It was on this day in 1893 that the Hudson’s Bay Company opened a store at the corner of Georgia and Granville streets. 118 years later, the company is still in the same location (albeit in a different building). It’s been a shopping destination, a meeting place, and a beacon of Canadian pride during the […]

A boy and girl playing with a chained bear in their front yard in Kitsilano, a horse-drawn taxi rolling down Cordova Street, the Hotel Vancouver on the corner of Granville and Georgia. These are all images that I have featured during my weekly history photo series and which have been sourced from the City of […]

Next month McClure’s Cabs will be celebrating 100 years as a business in Vancouver, making it the oldest taxi company in the Lower Mainland. It was also the first taxi company to provide airport service in Vancouver. The theme of this week’s roundup of photos from the Vancouver Archives and the Vancouver Library collection is: […]

John and I are in Kansas City this week and when driving through KCMO, you get welcomed downtown by classic old billboards on rooftops and painted advertisements on the side of buildings. Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr Vancouver used to have a lot of these until they slowly disappeared due to city bylaws. Now […]

Today’s historic photo collection comes from the Surrey Archives and features early scenes of our province’s largest city (by area), largest school district, and second largest city (by population). Although Surrey didn’t receive “city” status until 1993, the municipality was formed in 1879. Left: 1910 – Ocean Park. Archives# 180.4.04 Right: 1958 – Crescent Beach. […]

Whether you take to the trails, the sea wall, or the specified road lanes, there’s no denying that Vancouver is a bicycle town. From heavy duty shock absorbers to fixies and colourful cruisers, bikes pepper our urban landscape and are a large part of life in this city. As such, this week’s theme from the […]

It was a big week for transit in Metro Vancouver as the Canada Line and the original SkyTrain both celebrated anniversaries. Although it’s been 26 years since we first heard the memorable 3-toned chime announcing the next SkyTrain station it was 25 years ago this week that it was put into regular service. It’s also […]

My last Archives Photos of the Day were a collection of summertime photos found thanks to the Vancouver Archives and Vancouver Public Library‘s online photograph directories. This week, as summer has truly arrived with sunshine and high temperatures, I thought it would be most fitting to focus on the lovely month of August. All of […]

Last month Vancouver City Council decided to proceed with a second series of studies that would concern the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts [The Province]. The current viaducts, installed in 1972, serve as passage for tens of thousands of vehicles (and bikes) into the downtown core from False Creek, Chinatown, and East Vancouver. […]

Vancouver History: Queen Elizabeth Park – Sitting on top of Little Mountain in Vancouver, the land was originally owned by Canadian Pacific Railway…