49 Trudges Along

The date was November 9, 1949 and that morning, one of Vancouver's most sensationalized murders began. The body of single, 45-year-old Blanche Fisher was discovered in False Creek near the Kitsilano Trestle by a Woodward's employee. At first, authorities thought it was a suicide but it was discovered that Fisher wore no shoes, socks or underwear and her body was covered in bruises.

34-year-old Frederick Ducharme had a record of indecent exposure and bizarre behaviour. What that behaviour was, wasn't explaining in the strait laced newspaper reporting of the day and I don't know what it was. Anyway, Miss Fischer's umbrella was found in Ducharme's car and articles of her clothing in his run down False Creek shack. Ducharme was found guilty of murder and hanged July 14, 1950.

Kerrisdale arena was officially opened on November 11. Fred "Cyclone" Taylor - hockey legend and current president of the Point Grey Community Centre Association - was there. Park board chairman Bert Emery, acting mayor R.K. Gervin and Harry Duker, who managed the raising of funds for the building, were on hand too.

The Capilano River, swollen by a violent rainstorm, swept away a large section of Marine Drive. On November 27, 1949, when this happened, that was the only road link to West Vancouver.  Part of the bridge over the Capilano was also washed away. Army engineers from Sardis rushed in to build an emergency Bailey bridge, which was also washed away. West Vancouver remained cut off for 10 days.

On December 1, the Grouse Mountain chairlift opened. It was the world's first double chair lift and replaced the two to three hour hike from the skiers' bus stop at the base of the mountain.

There was exciting news on December 3. A photograph appeared in the Province newspaper showing the site for something called a 'shopping centre'. Park Royal, on the north shore, was to become Canada's first shopping centre.

In 1949, Dick Diespecker had a radio column in the Province. Diespecker followed local and international radio personalities the way we follow television and movie stars today. On December 4, 1949, Dick told his readers the "dynamic young sportscaster" Ray Perrault had left CJOR to join the radio department of the O'Brien Advertising Agency. Today, he’s Senator Ray Perrault.


Boxer Jimmy McLarnin laid the cornerstone for Sunset Memorial Centre on East 51st Avenue on Decmber 11. McLarnin had played a large part in the establishment of the Centre (which is now called the Sunset Community Centre.) When Stan Thomas, one of the people involved in the creation of the complex, went to Hollywood in 1947 it was McLarnin—whom Thomas knew—who introduced him to Bing Crosby, a friend of McLarnin’s. Bing agreed to come up to Vancouver and record his radio show here to kick off the Centre’s fund-raising campaign. Bing’s show was recorded at the Forum September 22, 1948, attended by 9,000 people.

Thanks to The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

1949

This house is an Arts and Crafts style but it is a slightly different design. It was built in 1911 by George Tyson. Tyson built many of the homes in the 2000-block of Keefer - this section of Keefer was renamed Ferndale in 1929. The house was listed as vacant in 1912 but Tyson lived here from 1913 to 1916.

Today, we are looking at 1949 in Vancouver. On January 3, just a few days into the New Year, The Vancouver Sun's page one headline, screamed:

POLICE OPEN WAR ON NIGHT CLUB DRINKING.

The night before there had been a raid on three local nightclub establishments. Detectives descended on three cabarets and confiscated 13 bottles of alcohol from underneath the tables. Five were seized from the Cave Cabaret, two from the Palomar and four from the Mandarin.

Chief Constable Walter Mulligan warned that his dry squad men were “definitely going to tighten up on liquor drinking in cabarets.”

The B.C. Cabaret Owners’ Association blamed “rabid prohibitionists.” “These attempted curbs on drinking,” they added, “will only drive drink into vice dens, autos and hotel rooms.”

BC Electric discontinued streetcar service on the Kitsilano Beach run on January 16.

January 1949 was the month when the second Hotel Vancouver was torn down. This was the largest wrecking job ever undertaken in the British Commonwealth. It is sad that this outstanding Vancouver landmark was destroyed.

“There is no alternative,” read newspaper reports, “as no hotel operator is willing to buy, rehabilitate and operate it at his own risk.”

Harry Duker, Chairman of the Vancouver Tourist Association fundraising campaign, informed the Sun on January 29 that he was aiming to raise $75,000 in operating funds. “During the year (1948) 70,000 persons came to the association’s headquarters at Georgia and Seymour for information . . .”

Future Vancouver councillor and vice-president of the Business in Vancouver media group, Peter Ladner, was born on February 12, 1949. Business in Vancouver is a successful weekly business newspaper.


On March 5, 1949 Burrard Bridge engineer Major J.R. Grant reacted to remarks by a local art teacher that the bridge (opened in 1932) was a “monstrosity.”

F.A. Ames of the Vancouver Art School had told a Lions Club gathering that the bridge pillars were “ashcans with a gasoline station on top.” 

Grant explained, said the Sun, that the pillars “were built as large as they are on request from the harbormaster, who wanted them prominent to avoid a navigation hazard at the False Creek entrance.” He went on to explain that the large base of the piers was required because at the time (1932) the B.C. Electric Railway had planned running a railway on a lower deck beneath the roadway. “That railway will never go in now,” Grant said. “The BCER is no longer interested.” He pooh-poohed Ames’ criticisms, said he’d rather trust the "esthetic ideas of the engineer.”

Thanks to the website, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill