June 13th has traditionally been called “Vancouver Day” as a number of significant city events happened on this day in history. Here are a few items of note thanks to Chuck Davis’ Vancouver History: June 13, 1792: Captain George Vancouver explored Burrard Inlet June 13, 1859: A seam of coal was discovered at Coal Harbour […]

1927 – Leonard Frank Photos. Archives item# CVA 1477-51 66 years ago yesterday Vancouver’s most-elected Mayor, Louis Denison (“L.D.”) Taylor, passed away. Between 1910 and 1934, Taylor served as Mayor eight times, spending 11 years in the city’s top office. Taylor was born in Michigan and lived in Chicago before coming to Vancouver in 1896 […]

If you’ve ever driven to or from Vancouver International Airport (“YVR”) then you have traveled along Grant McConachie Way. This road on Sea Island was named after bush pilot Grant McConachie, a man who Chuck Davis referred to as “a genuine Canadian hero”. From the BC Aviation Hall of Fame, excerpted from Peter Piggott’s book […]

There are a handful of living legends in Vancouver and Red Robinson is certainly one of them. A radio and television pioneer, he was the first Vancouver disc jockey to play that “rock and roll” music and was the emcee for Elvis’ Vancouver tour stop at Empire Stadium in 1957. Photos © Red Robinson Since […]

If you live in Vancouver, chances are that you’ve passed a building designed by architect Francis Rattenbury. From Victoria and Nanaimo to Revelstoke and Jasper, several of Rattenbury’s houses, commercial buildings, and CPR-commissioned hotels still stand today. Photo credit: 1892: Roedde House This is arguably the first structure that Rattenbury built in Canada. It was […]

Chances are you’ve passed by quite a few of Charles Marega’s pieces around Vancouver, perhaps several times daily. The Italian-born sculptor moved to Vancouver in 1909 and taught art in town for 30 years. He was commissioned to create some of the city’s most popular public art pieces including the following: Oppenheimer MonumentArchives Item# Mon […]

On New Year’s Eve Vancouver lost Milton Wong, a wonderful business man, Order of Canada recipient, SFU Chancellor, and philanthropist. “Milt was a very generous and wonderful guy,” said longtime friend Michael Clague, who recalled the time in 2003 when, as director of the Carnegie Centre in the Downtown Eastside, he asked his university buddy […]

Browsing through the Vancouver Archives this morning I searched for photographed under the category “celebrations”. It was in that pile of digital photographs that I found a photos of Sister Frances of Strathcona receiving a “Good Citizenship Medal” from the City of Vancouver. 1929 – Archives item# CVA 99-1874. Photographer: Stuart Thomson Sister Frances Redmond […]

You may have strolled by his statue in Stanley Park or taken part in the track and field meet named after him. If you have lived in Vancouver for any number of years you are probably familiar with the the name Harry Jerome. Photo credit: Clayton Perry Photoworks on Flickr. Submitted to the Miss604 Flickr […]

Having previously featured photographer Leonard Frank I wanted to profile the photography of another Vancouverite who helped document our city during a specific era. Scanning the Vancouver Archives, I found a collection from someone I’ve featured many times before in some of my history posts or “Then and Now” photo collections: Don Coltman. 1940 – […]