UPDATE 2022: The Gassy Jack statue has been toppled during the Women’s Memorial March. UPDATE 2016: This is an important read: “Indigenous activists say the story of Gassy Jack is missing sordid details.” Captain John “Gassy Jack” Deighton is a local legend and namesake for the area of downtown Vancouver known as Gastown. The Gassy […]

The North Vancouver Museum and Archives are hosting the “Find a Place in History” contest where residents and visitors can submit photos of heritage sites online for the chance to win prizes. Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr To enter the contest, take a photo of a place in North Vancouver with historical significance and […]

In 1972 Paul Henderson scored three of the most famous (and important) game winning goals in hockey history during the Summit Series including the one that won it all against Russia. This wasn’t just international play – it was Canada reclaiming hockey as its game, even from behind the Iron Curtain. Recently Mitchell Goldhar bought […]

Earlier this week I began a new series called “Vancouver Icons” that will combine information about famous city landmarks with a collection of photos I find on Flickr. When I first started blogging I wanted to showcase the lesser-known aspects of Vancouver life, history, and culture – helping people explore beyond the tourist traps and […]

Green Timbers Forest in Surrey, BC

As a part of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s ‘Places that Matter‘ committee, I get my fix of local history at every meeting. I was recently looking through some of the sites already nominated for designation and found the Angel of Victory. Installed in 1921, it is one of the city’s most prominent statues, located along […]

Today is International Women’s Day and in Vancouver, women have played a strong role in developing its history and making sure it moves into the future. The Vancouver Police Museum reminded us on Twitter this morning that Vancouver was the first city in the world to hire women as cops and I wanted to showcase […]

Industrial buildings around False Creek have either met their doom in recent years or have received face-lifts (like the Salt Building). However, the twin-roofed 1918 Opsal Steel Building on the corner of West 2nd and Quebec has met a bit of a mixed fate. Photo credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr The Opsal Steel building was used […]

It was March 3rd 1892 when Charles Woodward opened his first store on the corner of Harris Street (now Georgia) and Westminster Avenue (now Main) in Vancouver. He had just arrived in town from Ontario and the small setup sold dried foods. It wasn’t until 1895 that he added a drug department, incorporated (Woodward Stores […]

The injustice that was the Komagata Maru incident was one of the first things my teacher talked about in grade 11 social studies and the name has always stuck with me. In 1914 a Japanese steamship carried 376 passengers (all British subjects) from Punjab, India over to Vancouver by way of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and […]