Global BC’s Jas Johal, and more.
Presentations made at the Public Salons are videotaped by the University of British Columbia and are broadcast on the Public Salon Television on Shaw TV Channel 4 every Thursday at 6:30am, Saturday at 9:30pm and Sunday at 12pm.
I was told a Maui sunrise would be spectacular so I made sure to schedule it in during our trip to Hawaii this week. John and I are staying in the Ka’anapaali Resort area which is on the Western side of Maui, about a two hour drive from Haleakala National Park on the Eastern side of the island. We knew that it would mean a bit of sleep deprivation but figured the experience would be worth it.
Maui Sunrise at Haleakala National Park
To prepare us for the trip from sea level to 9,000ft up to the Haleakala crater I looked online and found a great blog post that provided some great tips. Here’s what I took away from the post:
- Bundle up! Wear layers, borrow blankets from your hotel, bring beach towels.
- Bring a camera, a flashlight, and binoculars if you have them.
- Bring water and a light snack since there’s no food services at the park.
- Make your way to this Google Map destination for parking and optimal viewing.
- The road up to the summit does not have lighting and it winds back and forth. Watch for cattle on the highway from nearby farms and drive with caution.
After making the trip ourselves, I would add:
- No really, bundle up! Since visitors don’t typically bring layers of full-coverage clothing to Maui we saw many people with blankets and towels wrapped around their bodies. Everyone’s there for the same reason and you won’t look foolish, you’ll at least be warm. Our car registered 8C as the outside temperature plus the high mountain winds were howling fiercely.
- Arrive at least 45 minutes early. We arrived at 5:30am for a 6:11am sunrise and the upper lot (in the Google Map I posted above) was already full. There was a park ranger on the roadway to direct us to another lookout which was just as spectacular and only a few hundred feet lower.
- Check the sunrise time. Google “Maui Sunrise” and the exact time of the sunrise will appear in the search results.
- Bring cash as there is a $10 fee to enter the national park but your pass will be valid for three days.
- If you’re coming from a resort area make sure you have at least 1/2 of a tank of gas to get to and from Haleakala. We used about a 1/3 tank going to and from Ka’anapali.
- The highway does wind quite a bit but it is very well-lit with reflectors. If you’ve driven up Cypress, Seymour, or to Tofino, you’ll have the perfect experience to master this road.
There are a few “last stops for coffee” before you reach the summit but I would recommend pushing through and getting up to the top to ensure you can get a parking spot and not have to waste time parking on the road and walking up to the lookout. You won’t have to wait long to get your morning cup o’ java as there are a few places to stop on your way back down like the Kula Lodge Restaurant or the Kula Sandlewoods Cafe.
Once at the lookout point, we stood in silence and awaited the golden crest of the sun over the horizon as clouds crept over crater peaks like ocean waves crashing on the rocks in slow motion. The only sounds were that of volcanic rocks crunching under the shoes of late arrivals and the cell phone alarm clock of a woman who must usually wake up for work at 6:00am.
The clouds turned from white to pink to yellow. 6:11am came and the sun rose as cameras fired. As soon as it was 100 percent above the horizon everyone shook off their frozen shell and moved about the lookout area. Couples posed for self-taken photos, friends sprung in the air to get caught on camera mid-leap, while some remained still and stood in awe of this epic scenery. The daylight reveled just what exactly surrounded us, like the inside of the crater, lava domes, and valley views facing West.
Once all the photos were taken and blankets were folded up, piled neatly into the trunks of rental cars, a steady stream of sunrise witnesses descended the mountain.
We drove right past the Kula Sandlewoods Cafe but turned around to check it out. It was 7:00am and the giant “OPEN” sign was all we needed. It was very relaxed and the gentleman serving us (who whispered calmly when he spoke) was kind enough to give us the WIFI password even though it is typically reserved for guests of their cottages. Our breakfasts were immaculate — not you regular diner fare — garnished with fresh slices of pineapple and sprigs of rosemary. The bacon was crispy, our over-medium eggs were cooked perfectly, and we had views of Maui’s central valley below us.
View of Central and West Maui from Haleakala
The sunrise was definitely worth the 3:00am wake-up call and 5-hour roundtrip (including a stop for a hearty breakfast). In Vancouver we enjoy so many sunsets so it’s just such a treat to soak up an island sunrise from the other side of the Pacific.
Photos in this post are by John Bollwitt (view his Flickr set) & me (view my Flickr set). Read all posts tagged Maui.
Davie Day has turned into West End Fest, a community celebration in Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood happening on September 8th.
From 12:00pm to 7:00pm, Davie Street will be hopping from Burrard to Denman with two performance stages, vendors, displays, activities for the whole family, Urban Rec Dodge Ball Tournament, artist gallery, a Charity Ball Run, and Bingo benefitting Friends for Life.
Master of ceremonies, Drag Queen Joan-E will introduce performers throughout the day including: Really Rod, Deep Seated, Dating Myself, Mathew Presidente, QLUTCH Project, Zak Santiago, and DJs MY!GAY!HUSBAND!, Nina Mendoza, and Michael Fraser.
Davie Village is also being recognized by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation as one of Vancouver’s 125 Places that Matter and the plaque presentation ceremony will take place during West End Fest.
West End Fest is presented by the West End Business Improvement Association and is free to attend. Dodgeball teams can sign up for $140, artists can contact the West End BIA to inquire about gallery space, and volunteers are also needed.
Follow the West End BIA on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s Run for the Cure is coming up September 30th and a group of local bloggers has created a team to support the cause.
Nicole Ludwig from the blog Resolving Timeline Issues said that the team was an “accidental happening” last year since she signed up for personal reasons and found that friends and fellow bloggers (like Alexis of wavethestick.com) wanted to join her.
“Both my mother and mother-in-law are breast cancer survivors. This means that my daughter, Shannon, has an elevated chance of developing breast cancer. I dream of a world for her where there is a cure, and better yet, prevention,” Nicole told me by email. “Eventually, I think it would be great if we could have a cross-country team – can you imagine bloggers all across Canada running for boobies?”
Everyone is welcome to join Nicole’s team, called Bloggers for Boobies, on this 5km run or 1km walk around False Creek in Vancouver. Last year’s members included:
Photo courtesy of Tracey Rossignol
You can find out more about the Run for the Cure online, sign up, volunteer or simply donate to the cause. Follow the event on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
