Last night, Vancouver City Council voted in favour of tearing down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. “This is a once-in-a-generation city-building opportunity,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson in a written statement. The vote on Monday night meant staff will start detailed planning and land negotiations, and will report back to council in 18 months with an […]

Queen Elizabeth Secondary (“QE”) in Surrey is celebrating its 75th anniversary this month and if you attended, between 1940 and 2015, you’re invited to the party! Photo courtesy of Donald Cosens Queen Elizabeth Secondary’s 75th Anniversary Where: Queen Elizabeth Secondary (9457 King George Blvd. in Surrey) When: Thursday, October 15, 2015 4:00pm to 6:00pm – […]

The view from Vancouver’s City Hall is one of the best around because it captures not only our ever-growing downtown core, but our beautiful mountain and ocean borders. This week’s “Then and Now” collage includes photos that have all been taken from City Hall, in the 1940s, 1960s, and 2015. Thanks to Jenn Chan Photography​ […]

Vancouver’s Seawall has been a work in progress since 1917, and over the last 100 years it has grown from a retaining wall into a 28km seaside path for runners, walkers, strollers, and cyclists. The Vancouver Seawall stretches from Coal Harbour, around Stanley Park, through to Sunset Beach, False Creek, over to Granville Island, under […]

Vancouver was incorporated in April of 1886 and the months that followed were full of growth, development, and unfortunately a giant setback in the form of the Great Vancouver Fire. By the time August rolled around, the city was rebuilding and as Chuck Davis notes in his History of Metropolitan Vancouver, it was usually a […]

Vancouver History: Original Birks Building – Vintage photos featuring the iconic old Birks Building at Georgia and Granville in Vancouver, including an animated GIF

July in Vancouver History – Things that happened in the month of July in Vancouver History

The Bayshore Pool, 1960s. Known today as the Westin Bayshore Vancouver Archives# CVA 1435-580

English Bay beach, popular with locals and tourists, has been a favourite summertime recreation destination for the last century and a half. I had some fun looking around the City of Vancouver Archives to match up some vintage photos with modern day images to show how the area has changed: Then and Now English Bay […]

If you only had one day, three days, or a week to spend in Vancouver what would you see and do? On the back of an American tourist map from 1925, one of those ephemeral artifacts I have handy in my family’s personal local archives, I found a suggested itinerary for a time when our […]