On this day in 1833, James Murray Yale – namesake of Yale, BC and Yaletown in Vancouver – took command of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Langley. He was 36 years old and had been with the company for half his life already. 1900s – Yale, BC. VPL Number: 41974. Photo credit: Edwards Brothers. […]

Vancouver has a few triangle-shaped buildings but none are as prominent and photographed as the Hotel Europe across from Maple Tree Square in Gastown making it today’s Vancouver Icon photo feature. (Left) 1908 – Completed Hotel Europe. Archives #HotP17. (Right) 1910s – Archives #M-11-32. 1960s – Archives #CVA 1135-57. 1970s – Arhives #CVA 780-508. Our […]

Travel vloggers eat your hearts out! Back in 1936 James A. FitzPatrick presented a series of newsreels in fantastic new Technicolor called Traveltalks which included profiles of Victoria and Vancouver. Most of Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks were produced by MGM and featured over a hundred destinations, from Motoring in Mexico (1943) and Chicago the Beautiful (1948) to […]

One of my prized possessions is an original 1876 Map of Westminster that depicts the Lower Mainland a decade before Vancouver even became a city. Unfortunately for me it’s on loan from my father but I enjoy inspecting it every now and then to follow the lines of rivers and creeks that have disappeared, boundaries […]

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation presents Gritty City: Vancouver in the 60s at the historic Hollywood Theatre later this month. This is a mini three-night film festival that will feature Vancouver’s earlier days of neon, West Coast architecture, and the evolution of the West End. The films will include: 1958 – Granville neon. VPL Number: 65548 […]