Next week a local non-profit is selling off leftover Vancouver 2010 gear along with lost & found items in one giant Olympics blowout sale.
VANOC is offering up office supplies and furniture from the athletes’ village while lost & found items include anything from red mittens to cell phones, umbrellas, jackets, and hoodies. All proceeds from the sale will support families through the Network of Inner City Community Services Society.
The Province also reports that the Olympic street banners will be sold in the coming weeks:
“Proceeds will support a workshop called the Fab Shop, at 1220 E. 2nd Ave., formerly the Vancouver 2010 fabrication shop, designed to provide training and work experience to people from the Downtown Eastside. The City of Vancouver has donated the 1,600 banners, a number of which will be signed by VANOC head John Furlong.”
The sale runs Monday through Saturday, 11:00am to 6:00pm daily at 875 East Hastings.
I recently did a tour of the Downtown Eastside with BC Housing to learn more about their renovated properties. They scooped up over 20 hotels on the east side, some known as being the most dangerous buildings in Vancouver, and proceeded to bring them up to code so that tenants could have better living standards. I’ll have a full post about the project up soon but looking at their “before and after” photos inspired me to do another “Then and Now” series post. This week’s theme is hotels (which I’ve covered before, but here are a few more).
1900, Clarence Hotel. Photographer: Norman Caple, Archives Item# LGN 708
2009, Malone’s, From Google Street Views
1928, Austin Hotel (background). Photographer: WJ Moore, Archives Item# Str N190
2009, Ramada, From Google Street Views
1917, Hotel Patricia. Photographer: Stuart Thomson, Archives Item# CVA 99-187
2009, Hotel Patricia, From Google Street Views
1923, Dunsmuir Hotel. Photographer: Gowen Sutton Co. Ltd., Archives Item# CVA 677-978
2009, Dunsmuir International Student Housing, From Google Street Views
Should you have a theme you would like to see covered “Then and Now” please leave a suggestion in the comments. As note above, I’ll have an expanded post about BC Housing‘s initiatives up within a few days.
Glowbal Collection is bringing a gourmet BBQ feast to the Downtown Eastside Tuesday, August 10th in partnership with the Union Gospel Mission.
Six chefs from Glowbal’s properties (Italian Kitchen, Coast, Sanafir, Trattoria, Glowbal Afterglow, and Society) will be preparing everything from beef brisket and ribs to potato salad, coleslaw and corn bread at Oppenheimer Park.
“With this event, we are strengthening our partnership with the Union Gospel Mission,” says Glowbal Collection Proprietor, Emad Yacoub. “A Texas BBQ is a high-spirited way to support outreach workers and connect with Vancouver’s people in difficulty and need.”
Members of the community are invited to stop by throughout the day as the meals will be served from 10:00am until 4:00pm. It’s a chance to meet neighbours, support community workers, and have some fun in the newly renovated park.
Glowbal and the UGM are currently looking for volunteers to help out at the event. If you’re able to head down to lend a hand, please contact [email protected].
Burnaby is hosting its own free outdoor movie nights this month at Civic Square.
August 5, 2010
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
August 19, 2010
KJ: Music & Life, a Cantonese film with English and Chinese subtitles. An award-winning documentary about a 17-year-old music prodigy from Hong Kong.
August 26, 2010
Up
The films will be shown from 8:30pm until 10:30pm rain or shine.
Update There is another location for a free outdoor movie night in Burnaby. By donation to KidSport, you can enjoy a movie with the family at Swangard Stadium August 15th. Gates for the Moonlight Movie in the Park open at 7:30pm and they will be showing How to Train Your Dragon.
Other free outdoor movies in Metro Vancouver this summer include: Stanley Park, at Nat Bailey, at Holland Park in Surrey, in Yaletown, and by donation at Coquitlam Centre.
In May I wrote about how the Vancouver Art Gallery is looking to relocate to (preferably) a new building that can accommodate their growing collection.
Public opinion has been somewhat mixed in terms of their sentiments for the current building and lack of knowledge about the reasons why the VAG would want to move. Last week I was given a private tour behind the scenes of the old Court House building where the Vancouver Art Gallery is pretty much bursting at the seams.
Quick facts:
The Vancouver Art Gallery has been in that location since 1983.
A third of the VAG’s collection sits in the vault since there is such limited exhibition space in the current building.
There is 9,000 square feet of storage space in the current location. They require at least 300,000 for their collection. As such, the gallery spends about $100,000 a year in off-site storage.
When we first started the tour I got a bit of an education about relative humidity and temperature control in the building thanks to Tom Meighan, Director of Operations & Exhibition Production. Apparently they have no chilled water source in the building itself so they needed to route it in from another source downtown in order to get their cooling systems in check. This technical yet crucial element is key in operating a world-class art gallery.
We moved on to the loading bay which is located at the end of a spiraling tunnel that goes under Howe Street. Issues here include big trucks not being able to make it down the outdated ramp, which leads to road closures around the gallery while they try to cart in priceless pieces of art on a dolly. Another issue that concerns Dana Sullivant, Director of Markting & Communications is that fine art arrives through the same door that garbage exists. Trash from the gallery and cafe passes through the same doors as Dali or Monet works.
Meandering our way through an underground hallway filled with empty crates, boxes, and display cases we stopped in to check out the only freight elevator in the entire building. With only one way to get pieces up to the top floor and down, it’s a vital part of gallery operations. They would be unable to expand and build another since the building’s heritage status limits their ability to edit the current structure.
Entering the “vault” was like walking into a dark, overflowing storage room. Located directly beneath the fountain on the front lawn of the art gallery, the space is dangerously exposed in terms of potential leaks that could damage their collections.
Meighan said that in an ideal situation they would have seperate cold storage for each type of art work. One for photography, another for metal objects, sculptures, paintings etc. We walked over to section that contained sliding metal racks upon which hundreds if not thousands of paintings were perched. Some of the works haven’t seen the exhibition space for at least 20 years including some of the Dutch Masters in the photo below.
With a rusted metal screech Meighan pulled out a rack filled with Emily Carr works. When the art gallery first opened Carr donated 145 paintings and the collection has grown ever-since. Unfortunately, most of it hangs below the surface and not in front of visitors.
Once again the ideal situation here would be to have a permanent exhibit for Carr’s work along with other local artist such as Jeff Wall. These would be mainstays of the gallery for all (especially Vancouverites) to enjoy anytime.
“We’re in a holding pattern,” says Sullivant. They have funds, they have the proposed location, and now they just need approval from the City of Vancouver in order to start drafting up plans for a new building. They also need to win over the public. The new location (150 Dunsmuir) would have open public space in order to continue to host community events and be a congregational point for Vancouverites.
So what will happen to the current space? As a heritage building, the Court House will not be torn down in order to make room for condo developments or office towers. I’ve been told UBC and the Museum of Vancouver have already expressed interest and everyone would like to see it continue as a centre for the community, both inside and out.
To learn more, ask questions, or show your support, visit NewVanArtGallery.com. You can read more about the history of the Court House in my previous post about the VAG’s relocation and follow @VanArtGallery on Twitter for updates and news regarding public consultations.
