Vancouver Vagabond

Strange Stories and Broadway

2012-02-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

These are 630 and 636 East Broadway. Both homes were built in 1908.

The first resident in 630 was Robert Welsh's widow Christina. A mariner by the name of Robert C. Melon occupied 636 first.

I am going to tell you more strange and wonderful stories about Vancouver and just to give credit where credit is due I am getting this information from The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website. The info on the buildings is from Bob_2006's Photostream on Flickr.

The current address of this building is 163 West Broadway but when it was built in 1907 it was 143 Ninth Avenue.

If you have ever been in Stanley Park you may have noticed the numerous grey squirrels running around. All of those furry little creatures are descendants of eight pairs of squirrels brought from New York City in 1909.

A Leslie W. Richmond is the first resident listed for this address and that record appears for 1908. Richmond worked as a clothier at the Belfast Clothing Store at 42 West Cordova Street.

A young English actor by the name of William Pratt stopped for awhile in Vancouver in 1910. Pratt worked as a carpenter on what was to become the PNE before going onto Hollywood where he became known as Boris Karloff.

Two years later an English revue company by the name of Karno's Comedians performed in Vancouver. Among the cast were Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.

In 1910 there was a neighbourhood formed in Vancouver that got its name from the Interurban train stop there, Cedar Cottage\. The stop was named for the Cedar Cottage Brewery.

There were a group of Vancouver businessmen who wanted to build a dam across the Second Narrows. The dam would have been 15-metres high. The only problem with that was that it would have flooded Port Moody and, naturally, the residents of that town protested. Successfully too since there is no dam and Port Moody still exists.

Marie Lloyd was an English music hall performer who wanted to visit Vancouver in 1914 but the mayor banned her from appearing. The disgraceful performer actually had the gall to raise her floor length gown two inches to show her ankles during her performance. How dare she!

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Boris Karloff, Charlie Chapliin, William Pratt, Broadway, British Columbia

Bakeries and Stories

2012-02-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

This building at the corner of Victoria Drive and William Street doesn't look like a lot and believe me it looked worse before the renovations started.

When the workers removed the stucco from the side of the building there was a unique addition found.

This sign dates back to the 1920s. Shelly's 4X Bakery Products was a Vancouver business that is now history.

William Curtis Shelly was born in Ontario in 1878 and moved to Vancouver in 1910 in order to expand his bakery business. The name apparently comes from the fact that Shelly started his business with a little more than forty dollars to his name.

Shelly's was around along. By 1929 records show that the bakery was part of Canadian Bakeries and had various locations around the city. A 1940 directory shows that a Shelly, Wm C. resided at 1563 Williams Street. Shelly died in 1951.

This is Washington Court at 998 Thurlow Street. It was built in 1910.

In 1895 Burnaby had to hire some police.. They needed someone to control the rowdies, let owners know that swine was running loose and enforce the wide tire bylaw for wagons. The salary was $2 a day and he was dismissed due to lack of funds two years later.

Our city's first CPR building was a tiny structure. It was moved from the north end of Howe Street to 10 Heatley Street in 1899. A CPR worker by the name of William Alberts had been injured on the job and he was allowed to move in and live rent free for the rest of his life. He resided there for fifty years.

It snowed in South Vancouver. On June 23, 1901.

In 1903 W.S. Holland shot and killed a timber wolf. It was at the corner of Burnaby and Cardero Streets.

The first auto club race around Stanley Park was held in 1905. There were eleven cars that started this race and only five completed it. All five vehicles were made by Oldsmobile.

Jeff 'the Boxing Kangaroo' delighted audiences at the Pantages Theatre in 1908. This is a bittersweet note because the last time I was in that area I noticed that the theatre has now been torn down. There went the last vaudeville house in Canada.

Victor McLaglen was an Oscar winning movie actor. But in 1909 McLaglen fought an exhibition fight in Vancouver with world heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Shelly's 4X Bakery Products, Victor McLaglen, Jeff the Boxing Kangaroo, Pantages Theatre, British Columbia

Our First Tourist

2012-02-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

This is Campbell Court at 2505 Fraser Street. It is at the corner of East Broadway and Fraser Streets and the courtyard you see is sandwiched between two other buildings. In 1922 this was listed as Ash Hall.

This is now apartments and although the outside doesn't look like much I have read that the interior units are quite nice.

I am consulting The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver again for the information in today's blog entry.

It is an indisputable fact that the first European to set eyes on what we now call Vancouver was Jose Maria Narvaez in 1791, a Spanish marine captain who was born in 1768.

Narvaez was commander of a small navy schooner called the Santa Saturnina which was the size of a modern 12-metre yacht although it was considerably broader in beam.

The Santa Saturnina was small enough that it could be propelled by eight oarsmen but it carried a crew of 22 and among those were soldiers from Don Pedro Alberni's garrison of Catalonian volunteers that were stationed at Nootka.

Narvaez may have been just out of his teens but he was travelling under secret orders from the Spanish viceroy in Mexico. The Santa Saturnina was part of an expedition that was led by Lt. Francisco de Eliza. They were sent to gather intelligence and map the unknown waters that were beyond the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The area up to Haro Strait had been explored by Manuel Quimper in 1790 and Spain had laid claim to it but the English believed that their claims from expeditions by Sir Francis Drake in 1579 and James Cooke in 1778 were valid. And the Russians who had established forts in Alaska as well as the French who had explored the Northwest coast in 1786 also thought they had rights to claim the land.

On May 5, 1791 the Santa Saturnina left Nootka in the company of Eliza's 16-gun ship San Carlos. It was in July that Narvaez became the first known European to sail into the Strait of Georgia. He took note of the fresh water and deduced that there was a presence of a large river. He never did find the Fraser River, which had accurately identified, but he did see the site of present day Vancouver. The Santa Saturnina anchored off of Point Grey. Narvaez thought the point was an island. On the oldest known map of this area to survive it is charted as Ysla de Langara.

It is estimated that the Spanish crews rowed and sailed more than 6,200 miles or 10,000 kilometres. They explored the Strait of Georgia (named by the Spanish as Canal de Floridablanca), Howe Sound (Bocas del Carmelo) Burrard Inlet (Boca de Floridablanca), Point Atkinson (Punta de la Bodega) and Point Roberts (Ysla de Zepeda). Narvaez traded with the Musqueam and also made contact with the Squamish at the head of Howe Sound.

Narvaez was also responsible for charting Nanaimo harbour on the east coast of Vancouver Island and continued north to Comox and Cape Lazo. He then explored Desolation Sound on the mainland, named Texada and Lasqueti Islands, mapped the Canadian Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands before returning to his base at Nootka.

So why aren't Vancouverites speaking Spanish? And why is our city named Vancouver? Well in 1792 George Vancouver, an English naval captain, renamed most of the landmarks. The Spanish withdrew since their empire was declining and the British were growing iin power. As we all know the victors write history so Narvaez became a footnote and the city that erupted on what were once the shores of Boca de Floridablanca was named after the English explorer.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Sir Francis Drake, Musqueam, Point Grey, Nootka, British Columbia

Vancouver's First Residents

2012-02-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

This building was built in the early 1920s.

Anthropologists believe that the first humans to settle what is now known as Vancouver did so about 10,000 years ago. This would have been about the time that the Wisconsin Glacial Episode, the ice age, ended. However the scientists don't agree whether they came by sea or land.

Some argue that the first inhabitants moved down a deglaciating coast and then followed rivers formed by the retreating Cordilleran ice sheet into the province's interior valleys in the search of fish and game that populated the area.

Others make the case that the peoples travelled and ice-free inland route then traversed the rivers to the coast.

The Sto:lo people took their name from the Fraser River itself. They believe that their occupation of Vancouver began with the arrival of sky creatures who transformed into ancestral animals.

The Sto:lo people are bonded by a common language even though they are divided into distinct tribal groups. All speak variations of Halkomelem with those that had occupied the region of what is now known as Metro Vancouver speaking the Hun'qmyi'num' dialect. The Sqamish of North Vancouver speak a distinct language even though they are part of the Coast Salish group that includes Halkomelem speakers.

These two buildings are on East Broadway. The red house, 731, was built in 1925 while the larger building beside it was built in 1904.

The Squamish originally inhabited the region around the head of Howe Sound but by the mid-19th century had expanded into the Vancouver area.

Contact with the Europeans in the late 18th century was done by the Musqueam, according to what was recorded. They lived at the mouth of the Fraser River whiled the Kwikwetl'em resided on the Coquitlam River and Coquitlam Lake; the Q'eytsi'i - anglicized as Katzie - lived in the Pitt River watersheds; the Kwantlen lived around what is now known as New Westminster; the Skayuks were at the Stave Lake watersheds; the Mathekwi of Matsqui; the Q'o:leg: of Whonnock and the Sne'kwomes, or Snokomish lived around what is now White Rock.

Following European contact many of these populations moved. When a Hudson's Bay Company trading post was established at Fort Langley in 1827, the Qw'o:ntl'an, Katzie, Snokomish, Skayuks and Q'o:leq' moved closer to the fort so that they would be near the source of trade goods. Unfortunately this also led to a depopulation of the nations due to various introduced epidemics.

When the Europeans settled the area in the mid-1850s Vancouver was largely occupied by the Musqueam people. Their villages extended from the Fraser River Delta around Point Grey, False Creek, the West End, Stanley Park and along Burrard Inlet.

The preceding information was gathered from the book, The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver by the late Chuck Davis.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Commercial Drive, Musqueam, First Nations, Hudson's Bay Company, British Columbia

Cawker and Chapman

2012-02-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have difficulty finding an address. With this home on East 4th Avenue I couldn't find it. And that isn't due to the fact that the house is on a hill and between two large buildings. I actually found a mailman and asked him for help - he was new, this happened to be his first day on the route. When we walked back I realized that I was misreading the addresses - I had mistaken a suite number for a building address.

This is the Chapman house and it was built in 1906. The original occupant, James W. Chapman, was a wood carver.

I was also looking for another address - 273 East 4th Avenue. Now since this address is 236 the Richardson Residence should have been right across the street. Alas all we found was an empty lot.

My next stop was on the other side of Main Street and a couple of blocks over on East 6th Avenue.

My information said that this home was built in 1901 but Velma, a lady who lives here that I met while she was in the yard, gave me a date of 1908. There must have been something sort of dwelling here though because in 1902 a millman for Robertson and Hackett by the name of Richard Cawker (Caulker) lived here.

Velma told me that her husband bought this home then met her less than a month later. He wanted her to have a home she would love to live in. So the house that was there was taken down to the studs, raised and a basement put in and moved over a bit. So it isn't really the same house any longer but the original style and flavour was kept.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, James Chapman, Vancouver, mailman, East 4th Avenue, East 6th Avenue, Robertson and Hackett, British Columbia

Park and Venables

2012-01-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

I found a site on Flickr that shows a lot of older buildings in Vancouver. It doesn't share a lot of information sometimes but I will still show you some photos.

Like this place.

This house was built in 1907 and is located on Venables, not far off of Commercial Drive. The first tenant was a carpenter by the name of Thomas Brettistone.

It is for sale if you are interested.

There are a few older houses like this in Vancouver. The area has changed from residential to primarily commercial and these homes are sandwiched between commercial buildings.

This next home is just around the corner on Commercial Drive and it is between two commercial buildings.

In the close to nine years that I have lived in this area I have walked by this home numerous times and never thought much about it. Besides the fact that I do admire the gardens. I would never have known that the house was built in 1906.

When the first resident lived in this building, logger Charles H. Preston had the address of 928 Park Drive.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Venables, Vancouver, Park Drive, Commercial Drive, logger, carpenter, British Columbia

CPR and Shaughnessy

2012-01-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

For a little while now I have been showing you photos of homes in Shaughnessy and telling you about the history of those homes. But what about the area itself?

Spanning an area of 447 hectares, Shaughnessy is Vancouver's wealthiest district with an average annual household income of $136,252 and family income of $153,895^{. (According to a 2001 census)}

Many of the homes built here were constructed either prior to or during World War II compared to 20.8% of the city at large.

Shaughnessy is bordered by 16th Avenue to the north, 41st Avenue to the south, Oak Street to the east and Arbutus Street/West Boulevard to the west. Its population is about 9020 with that coming from 2970 homes.

This area was developed by the CPR, the largest land developer at the time. It was named for the Canadian Pacific Railway's president from 1898 to 1918, Thomas George Shaughnessy. Thomas went on to become Lord Shaughnessy.

In 1907 Richard Marpole, the general superintendent and executive assistant of CPR, began to subdivide a large tract of land which was on a hill south of False Creek. CPR was interested in making this area attractive and appealing to Vancouver's elite. It had to project the wealth and status of our more affluent residents and this exclusive neighbourhood would bring in former residents of the West End's Blue Blood Alley.

A Montreal architect by the name of Frederick Todd was hired to lay out the area in generous lots. Todd was inspired by Frederick Law Omstead - the architect who designed New York's Central Park.

Before any of the lots went on sale, CPR spent $2,000,000 preparing the site. Sewer lines were put in as were paved sidewalks and roads.

As I stated earlier the CPR wanted this neighbourhood to be exclusive and they ensured it would be by insisting that the homes cost five times or more that of any other home in Vancouver. Only the truly wealthy would reside here, on a hill looking over the rest of Vancouver. At least it was like that at the time.

A typical early Shaughnessy home consisted of twenty rooms that were filled with opulent furniture, silverware and other trappings that reflected the wealth and status of the owners. These were mansions with music rooms, parlours of every sort, reception rooms and ballrooms. There were also basement rooms labelled in architectural designs as Chinaman's Quarters where the servants - many of whom were Asian - would live. Family members would beckon the servants by using in house call boxes.

Guests were delivered in horse-drawn carriages under porte-cocheres then ushered into grand foyers. Of course that was before the arrival of the automobile. Deliveries and tradesmen naturally went to the rear of the house making this the busier area.

CPR's promoters were quite keen on getting the posh residents to move to the new neighbourhood and enticed the people by extending the BC Electric's Interurban to the new subdivision. The new area also had a tennis club, a lawn bowling club and later the Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club.

Shaughnessy was built in three sections and developed in phases. The first surrounded Shaughnessy Park and was called The Crescent. Then there were areas further south that were called Second Shaughnessy and Third Shaughnessy.

From 1911 through the twenties Shaughnessy was the place to be. Then World War I halted the growth in Vancouver and the Great Depression of the 1930s stalled advancement even more. The CPR was repossessing home after home and Shaughnessy became known as Mortgage Heights. The Tait House, valued at $75,000 in 1920 sold for $7,500 in 1939.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Richard Marpole, Vancouver, Frederick Todd, Frederick Law Omstead , Tait House, World War I, British Columbia

Huntting House

2012-01-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

The house I am going to show you today was having work done on it both times I went to Shaughnessy but I decided to use those photos anyway.

W.F. Huntting, president of Huntting-Merritt Lumber Company had this home built between 1911 and 1913. It was designed by architect Cecil Croker Fox who was a junior partner in Maclure and Fox.

This house is almost identical to the home 'Orchard' near London, England which was the English architect's C.F.A. Voysey's own house. The home has rough stucco and a massive steep roof and is a grand version of an English country cottage.

Cecil Crocker Fox was a draftsman who had studied with the premier British arts-and-crafts architect, Charles Francis Annesley Voysey when he was hired by Samuel Maclure in 1903.

In 1905, due to the increasing demand for his services in Vancouver, Maclure went into partnership with Fox. Fox ran the office in Vancouver until he went to war in 1915. Fox's death a year later devastated Maclure and the office was closed.

This was the last house on my walking tour of Shaughnessy but I am certain I will find more homes to write on in that area. And they will probably be as gorgeous and awe inspiring as some of the ones I have shown in the past two months.

I do enjoy walking through this area - it is so peaceful and beautiful. And I have joked that I walked a few times just before a big lottery draw hoping that the wealth here would rub off on me. It hasn't happened yet but I can always hope.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Cecil Fox, Vancouver, Maclure and Fox, Huntting-Merritt Lumber Company, Huntting House, C.F.A. Voysey, British Columbia

Tudor Revival

2012-01-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

In 1929 the Fleck brothers had this Tudor Revival style house built in Shaughnessy. Nearly twenty years after the first home was built in this architectural style residents of the district returned to the safe, familiar, acceptable look.

(I realize this looks like two different homes almost but it isn't.Since the home was on a corner I managed to get photos of the back of the mansion as well.)

I have written on the Fleck Brothers before while showing warehouse buildings in Gastown. The brothers were dealers in machinery and industrial supplies.

The Tudor Revival style of architecture is characerized simple, rustic features the imitate the country houses and medieval cottages of England.

This style first manifested itself in the United Kingdom during the mid to late 19th century. It was in response to ornate Victorian Gothic of the second half of the 19th century.

One of the first example of this architectural style was designed by Scottish born architect Norman Shaw. Cragside is a hilltop mansion in Britain that incorporates eclectic architectural styles but has certain Tudor features.

Just to make things interesting this style was promptly named Queen Anne but in reality it combined a revival of Elizabethan and Jacobean design details including mullioned and oriel windows. Later the style began to incorporate the classicising pre-Georgian features that made the architecture more widely known as Queen Anne in Britain. However in the US and probably Canada the style has evovled into something that is not as easily recognizable as either Queen Anne or Tudor.

Did you find that confusing? I did and I researched it and wrote it! So all around the same time we have a Queen Anne style of architecture that is similar to the Tudor Revival. So similar that they are often confused with one another. Then we have confusion on whether a house is in the Queen Anne style or was built during the reign of Queen Anne. Well those are questions for another time because I don't have the answers.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Tudor Revival, Vancouver, Norman Shaw, Cragside, United Kingdom, Queen Anne, British Columbia

The Hollies

2012-01-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

After the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the Neo-Classical Revival style of architecture became popular and that is the vision that George MacDonald saw for his home which was built in 1912

The Hollies, as MacDonald's home become known as, features columns, porticos, pediments and other classical details that demonstrate the Neo-Classical Revival style. The house reminds me of the mansions on plantations in the old southern states.

Many of the first generation of home owners in Shaughnessy worked for CPR and George MacDonald was no different. He was a CPR official who made a fortune from mining and timber.

In 1922 MacDonald sold the house to Robert Mann of the Canadian National Railway.

Up until the 1950s, the Hollies was a popular place for weddings. The house was eventually made into a multiple-conversion dwelling and later still it was occupied by a service agency.

More recently the home was changed back to a private residence. This reflects the efforts to reassert the viability of single-family homes in Shaughnessy.

On Wednesday I was interviewed on Readers Rockin' Radio and one of the hosts is an editor for Saga Books. I was informed during the interview that Saga Books will be publishing my newest manuscript - Missing Flowers. I will let you know more information like publication date when I get it myself.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, George MacDonald, Vancouver, Reader's Rockin' Radio, the Hollies, CPR, Saga Books, British Columbia

William Ferriman Salsbury

2012-01-18T08:53:00.000-08:00

In 1887 the first trans-continental train pulled into Vancouver. Aboard that train was an official of the CPR, William Ferriman Salsbury. (I read another report that said Salsbury arrived in Port Moody on July 4, 1886. I don't know which one is right - I wasn't there)

Salsbury was born on February 16, 1847 in Surrey England and came to Canada in 1870. He worked with the railway from 1861 and was a manager of Grand Trunk Railway of Canada.

In 1881 Salsbury left his position with the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and took a position in the financial department of Canadian Pacific Railway. He worked with the CPR Pacfic Division from 1886 until he retired in 1921.

Salsbury was also active in his new city. He served as an alderman for Ward 1 from 1893 to 1894 and was an advocate and charter member of the Vancouver General Hospital in 1901.

Salsbury was also one of the first CPR officials to build in the newly-developed Shaughnessy district.

He hired architect A.A. Cox to design this house in 1912.

This Mission Revival style home features stucco cladding, moulded stucco trim and a curvilinear gable end.

The tall trees and thick hedges, and in some cases massive fences, were not there when these homes were originally built. Can you imagine how imposing these mansions would have been when they were first constructed? It would almost be like the residents of these homes were royalty.

William Ferriman Salsbury passed away on January 1, 1938 in Victoria, Canada. There is a street near where I live that was named after him.

And remember I will be interviewed on an online radio show - Reader's Rockin' Radio today at 3:30pm Pacific time. So listen in if you can and call if you want to ask me anything.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Willim Ferriman Salsbury, Vancouver, Reader's Rockin' Radio, A.A.Cox, CPR, treasurer, British Columbia

Vancouver Alpen Club

2012-01-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

This building is one of the newer ones that I have featured - it dates back to 1950 - but the club itself is where the history lies.

When people immigrate to a new country many times they want to have a piece of home with them. And that is what happened here. In 1935 a group of immigrants from the Alpine area Germany and Austria got together to form the Vancouver Alpine Club.

Initially the group came together to practice Schuhplattlerf folk dancing and maintain the traditions and culture of the countries they had left behind. It was their way of honouring the rich and diverse backgrounds they had left behind.

In the beginning the club didn't have an official home but the members registered it as a non profit organization and joined the Canadian Folk Society. This turned out to be a very smart move because by doing this it enabled the Vancouver Alpen Club to be the only German club open in North America during World War II.

Since this building is located at 4875 Victoria Drive, in my neighbourhood, I may have shown you some photos of it before but I didn't know the story before now. As for the photos that have the blue tinge to them, I do not know why that happened. Hey, I'm a wordsmith not a photographer.

And just to let you know, on Wednesday January 18, 2012 I will be interviewed on an online radio show - Reader's Rockin' Radio. So listen in if you can and call if you want to ask me anything.

As usual I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver Alpen Club, Vancouver, Reader's Rockin' Radio, Schuhplattler folk dancing, Germany, Austria, British Columbia

Food and Health

2012-01-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I returned to the district of Shaughnessy to take some more photos and complete the walking tour I had found online.

The first place I am showing you is on Granville Street and is called Brenchley House.

The Brenchley House was designed to look instantly old and very English, much like many of its Shaughnessy neighbours.

The half-timbered effect of dark wood strips which contrasts with the lighter expanses of stucco is a feature of this Tudor Revival style.

The architectural firm of Maclure and Fox designed this home for wholesale grocer Arthur Brenchley in 1912. Samuel Maclure may have influenced Brenchley since Maclure had made his name building similar houses in Victoria.

One of the difficulties with taking photos in this area is the large fences and hedges that surround some of the properties. Like this next one.

It is difficult getting photos through that but from across the street I managed to get a few.

The architects on this residence are listed as J.T. Alexander and P.H.E. Brown and it is known as the Dr. W. Brydone-Jack house.

Another Tudor-Revival style building -this one built in 1913 - the home features a porte-cochere, large front porch, granite foundation walls and a granite clad coach house.

Dr. William Brydone-Jack originally had this residence built with medical consulting rooms. Brydone-Jack was a well known city doctor who arrived here in 1889 and went on to become the city's coroner in the 1920s.

In 1982 this became the residence for the Consul General of the People's Republic of China. That would explain the walkway over to the consulate.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Brenchley House, Vancouver, Dr. William Brydone-Jack, grocer, Maclure and Fox, Vancouver Museum, British Columbia

Strange Stories

2012-01-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

There have been some unusual happenings in and around Vancouver over the years and today I want to talk about some of them. And I'll show you photos of different pieces of artwork I have found around the city.

In 1792 a Spanish exploration team taught the local native people a new song that the Spaniards had titled Malbrouck. Some members of the team wrote in their journals that the aboriginals paddle in their canoes singing this song. Today we would recognize the tune as For He's A Jolly Good Fellow.

Col. Richard Moody of the Royal Engineers named Lulu Island in 1861. Moody named the land after a sixteen-year-old singer by the name of Lulu Sweet who was touring with a visiting San Francisco musical revue.

The first telegraph message from the outside world arrived in Burrard Inlet in 1865. The message? The telegraph told of the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln.

I may have told you this story before but it is bears repeating. In 1867 John 'Gassy Jack' Deighton arrived on the shores of Burrard Inlet. He made a bargain with the mill workers that were there. He would supply all the whiskey they could drink if they would help him build a saloon. The Globe was built in 24 hours. Can you envision that day?

Maxie Michaud was our first, unofficial, postmaster in 1869. He walked here from Montreal. Now I enjoy walking but I don't know if I could do that!

This symbol of the bond between two beings stands outside of Vancouver General Hospital and was created by sculptor Martha Sturdy.

The Moodyville Tickler was Burrard Inlet's first newspaper. It began in 1878 and had a short existence but also showed the humorous side of our earliest residents. For example. The more a person paid, the more glowing the obituary would be.

Not everyone was fond of BC. A prestigious London paper by the name of the London Truth stated that: "British Columbia is not worth keeping. It should never have been inhabited at all. It will never pay a red cent of interest on the money that may be sunk in it.” (Oh yeah?!)

Also during the 1880s, an American cavalry came upon some pamphlets from the Canadian Pacific Railway when they raided an Apache village in Arizona. The pamphlets were advertising lots for sale in Vancouver's posh Brighouse Estates.

In 1882 we had a special visit from the Victoria mayor and that city's council. They travelled here to see the lights at the Moodyville sawmill on the north shore of Burrard Inlet. Those lights were powered by the first electricity to come to B.C.

1883 was the year that the first locomotive arrived in Vancouver - aboard a ship.

Did you know that there are beams in the Imperial Palace in Beijing that were shipped from the Burrard Inlet sawmills in 1884?

George Black, a butcher, organized horse races down a muddy Granville Street in 1886.

The first badges for the Vancouver Police force in 1886 were made of American silver dollars. The one side was smoothed down and engraved with Vancouver City Police.

In 1889 Rudyard Kipling - an English poet and author of The Jungle Book - bought two pieces of property in Vancouver. Both were at the southeast corner of East 11th Avenue and Fraser Street. I wonder what is there now?

In 1893 the exclusive Vancouver Club was formed. Not long after its inauguration the club had its china and silverware repossessed since the club had run into financial difficulties. Everything, including the club's crest, was used in the restaurant of the man who had originally supplied the stuff.

The forerunner to the Vancouver Museum was started in 1894 with the donation of a stuffed swan.

I realize that I have told you some of these things before but for the tales are amusing enough to bear repeating.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver Club, Vancouver, Gassy Jack, Rudyard Kipling, Imperial Palace, Vancouver Museum, British Columbia

Mr. Vancouver

2012-01-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

My parents bought me something very special for Christmas this year, something I am going to treasure. They bought me the book The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver and today I am going to tell you about the book and about Chuck Davis. The photos I show you are going to those of nature and anything I have found interesting on my walks around Vancouver.

Charles Hector "Chuck" Davis was born on November 17, 1935 in Winnipeg Manitoba. At the age of eight or nine, in 1944, he came to Vancouver with his father. Chuck was to leave this city again four years later when he went to Toronto.

Davis had left school at the age of 13 and held down a variety of jobs until he was old enough to join the Canadian Army. There he learned and gained experience in radio which led him to a career in broadcasting.

In 1973 Davis published his first book, a guide to Vancouver. The Vancouver Book, an almanac with contributions from over 100 local writers, came out in 1976.

Chuck wrote a daily items column for the Province that evolved into a weekly column on Vancouver history.

Chuck Davis is the creator of The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website which is a site I have used often for reference in writing this blog. He is also the author of numerous books including Two Weeks in Vancouver (written with John Ewing); Kids! Kids! Kids! And Vancouver (with Daniel Wood); Turn on to Canada!; Vancouver: An Illustrated Chronology (with Shirley Mooney); Top Dog! A History of CKNW; The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopedia; Where Rails Meet Rivers: The Story of Port Coquitlam; Vancouver Then and Now.

This book, The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver, was published in 2011- a year after Davis's death. It is called his final gift to Vancouver. Davis was suffering from cancer but wanted to see his final tome completed. So he arranged with like minded people he knew as well as the publisher, Harbour Publishing to ensure that this encyclopedia of Vancouver historical knowledge would be published during Vancouver's 125th year. And on November 16, 2011, on the eve of what would have been Davis's 76th birthday, this precious book was released to the public.

That was a brief glimpse into a man who spent so much of his life recording Vancouver's history for future generations. I will always treasure this book, will refer to it often and it will hold a place of honour on my bookshelf.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Mr. Vancouver, Vancouver, Chuck Davis, cancer, Harbour Publishing, Province, British Columbia

Infill and Such

2012-01-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

Vancouver is an expensive place to live and Shaugnessy is one of the priciest areas in town. But this city also has a lot of citizens and where are they all going to live? One solution - which I abhor - was to build a large, multi-unit dwelling on properties such as The Shannon (an estate I wrote about last year). Another plan was to create infill housing.

Compared to some of the places I have written on this is new housing. It was designed by architect Raymond Letkeman and completed in 1984-85.

It follows the guidelines of the City's First Shaughnessy Official Development Plan.

The goal of this plan is to allow infill and multiple conversion projects while protecting the unique estate image and single-family character of the area.

This original Tudor Revival style mansion was subdivided into condominiums as well as townhouses and garages and all were constructed to resemble a coach house and stables.

The next house I am going to show you is one of the few homes built in Shaughnessy during the Great Depression.

James McGavin, owner of McGavin's Bakery, had this hope built for him and his family on the edge of a huge lot that was originally occupied by the mansion of CPR official Richard Marpole.

The home was completed in 1940 and shows the transition between the historical aesthetic of the 1920s and the modern aesthetic of the 1950s.

There is a mansard roof with wall dormers and a robust entrance combined with low compact massing. As you can see, there was work being done on the home when I walked by.

I was trying to find an address in Shaughnessy, just around the corner from this house, when a lady stopped to give me assistance. Her family was the McGavin family that had once owned this property. It has changed somewhat since it was originally built which is to expected.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, McGavin Bakery, Vancouver, CPR, Shaughnessy, Infill, Raymond Letkeman, British Columbia

Rogues

2012-01-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

At the corner of Robson and Granville Streets there is an interesting display.

I've seen this numerous times from the window of a bus and one day I decided to go look at it. It is another piece of artwork - this one entitled Rogues Gallery circa 1900 and was created by Cam Andrews and Jessica Bushey. Andrews and Bushey consulted the Vancouver Police archives to create this artwork that is not only interesting but also shows a bit about the attitudes of people in my city at that time.

So today, while showing you some of the beauty around the city, I will tell you about some of these rogues and ne'er do wells featured here.

James Carvey was a 25-year-old native of Sacremento, California. He was a sailor who was arrested on February 16, 1899 and charged with stealing a boat. Carvey was sentenced to six months hard labour in the New Westminster Gaol.

20-year-old Rita King was arrested on July 26, 1899. A sporting woman by profession, she was charged with shooting Lessil McDonald at the Opera Resort Saloon. 3 years in Agassiz Prison was her sentence.

An American Negro who went by names of Frank Johnson or Harry Brown and was known to be a porter and pimp was arrested on a charge of vagrancy on September 9, 1903. He managed to avoid incarceration if he would leave town immediately.

Carl Olson was a Spanish man whose occupation was unknown. He was arrested on January 4, 1904 because he was a frequent visitor to houses of ill repute and for living off the proceeds from prostitution. The charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.

32-year-old K. Kabiyashi was picked up on August 26, 1900 for stealing lumber from the Hastings Mills. He was sentenced to 6 months hard labour.

On September 14, 1901 William McMillan was arrested for stealing a hive of bees from Mt. Pleasant resident M. Mclean. McMillan was sentenced to six months hard labour.

A 20 -year-old Chinese man by the name of Sing was arrested for stealing flowers from the house of Mrs. Pim at 924 Nicola Street on July 11, 1904. He was given a choice of spending thirty days in jail or paying a fine of $10.00 and costs.

An American tramp by the name of William Benton was arrested on May 27, 1904 for trespassing on the CPR. This twenty-year-old walked with crutches but Dr. McAlpine examined Benton and declared the injury to be a fake.

15-year-old Darwin Wood, a native of England, was arrested on August 21, 1903 for stealing cattle and horses. Wood received a sentence of sixty days.

Julia LeBrun was a lady of spunk. This forty-year-old French woman was arrested on November 9, 1903 on the charge of being an owner of a bawdy house at 130 Dupont Street. Well this madam refused to pay the $35.00 fine so she was sentenced to thirty days in the New Westminster jail after being re-arrested on November 26, 1903.

Another forty-year-old, Ah Sing - a Chinaman with no known occupation - was sentenced to six months after being arrested on January 27, 1900 for stealing chickens.

Jake Freeman was 38-years old when he was arrested on November 17, 1904. His nationality is listed as a 'North Arm Half-Breed' and his occupation was labourer. He was charged with stealing an Indian totem and vagrancy but instead of serving time, Freeman was ordered to leave the city immediately.

Gertie Johnson was a twenty-three-old, opium fiend and a native of the U.S. of A when she was arrested on February 20, 1905 on a charge of vagrancy. This prostitute was ordered to leave the city at once after being fined $15.00 and costs.

An American Negro labourer by the name of Charles Maynard was arrested on March 31, 1903. This 31-year-old was sentenced to six months of hard labour for stealing a saddle from the Stanley Park Stables.

Next we have the 22-year-old Mary Lewis. An enterprising young woman, she was arrested on September 2, 1902 on the charge of picking pockets and shoplifting both here and in Victoria. Apparently Lewis and her gang were known all over the West coast for being good pickpockets and thieves. She was sentenced to one year in Vancouver and two years in Victoria.

And finally I want to tell you about John Brown. When Brown was arrested he was sixteen and he was sentenced to two months. He was caught on December 18, 1901 and charged with stealing a quantity of champagne from The Vancouver Club.

There are some of the crimes that were prosecuted way back when and their punishments dealt.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Robson Street, Vancouver, Granville Street, The Vancouver Club, rogues, Stanley Park, British Columbia

2012!

2012-01-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it is the year 2012 already? It doesn't seem that long ago that people were talking about Y2K and how the world was going to come to an end at the start of the new century. And now there are those who say that the world will end this year.

Before I get into my first blog entry of the year I want to show you something. As you may know my book The Bond, A Paranormal Love Story is being published in Turkey. I received the cover over the Christmas break and I want to share it with all of you.

Isn't that gorgeous? I put it on my desktop and admire it every time I look at my computer.

Now I'll take you back to Shaugnessy and look at a few homes there.

This home is on Matthews Avenue and shows how firm a grip the Tudor Revival's style had on the imagination of the first generation of Shaugnessy home owners.

The house was designed by architects Sharp and Thompson in 1912.

This Craftsman house on Granville Street was also built in 1912. It was designed by architect H. Murray.

As you can see it has a hipped roof with deep overhanging eaves and brackets as well as a shingled upper storey and an irregularly coursed stone base cladding.

The curved glass in the corner turret was imported and quite expensive.

Members of the John Westaway Society, a philosophical association, lived in the house 1960s and 1970s. Now it is a private residence.

It was difficult getting photos of this house due to the large hedge. This is why most of the pictures were taken from across the street.

It is good to be back and I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Sharp and Thompson, Vancouver, H Murray, John Westway Society, Granville Street, Turkey, British Columbia

Emily Carr Part Three

2011-12-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

As you know this week I have been writing on Emily Carr - painter, writer, Canadian icon. Today I am just going to inform you of some of her works and a bit of her legacy.

I found a list of seven books credited to her. The first is one I mentioned on Wednesday, Klee Wyck. This is a collection of anecdotes that tell of Carr's interaction with the First Nations' people and of her experiences while travelling to paint.

The second one tells of her life as a child and is entitled The Book of Small.

The House of All Sorts which related Emily's experiences as a landlady and then there is the book Hundreds and Thousands which is a recounting of Emily's journals. Her autobiography is entitled Growing Pains.

The Heart of A Peacock is a collection of short stories and vignettes especially about her pet monkey Woo. Pause: A Sketchbook is contains sketches and stories from her time in a sanatorium.

The Complete Writings of Emily Carr contains all her writings and was published in 1997.

To list all of Carr's paintings would take more room than I have here but some of her more famous are The Big Raven, Scorned as Timber and Beloved of the Sky.

Lawren Harris once asked Emily what was going to be done with her paintings after she died. Carr's response reportedly was "Give them to the old folks' home. I suppose they would put them in the basement, and there they would rot."

I think artists everywhere are glad that didn't happen.

If you visit Victoria you can go to the Emily Carr House which was a childhood home of Carr's. Now it is a National Historic Site of Canada where artists can display their work.

Carr's name has been used for education as well. There is the Emily Carr Secondary School in Woodbridge, Ontario; Emily Carr Elementary School in Vancouver, BC; Emily Carr Middle School in Ottawa, Ontario and there are Emily Carr public schools in Oakville, Toronto and London Ontario. And, of course, there is the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

In 1994 a crater on Venus that is approximately 31.9 meters in diameter was named the Carr crater by the International Astronomical Union. I think Emily would have gotten a kick out of that.

But I think she would have been honoured when a sidewater of the Chapplet Inlet on the North Coast of British Columbia was named the Emily Carr Inlet.

This is my last entry for 2011. I will start posting again on January 2, 2012 I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers and to wish you all the best of the holiday season. May the next two weeks be filled with love and happiness. And may you all stay safe.

As always, I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Emily Carr, Vancouver, DVBIA, schools, art, Chapplet Inlet, British Columbia

Emily Carr Part Two

2011-12-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is Always Wishing You Were Somewhere Else by Louisa Tsui.

As promised, I am going to show you more of the decorated electrical boxes on Granville and tell you more about Emily Carr.

When I finished Monday Emily had felt that she wasn't being appreciated for her artwork and had spent fifteen years doing little painting and running a boarding house.

But Ms. Carr's work was coming to the attention of some influential people like a prominent ethnologist by the name of Marius Barbeau who persuaded the Director of Canada's National Gallery, Eric Brown, to visit Emily in 1927.

You are looking at All The Possiblities by Roberta Chang.

At Brown's invitation Carr sent 26 oil paintings along with samples of her pottery and rugs with indigenous designs east to be included in an exhibition of West Coast Aboriginal Art that the gallery was having. This exhibit which included works by Edwin Holgate and Group of Seven founder, A.Y. Jackson traveled from Ottawa to Toronto and Montreal. Carr visited the exhibition in the spring and timed her journey so that she was able to meet members of the Group of Seven who at the time were Canada's most recognized modern painters. This encounter changed the direction of Carr's artistic life.

This is Bird's Eye View by Brenna Randlett. There may be something at the top but I am too short to see!

I haven't shown this side of the electrical boxes because they are all the same. A little of the artwork with the 'wrap' logo and the name of the artist and title of the piece.

The encounter with the Group of Seven ended Carr's artistic isolation of the previous fifteen years and reinvigorated her sense of purpose. It may also have assisted Carr with her spiritual side. Emily's 'distrust for institutional religion' pervades much of her art and at this time, like many artists of her time, she became influenced by Theosophic thought. She began to view God as nature and led a spiritual way of life, rejecting the Church.

Sylvia Chan created 'Wiring Problem'.

This meeting led to more support for Carr and her art but one person stood out. Artist and Group of Seven member Lawren Harris told Carr "You are one of us". An important statement to an artist who not only had a self-deprecating manner but who had also just about given up on her passion.

New Vancouver + Old Vancouver by Sarah Wilson.

During the late 1920s and 1930s Emily Carr continued her journeys to places like the Queen Charlottes and other First Nations' settlements. Her work was finally being recognized and shown in places like London, Paris, Washington and Amsterdam as well as major Canadian cities.

In 1939 Emily Carr suffered a severe heart attack and was forced to move in with her sister Alice. She shifted her attention from painting to writing and with the help of her friend Ira Dilworth, who was principal of Victoria High School, Carr was able to see her first book Klee Wyck published in 1941. A year later Carr was awarded the Governor-General's award for non fiction for her debut literary work.

On March 2, 1945 - shortly before she was to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of British Columbia - Emily Carr died in the James Bay Inn in Victoria, British Columbia.

How Electrifying! By Jocelyn Chan

I want to thank the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, the DVBIA and the art students for inspiring these last two entries. Friday I will mention some more on Emily Carr and her works.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Emily Carr, Vancouver, DVBIA, Lawren Harris, art, Group of Seven, A.Y. Jackson

Emily Carr Part One

2011-12-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

While travelling on the bus I have noticed some artwork on Granville Street so Saturday I walked down there with my camera and got a closer look. This is a project between the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) and the Emily Carr University of Art and Design to beautify the city and hopefully cut down on graffiti. The artists have their work displayed on ugly, electrical boxes making the structures a piece of art.

This piece is aptly entitled Granville and was created by artist Joyce Inhwa Seo.

But I want to do more than just show you the artwork I photographed. I want to tell you about the woman behind the university, Emily Carr.

Carr was born in Victoria, the second youngest of six children. Her parents Richard and Emily Saunders Carr were English born and settled in Victoria due largely to the city's British influence. Here Richard Carr felt he would be able to raise his children in a decidedly English manner with all the customs the elder Carrs were used to. It was also possible for the senior Carrs to hold onto their British passports this way.

The family was quite religious and attended a Presbyterian church. The children were expected to be able to recite the sermon which is something Emily had difficulty with.

This is Whale Sounds 2 by Nick Goebel

The Carrs lived in a home that was in lavish English fashion with high ceilings, ornate mouldings and a parlour room. It was located on Birdcage Walk in the James Bay district of Victoria not far from the 'birdcages' or legislative buildings. (Birdcage Walk is now Government Street)

Emily's talents were supported and encouraged by her parents but it wasn't until after their death that Emily began to take her art seriously. She enrolled in the San Francisco Art School - the nearest proper art school - from 1890 to 1892. After her sojourn there she returned to her hometown of Victoria.

Now you are looking at 4 am by Zara Haque.

It was in 1898 that Carr made her first of several sketching and painting trips to the aboriginal (First Nations) villages. A year later Emily went to London to study at the Westminster School of Art. She also spent some time at an artist's colony in Cornwall before returning to British Columbia in 1905.

It was at the Ladies' Art Club that Emily Carr tried her hand at teaching the craft she loved. But that didn't work out so well and Carr only lasted a month since students started boycotting her classes. She was rude and smoked in class and cursed her students. We can't all teach. Some are better at doing.

This is Granville in the 50s by Sterling Richter.

In 1907 Emily and her sister Alice went on a holiday to Alaska. Once again Emily was enthralled by the artwork of the indigenous people she met. She was determined to document the sculptural and artistic legacy of these people using her art.

In 1910 Carr returned to Europe to advance her study of the ever changing trends in art. It was in Montparnasse with her sister Alice that Emily met the person who would influence her style of art. Henry Gibb, a modernist painter, both shocked and intrigued the sisters with his use of vibrant color and distortion.

Arantxa Garcia created Van Origami.

Instead of the pastel colour scheme she was used to, Emily now adopted a colour palette of vibrancy. She returned to BC to exhibit some of her French paintings.

It was in 1912 that Carr painted her iconic work Big Raven, a painting of a carved raven. This painting and another entitled Tanoo were inspired by a trip she took that summer to the Queen Charlotte Islands and Skeena River.

Although there was some positive reaction to Carr's work her perception of the reaction was that it wasn't positive. She returned to Victoria and spent the next fifteen years doing little painting and running a boarding house called 'House of All Sorts'. She also wrote a book about her experiences at that time under the same name.

Wednesday I will tell you more about the Canadian icon Emily Carr and show you more of this impressive artwork.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Grey City Grid by Mark Illing

Karen Magill, Emily Carr, Vancouver, DVBIA, Wrap Program, art, Queen Charlotte Islands, Victoria

Nichol House

2011-12-06T17:57:00.001-08:00

Do you remember when I wrote on the Hycroft Manor? Well I was actually looking for another house at the time - this one you see here. The address I had gotten from an online source was 1402 McRae but it wasn't there. Another source I found had the address as 1402 the Crescent. There is no 1402 there either. But I happened to see a heritage plaque and when I went to read it I saw that it was the home I was looking I for. Would you like to see that the house number was?

No wonder I couldn't find it! Just for information sake, it is on the other side of McRae Avenue from the Hycroft Manor. This one is called the Nichol House.

Maclure and Fox built this Arts and Crafts style estate house in 1913 for Walter and Quita Nichol. At the time it was on the northern edge of Shaugnessy and was constructed on an escarpment that gave the home a sweeping view of the growing city below.

Walter Nichol was the owner of the Province newspaper from 1901 to 1923 and served as Lieutenant-Governor from 1920 to 1926.

William R. Wilson bought the property in 1924. He had made his fortune in mining.

In 1939 the Nichol House became the home of Leopold and Antoinette Bentley and their son Peter. (Another article I read said that the Bentleys bought this property in 1941) The Bentleys had fled Austria in 1938 to avoid the upcoming war and settled in Vancouver. Leopold and his brother, John Prentice, formed what was to become Canadian Forest Products (Canfor).

Peter Bentley followed in his father's footsteps and became head of CANFOR - one of Canada's largest forest products companies. He was also the third Chancellor for the University of Northern British Columbia from 2004 to mid 2007.

Bentley was also a director and is currently an honorary director of the Bank of Montreal, a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, a Chairman of Sierra Mountain Minerals Inc. (produces SierraSil) and a member of the board of directors of the Vancouver General Hospital and the University of British Columbia Hospital Foundation. He also volunteers for numerous organizations.

In 1983 Peter Bentley was recognized for his role in manufacturing, business and finance in British Columbia and made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2005 his family was awarded a portion of US21.8 million dollars in restitution payments for the theft of the family's sugar refinery in Austria. The Bentley's also sold this home in 2005, not long after the death of Antoinette Bentley. She died before the restitution was awarded to the family and Peter declined to take any of the money although it was split among his five children.

There is an article online that tells the fascinating story of the Bentleys as well as a bit about another family I will be discussing in a future entry.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Nichol House, Vancouver, CANFOR, Peter Bentley, the Province, Order of Canada, John Prentice

Rosemary

2011-12-06T15:22:00.001-08:00

This gorgeous piece of real estate is in Shaugnessy and happens to be one of the largest estates there. It was built in 1915 for whiskey baron Edward Tulk and Tulk named it Rosemary after his daughter. (my father and I are quite close but he has never named an estate after me. I'll have to talk to him about that!)

I wasn't able to find anything on Tulk on the Internet - I guess whiskey barons on that era kept a low profile - but there are other things to mention.

As you can see the home was built in the Tudor Revival style as an English Manor. It was designed by architects Maclure and Fox. (Samuel Maclure was involved in many notable projects including being a consultant to the legendary Butchart Gardens near Victoria. And Maclure was born in Sapperton New Westminster BC.)

Besides the Tulks, the Rosemary has had a few very interesting occupants. Including someone who once owned The Shannon- Austin Taylor who was the owner of the Bralorne gold mine.

For a while John W. Fordham Johnson, BC's future Lieutenant Governor, lived at this estate.

Johnson was born in England in 1866 and at the age of 22 he left to embark on a new life. He began working for a bank in Oregon and was there for ten years before he was transferred to Vancouver.

Once in Vancouver Johnson found opportunities. In 1900 he left the employ of the bank and went to work for BC Sugar Co., eventually becoming president of the company in 1920.

On August 1, 1931 John William Fordham Johnson was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia and he served the province for five years, until 1936 when his ill health forced him to retire to Vancouver. He died two years later.

The Order of the Convent of Our Lady of the Cenacle owned this estate from 1947 until 1994. They used it as a retreat.What a beautiful place to commune with God.

In the current owners took steps to protect the estate by entering into a Heritage Revitalization Agreement with the City. They have allowed the grounds to be subdivided into three parcels which will allow other buildings to be put on the grounds and still keep the manor as it always has been and will hopefully continue to be for years to come.

I thoroughly enjoy my strolls through Shaugnessy. Maybe I'm hoping that the wealth will rub off on me - that just breathing the same air, walking the same streets, looking at the same houses will entice money to come to me. The Lotto 649 is 12 million dollars tonight so here's hoping! If not I'm getting my fresh air, exercise and vitamin D.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Rosemary, Vancouver, Edward Tulk, BC Sugar Co., Austin Taylor, Bralorne Gold Mine, John William Fordham Johnson

Hendry House

2011-12-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

From 1912 to 1914 this Tudor Revival style home was built for the Hendry family. It was designed by architects Maclure and Fox.

John Hendry was born in Belledune, NB on January 20, 1842 as the second son of a family in the sawmill and flour milling business. After a short time running the family business after his father's death and travelling through the Western United States, Hendry moved west to British Columbia in 1872.

He arrived to find the lumber industry in BC in a slump. For two years he worked as a log and timber surveyor and millwright for sawmills on the Puget Sound. IN 1874 Hendry was hired to work in the rebuilding of the Moodyville Sawmill which was on the north shore of the Burrrard Inlet. He also worked as nightshift superintendent before travelling to Winnipeg in 1875.

Hendry found Manitoba in an economic decline so he moved on to San Francisco. But BC enticed him back and during the winter of 1875-76 he built a sawmill in Nanaimo and one in New Westminster in 1876.

Like many of our city's pioneers, Hendry found the arrival of the railway in 1887 to be fortuitous. He promoted the New Westminster Southern Railway-NWSR- which was granted a federal charter in 1888. Hendry had served as on the city council from 1879-80 and he was elected mayor of New Westminster in 1889. H resigned the position in July however because he felt that his business involvement with the NWSR and his official duties would be in conflict.

There were problems shipping forest products from New Westminster. Hendry solved some of those when his company bought the Hastings Saw Mill in Vancouver in 1889. Since the mill was located between the Burrard Inlet and the CPR line it provided convenient access between land and sea.

The purchase of the mill gave way to a new company, The British Columbia Mills Timber and Trading Company - B.C. Mills of which Hendry was president and the manager of the mill, Richard Henry Alexander was the secretary. The company became quite successful and in the next ten years it employed 1,100 workers and had a sawing capacity of 400,000 board feet per day.

In 1902 BC Mills purchased the Moodyville Land and Saw Mills Company. They then began calling themselves “the largest lumber manufacturing establishment in Western Canada or on the Pacific Coast, and one of the largest in the world.” The head office was moved to Vancouver and Hendry moved into a home in the West End in 1903.

Although timber was proving to be very prosperous for Hendry he also speculated on the railway and was involved in several business such as Nicola Valley Coal and Coke Company Limited and a director of the Hendry Land Company Limited, the British Columbia Sugar Refinery Limited, the Dundee Gold Mine Limited, and the West Shore and Northern Land Company Limited.

Hendry also made various trips over to England between 1910 and 12. During a visit to a nerve specialist in London he was advised to slow down so Hendry sold some of his holdings though he did hang on to the Hastings and Moodyville mills which were the core of his lumber empire.

Hendry's daughter Aldyen Irene wed Eric Werge Hamber in the spring of 1912 in London. This event forced Hendry to cancel his passage on the Titanic. Isn't it weird how things work out?

The house that was built on Angus Drive features a porte cochere, or a porch with a covered entrance which protected visitors from the elements as they visited.

This private residence is a beautiful building and was a fitting home for one of British Columbia's first lumber barons.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, John Hendry, Vancouver, Titanic, BC Mills, Angus Drive, CPR, Hastings Sawmill

Still 1937

2011-12-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday we ended with May 12, 1937. Here's some more information on that year.

On June 16 Boeing at Coal Harbour was awarded a federal contract to build eleven Blackburn 'Shark' warplanes for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On July 5 a Vancouver lawyer by the name of Gordon Sylvester Wismer began serving as attorney general in the Pattullo cabinet.

July 19 was the day that sliced bread came to Vancouver and sold for a whopping eight cents a loaf.

July 20, 1837 was a special day. At the Peace Arch border crossing women from Canada and the US sang the national anthems.

On August 2 Dr. Norman Bethune in Vancouver on behalf of the Canadian Blood Transfusion Service.(Note. Our current mayor, Gregor Robertson, is a distant relative of Bethune. His grandmother was a first cousin of this famous doctor.)

Two days later the Oak movie theatre opened at Kingsway and Marlborough and was hailed as a piece of 'art moderne'. It operated until 1968.

On September 29 BC sent a shipment of food to the Prairies since the citizens there were suffering through the worst of the Depression.

Also in September A.E. Crickmay shot a 235 pound bear at 234 East 15th Street in North Vancouver.

On November 12 the Vancouver 'Non-Partisan Association' was formed at a luncheon at the Hotel Vancouver. The NPA didn't do so well in that year's election but in the future they did a lot better. In the 1990s the NPA was a domineering force in Vancouver civic politics.

On November 14 the Vancouver Golf Club clubhouse burned to the ground.

A day later the Pattullo Bridge opened to the public with Premier Duff Pattullo ceremoniously cutting through a metal chain across the roadway with a welder's torch.

Also in 1937 the Lougheed Highway was completed.

The Cave Supper Club on Hornby which would become a Vancouver night life fixture opened in 1937. It closed in 1981.

William Deverell, a Vancouver lawyer and author was born in Regina during this year.

An important piece of my personal history, my mother was born during this year.

Vancouver firefighters replaced their old, leather helmets with a new composition helmet this year.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Dr. Norman Bethune, Vancouver, 1937, Gregor Robinson, William Deverell, NPA, Royal Canadian Air Force

1937

2011-11-30T09:11:00.000-08:00

Ladner farmers,Chung Chuck and Mah Lai had appealed a provincial law that regulated the marketing of tree fruits and vegetables that had the effect (intended) of stifling Chinese farmers. In January 1937 the Privy Council ruled the laws invalid.

Alan Young who was best known for co-starring with a horse in the television show, Mr. Ed, began at CJOR Vancouver. He was the assistant for program director Dick Diespecker. For the three years that Young was employed there he fulfilled a variety of duties from typing extra copies of the drama scripts, to sweeping sometimes, to helping with news broadcasts and scripting and starring in a weekly show, Signal Carnival. He started in 1937.

In 1911 Eudora Jane Lochead had opened the Hastings Grove Store on Curtis in Burnaby. It had a rooming house with 20 rooms above and a dining room which sat 60 boarders. (To handle the overflow there were tents in the yard.) In 1913 she opened her second store at Sperling and Hastings. Lochead was also a poet, her best known work Would Life Be Worth Living. On February 2, 1937 this pioneer store owner and poet died in North Vancouver.

Jack Blaney who happened to be the president of Simon Fraser University from 1997 to 2000 and now senior fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver was born in Vancouver on February 24, 1937.

On March 5 a story in the Province reported that traces of hemp were found in a dead man's stomach. It was the first mention of 'marihuana' in a Vancouver paper.

On March 22 there was fire at 125 West Pender Street - the offices of the Vancouver Sun and the building suffered more than $200,000 worth of damage. The paper moved across the street into the Bekins Building which they bought on May 18. They never missed an issue and today we know that building as the Old Sun Tower.

Helena Gutteridge of the CCF became the first woman to ever be elected to the Vancouver City Council. Gutteridge was born in London, England around 1880 and came to Vancouver in 1911. She then organized the BC Women's Suffrage League and fought for the right for women to vote.

On March 30, 1937 Robert 'Red' Robinson was born in Comox. Robinson started broadcasting at CJOR at the ripe old age of 17. On November 12, 1954 he played music that no one had ever head before- Rock and Roll as well as Rhythm and Blues. In a year he had 54% of the audience and to this day he is still rockin'.

When construction began on the Lion's Gate Bridge on March 31, it was to be the longest suspension bridge in the British Empire at that time. More than 300 men were used in the construction and the bridge was built to give better access to the British Properties.

On May 12 a Coronation Day ceremony was held in Stanley Park to honor the accession to the throne of George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It was that day that Alderman Jonathon Rogers planted the King George VI oak in Stanley Park.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, CJOR, Vancouver, 1937, Red Robinson, Vancouver Sun, Sun Tower, Eudora Lochead

The Haunting of The Hycroft

2011-11-27T10:41:00.001-08:00

Looking at these bright, sunny photos of the grounds of the Hycroft Manor it is difficult to believe that the house is home to a few ghosts. But it apparently is.

As you may remember from Friday's post, the McRaes sold the manor to the federal government in 1942 for the sum of one dollar. Shortly after the sale Mrs. McRae died and Senator McRae followed four years later.

Some visitors to the manor have reported seeing a man in a World War I General's uniform wandering around the halls of Hycroft. Perhaps A.D. McRae just can't leave the home that was built for him and his family.

Others have seen apparition of a lady dressed in early 20th century attire strolling through the rooms and this is thought to be Mrs. McRae.

As previously stated, the government used the Hycroft as a hospital for war veterans until 1960. And not all of these residents have left the building either.

Apparitions of nurses dressed in attire of the period have been seen as have at least three veterans. Sounds of a man crying have also been heard.

Many people want fame and to be in the movies and seems that the ghosts of the Hycroft are no different. They seem to be more active when film crews are using the manor yet quieter when parties and social events are being held. Or maybe the spirits don't like the entertainment business. If I ever meet one of the ghosts I'll ask.

Although the Hycroft is owned by the University Women's Club of Vancouver, it is available to be rented out for business functions, weddings and other meetings. And I think having your event at this mansion would make it memorable.

The UWCV also hosts numerous events at the manor which are open to non members. For a complete list visit the site where you can also get rental information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Alexander Duncan McRae, Vancouver, UWCV, Hycroft, ghosts, Federal Department of Veterans' Affairs, federal government

The Hycroft

2011-11-24T11:37:00.001-08:00

Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment and after that I went to see a couple of homes in the Shaugnessy neighbourhood. Today I am going to tell you about the Hycroft.

Architect Thomas Hooper is responsible for this magnificent Second Renaissance Revival style building. It was built during 1909 and 1912 for local businessman and politician Alexander Duncan McRae and the home dates back to the early days of Shaugnessy development. It cost $109,000 to build which was a fortune back then.

The building is of concrete construction and has a distinctive double height portico.

In addition to the house and the coach house there were stables, a swimming pool, an Italian garden, a tea house, pergolas, statuary and a children's playhouse.

When the McRae's moved in this house quickly became the center of Vancouver's social scene and the parties were legendary. The guest list read like an edition of who's who and was made up of such people like visiting royalty, the social elite of Vancouver and such.

In the 1942, due to rising costs and the up keep, the McRaes sold Hycroft to the federal government for the grand sum of one dollar. The house was used by the Federal Department of Veterans' Affairs as a convalescent hospital for war veterans until 1960.

In 1962 the five acre property was subdivided and the stables were demolished. Since women at that time were not allowed to hold mortgages in their own right, any female that wanted to purchase the mansion, coach house, mews house and surrounding grounds had to pay for it in full. And that is just what the University Women's Club of Vancouver did.

It took a year to finalize the purchase and five to restore the manor. The building had been empty for two years without heat or any basic maintenance. But the volunteers kicked out racoons, cut back the grass and blackberry vines and restored Hycroft to its former glory. In 1974 the UWCV was recognized for their efforts when the city presented the club with a Heritage award for their continued maintenance of the house.

Neither a building nor a person can get to be a hundred years old without some legends and stories surrounding lending an air of mystery. And since I still have more photos to show you I will look into some of those tales on Monday.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Alexander Duncan McRae, Vancouver, UWCV, Hycroft, Thomas Hooper, Federal Department of Veterans' Affairs, federal government

Our Mother's Defender

2011-11-22T11:03:00.001-08:00

While writing one of last week's post I had a 'eureka' moment. There are quite a few people who are associated with Vancouver that have gone on to accomplish great things and I thought I should write on them as well as our history. The first person I am going to cover is the one and only David Suzuki. And fittingly since Suzuki is an environmental activist, I am going to show you photos of nature that I have taken around the city.

A third generation Japanese Canadian, David Takayoshi Suzuki was born on March 24, 1936 in Vancouver to parents Setsu Nakamura and Kaoru Carr Suzuki. David has a twin sister Marcia and two other siblings - Geraldine (now known as Aiko) and Dawn.

In June of 1942 the government sold the Suzuki's dry cleaning business and David, his mother and two sisters were interned at a camp in Slocan. His father had already been sent to a labor camp in Solsqua two months earlier. (David's sister Dawn was born at the internment camp)

After the war the Suzukis were forced to move east, as were many Japanese Canadian families. David and his family lived in Islington, Leamington and London Ontario.

Suzuki then went south of the border for his education obtaining a BA from the Amherst College of Massachusetts in 1958 and a Ph.D in zoology in 1961 from the University of Chicago. Early in his career he studied genetics and was a professor in that field at the University of British Columbia for almost forty years (from 1963 until his retirement in 2001).

In 1970 David could be seen on television with the weekly children's show Suzuki on Science and from 1975-1979 Suzuki was on the weekly adult themed Science Magazine. He was also heard on the CBC Radio One with the programme Quirks and Quarks throughout the seventies.

David is also the host of CBC's longest running documentary show, The Nature of Things. Started in 1979 and now in its fifty first season, this show is broadcast over fifty countries. Suzuki aims to increase awareness of nature, point out threats to well being and the wild and to present alternatives to achieve a more sustainable society. He is also an advocate of renewable energy sources and the soft energy path.

Suzuki is a busy man. His 1985 hit series A Planet for the Taking averaged more than 1.8 million viewers per episode and earned Suzuki a United Nations Environmental Programme award and he was also the host of the 1993 critically acclaimed PBS series, The Secret of Life. He produced "Yellowstone to Yukon: The Wildlands Project" in 1997.

In addition to these David Suzuki also wrote a book The Sacred Balance which was first published in 1997. It was later made into a five hour miniseries for Canadian Public Television in 2002.

Sometimes controversial, Suzuki is a spokesperson on global climate change. He believes, as many scientists do, that humans are responsible for the dangerous climate shifts we are now seeing. He also believes that the doubt that many of the public and media express towards this area of concern is the result of a well organized campaign of disinformation of the science involved and those involved in the campaign want to delay action on climate change. Suzuki apparently feels that these sceptics have received significant funding from oil and coal companies.

David is a man who says what he thinks and feels. In 2008 he urged McGill University students to speak out against politicians who fail to act on climate change and a year later he said that Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be put in jail.

David Suzuki is the author of 52 books, fifteen of which are for children. He has received numerous awards including the Order of Canada - first as an Officer in 1976 then upgraded to Companion status in 2006-the Order of British Columbia in 1995, UNESCOs Kalinga Prize for science in 1986 and a whole slew of others both Canadian and International. He also has a large inventory of honorary degrees from teaching establishments worldwide.

In 2004 David was nominated for as one of the top ten Canadians voted on by CBC viewers. Suzuki said he voted for the person who won, Tommy Douglas.

So love him or hate him, admire him or discount him you have to admit that David Suzuki is a dynamic individual who has made an everlasting mark on this world. Through the Vancouver based David Suzuki Foundation, Suzuki continues to raise awareness for his causes and defend Mother Earth.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, David Suzuki, Vancouver, The Nature of Things, CBC, environmentalist, Mother Earth, Tommy Douglas

Mayors of Vancouver Part VI

2011-11-16T17:00:00.001-08:00

(I must apologize to those people who are signed up to receive automatic notifications of additional entries. While working on this entry on Sunday I accidentally pushed the publish button instead of the save. I then reverted it back to a draft and finished writing it.)

I told you Friday that we had an election on Saturday. Before I tell you who our new mayor is I want to go over the last few mayors in our great city's history.

We last left off with Jack Volrich who served from 1977 to 1980.

Next was Michael Franklin Harcourt - 1980 to 1986. Previous to that he had served as city alderman from 1973 to 1980. His term in office was dominated by the planning of Expo 86. From 1991 to 1996 Harcourt was our 30th premier. And on December 12, 2003 he was named as a special advisor on cities to Prime Minister Paul Martin.

In 2002 Mike Harcourt received an outpouring of sympathy and support from British Columbians after he had a near-fatal fall at his cottage on Pender Island in which he suffered a severe spinal-cord industry. His rapid recovery astonished the doctors and after several months in GF Strong he published a book about his ordeal called Plan B.

After Harcourt, Gordon Campbell became our 35th mayor. He served three consecutive terms from 1986 to 1993. This former real estate developer and teacher began his political career as executive assistant to Mayor Art Phillips until 1976. He worked development manager and developer until 1986 when he became mayor.

From 2001 until 2011 Gordon Campbell served as the province's premier and he is currently Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

One of our longest serving mayors was Phillip Walter Owen who served from 1993 to 2002. Owen's father, Walter S. Owen, served as Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1973 to 1978.

Owen entered civic politics in 1978 when he was elected to the Vancouver Parks Board and in 1986 he became a member of the Vancouver City Council.

In 1993 Owen was elected to the mayoral seat and became the longest consecutive serving mayor in our history. While he was in office Vancouver maintained a Triple-A credit rating and was rated the number one city in the world for quality of life by the William Mercer Study. Owen is best known for his drug policy reform. He believed in a Four Pillar Approach which is a comprehensive program with provisions for prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction. Thanks for his policies North America's first safe injection site, Insite, for intravenous drug users opened in 2003.

Larry W. Campbell was our 37th mayor and is presently a member of the Canadian senate. Campbell was a former RCMP officer and coroner. (The show DaVinci's Inquest is based on him)

When Campbell was elected in 2002, he became the first mayor elected from the Coalition of Progressive Electors party.

Campbell was against the city bidding for the 2010 Winter Olympics and even held non-binding city wide plebiscite. (Premier Gordon Campbell refused Larry Campbell's request to hold a province wide vote) When the citizens of the city said they wanted the Olympics Campbell changed sides.

Campbell's two main projects while in office were the redevelopment of the Woodward's building and the creation of Insite, following his predecessor's Four Pillar approach to drug control.

Sam Sullivan was next up as mayor. He was born in East Vancouver and his father had run Sully's Autoparts on East Hastings Street. At the age of 19 a very active Sullivan had a skiing accident which left him a quadriplegic. He successfully completed a Bachelor of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University and established six non profit organizations to help the disabled. All of these organizations are linked to the Sam Sullivan Disability Foundation which has raised 20 million dollars and touched the lives of 10,000 people since its inception. Sullivan has received the Christopher and Dana Reeve award, the Terry Fox award and the Peter F. Drucker award for innovation.

On September 11, 2001 at Nat Bailey Stadium Sam Sullivan became the first quadriplegic to throw the opening pitch at professional baseball game. He accomplished this feat with the help of a device made by Tetra Society volunteers.

At the suggestion of former provincial cabinet minister Grace McCarthy, Sullivan ran for council and was elected to the Vancouver city Council in 1993. He was to remain there for the next fifteen years.

In 2005 Sullivan ran for mayor against several opponents and, by a narrow margin, won. He was our first mayor that was capable of reading Chinese and speaking basic Cantonese and he learned to give speeches in Punjabi. Sullivan was the subject of a Gemini nominated documentary entitled Citizen Sam which was made by the National Film Board of Canada.

In 2008 Sullivan was replaced by Peter Ladner as head of the NPA party and Ladner ran for mayor in place of Sullivan.

Peter Ladner lost the race to Vision Vancouver member Gregor Angus Bethune Robertson.

Robertson campaigned on issues of ending homelessness in Vancouver and making it a greener city. He also stated that he would establish a mental health advocate if he were elected. (Once in office he didn't do that and said the duties would be done by the city hall staff)

He has opened shelters in residential areas - much to the dismay of residents who objected to the problems brought on by the shelter and were never consulted about it- and none of the merchants that were affected by the bike lane across Burrard Bridge were consulted beforehand. These merchants claim that their business were affected negatively by the bike lane.

Gregor Robertson's time in office has been controversial with the Stanley Cup Riots and the Occupy Vancouver tents at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Robertson also appears to quite often change his opinion and position on issues. But considering that he was re-elected on November 19, 2011 it appears that the majority of Vancouverites are happy with the job he is doing.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Gregor Robertson, Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, Stanley Cup Riots, Larry Campbell, Phillip Owen, Occupy Vancouver

1936 Continues

2011-11-16T09:26:00.001-08:00

The 'Flying Seven', an all women group of pilots, did their first fly over in November of 1936.The 'Flying Seven Canadian Women Pilots flew out of Sea Island and were the forerunners of a splendid air movement.

On December 1 civic wards were abolished in Vancouver.

On December 2 a pioneer farmer by the name of Hugh Crawford Magee died. He was the first farmer to settle on the North Arm of the Fraser River and took up land in Point Grey in 1867. Magee Secondary School was named for him.

On December 4 the News-Herald gushed over its description of the new city hall. (A sign of the times though. A restaurant advertised in the same edition that they featured 'All White Help')

There was a civic election on December 9 and it was decided that George Clark Miller would be the first mayor to sit in office in the new city hall - it would open on January 2, 193. Miller defeated L.D. Macdonald, C.E. Thompson and former mayor L.D. Taylor.

Also in 1936 our main post office at the Northwest corner of Granville and Hastings had a major transformation. In addition to the lobby being refurbished in bronze, cedar, terra cotta and marble a tunnel was built to the CPR station.

The Lost Lagoon Fountain went into operation.. A left over from Chicago's city fair, we had purchased it. Many citizens objected to the expenditure of $35,000 during the Great Depression.

The Vancouver Police Department had a strength of 350. As of January 1, 2010 the VPD had 389 civilian employees and 1,327 sworn officers.

The Vancouver Fire Department had 368 personnel, 18 stations, 45 pieces of motorized apparatus and one municipally-operated boat. Now the VFD has 20 fire halls, one training academy, two fire prevention officers and 800 employees. In the fleet are 54 heavy trucks, 56 light automotive trucks, two fireboats and over 190 smaller pieces.

The population of Vancouver in 1936 was over 250,000 making it Canada's third largest city. According to a 2006 census our population was 568,000 making us Canada's eighth largest city.

There were 40,000 students in the Vancouver School system and more than 1,200 teachers. UBC enrolment was about 2,000.

Today there are approximately 31,000 elementary students, 25,000 secondary students, 3,000 adult education students, 48,000 students in continuing education programs, 3,000 students in distributed learning programs and more than 15,000 students take summer school programs. (I looked around but couldn't find a number for how many teachers.)

At UBC, the Vancouver Campus, I found a figure of 31,500 undergraduate students.

MGM boss Louis B. Meyer convinced the RCMP to let him shoot some of his classic movie, Rosemarie, here. Starring Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, this is said to have been the first sound feature filmed here.

Three prisoners at Oakalla were hung in one day - a triple hanging. There were also numerous double hangings at the prison that year.

The last vessel to join the West Vancouver Municipal Ferry System was built in 1936. The Hollyburn was sold to Harbour Navigation in 1945 where she became an excursion vessel and she celebrated her fiftieth anniversary during Expo 86.

Our first concert agency, Hilker Attractions, began in 1936. It would run until 1950 and book over 1,000 acts including Yehudi Menuhin, Paul Robeson and Isaac Stern.

A singing quartet by the name of the Hoboken Four performed at the Orpheum theatre as part of a tour by the Major Bowes Amateur Hour. One of the performers was a skinny kid by the name of Frank Sinatra.

David Suzuki was born in Vancouver in 1936.

There are still a few more facts for 1936 but I am running out of room. Saturday Vancouverites go to the polls to elect a new mayor so Monday I will finish my segment on Vancouver Mayors and update with our new one.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, David Suzuki, Vancouver, Rosemarie, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Eddy, History, Lost Lagoon

More 1936

2011-11-14T17:26:00.001-08:00

Do you remember the show Beverly Hillbillies and the character of Jethro? Well on August 19, 1936 his father Max Baer Sr., a heavyweight boxing champion fought in Vancouver's Denman Arena. His opponent James J. Walsh - the Alberta Assassin -was apparently terrified and lasted one punch. Ancil Hoffman, Baer's manager, had a premonition that Baer wouldn't last long so he arranged for Baer's brother, Buddy Baer, to box ten rounds with his older brother. It was the first time that the Baer brothers had appeared together in the ring.

A few hours after the Baer fight the Denman Arena burned down and with it a valuable piece of Vancouver history. The arena had been the site of the Vancouver Millionaires winning the Stanley Cup in 1915; Dempsey and Braddock had fought there; Valentino had judged a beauty contest at that arena and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had given a speech there.

With the Denman Arena fire three neighbouring shipbuilding plants were also destroyed. This was not determined to be deliberately set but the fire marshal at the time, J.A. Thomas, stated that the arena was the worst fire trap in Vancouver since it had been built. Although the estimated monetary loss was around $500,000 if the fire had started while the crowd was enjoying the bout, the death toll could have easily reached 1,000.

Also on August 20 (that was a busy day for Vancouver) was a visit from the Lord Mayor of London Sir Percy Vincent. One of his duties with this visit was to unveil an 8-foot-high statue of Captain George Vancouver. Sir Percy also presented the city with a civic mace.

The statue - made of bronze and granite and carved by Charles Marega - and the mace are still at city hall. Another one of Sir Percy's gifts was a sprig from a tree in the orchard where an apple fell on the head of Isaac Newton and gave him the idea of gravity. Where that sprig is today is anyone's guess.

Two days later the beginning of the credit union movement began in BC. A self help group established during the depression, the Army of the Common Good, started with six charter members and $10.25 in deposits to form the Common Good Credit Union. Within two months the deposits had more than doubled to $25.10 and the first loan of $27 was made in May of 1937.

Visiting Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir officiated at the opening of the Seaforth Armories. (I have written on the armouries before and you can read that entry here). Tweedsmuir was also known as John Buchan and was the author of a best selling mystery, The Thirty Nine Steps. Not one movie was made from the book but two were.

On August 30 Tweedsmuir was one of the congregation for the first service held iin the St. James Anglican Church at the corner of Gore and Cordova Streets. Legendary Vancouver Architect Arthur Erickson said that this was the best single building in Vancouver. I thought I had written on it but I can't seem to find the entry.

On October 2 UBC Stadium opened.

On December 1 Vancouver's new city hall opened.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Arthur Erickson, Vancouver, City Hall, Credit Union, Army of the Common GOod, History, Lord Tweedsmuir