What's New

Hotel Irving
added November 13, 2021
Hotel Irving
This photograph shows a wartime parade in 1918 along the 100 block of East Hastings Street.  A couple of these buildings remain, notably the Irving Hotel, which currently provides supportive housing for people with physical mental and substance dependencies. The Smiling Buddha Cabaret was a landmark on this block for almost 60 years.


VJ Day Celebration
added November 12, 2021
VJ Day Celebration
The sidewalk in front of these stores on East Pender Street is littered with paper from the "Victory over Japan" Day celebration.

Granville Hotel
added November 12, 2021
Granville Hotel
There was a hotel on this site as far back as the 1860s. The original burned down in the massive 1886 fire that devastated the entire city, but was eventually rebuilt as a brick structure in about 1889.  It operated as a hotel for many years, and is now comprised of privately-owned condos over retail space on Vancouver's historic Water Street.

Holly Lodge
added November 01, 2021
Holly Lodge
Built in 1911 a a coast of around $150,000, Holly Lodge continues to provide rental accommodation today. It was designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style. The open channel cut into the building was common for the period, in order to provide some air flow to the apartments in the centre of the structure. 


Cambie and 49th
added October 19, 2021
Cambie and 49th
It looks like Cambie Street turned into a dirt road at 49th when this photo was taken in 1952.  Things look a little different now.

Commercial Drive Safeway
added October 15, 2021
Commercial Drive Safeway
Before it was a Safeway, it was Duke's Grocery. Since 2002 it's home to Dolce Amore, purveyors of grass-fed gelato. 

Admiral Seymour Elementary School
added October 15, 2021
Admiral Seymour Elementary School
Built between 1900 and 1907, the school is named after Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, commander of the British Navy during the Boxer Rebellion.  I'm not sure why he had a Vancouver elementary school named after him - we could probably find a few more candidates worthy of that honour. In the early 1970s the 'militant mothers of Raymur' successfully staged a protest to have a pedestrian overpass built so that their children could cross the train tracks to get to this school.  At some point the fancy cupolas were removed, but other than that it appears to be unchanged after 120 years.  

Columbia Block
added October 02, 2021
Columbia Block
This building first appeared in the Vancouver records in 1896. At that time, the rest of the block appeared to be occupied by single females, if you know what I mean.  The ground floor has been occupied by numerous retailers over the years, and the upper floors appear to be housing. The building is currently owned by the Chinese Freemasons

303 West Pender Street
added October 02, 2021
303 West Pender Street
This 1907 building was the home of the Universal Knitting Company, who shared it with the Morning Star Newspaper. In 1928 Universal moved its operation to Kingsway and 10th Avenue, making swimwear for Jantzen until 1997. It is currently occupied by Avenue Road, a high end design and furniture business.

600 Gore Avenue
added September 27, 2021
600 Gore Avenue
The small houses shown here were built prior to 1889, and survived until 2006. The buildings on either side were completed in 1911 and 1912, and are still standing today.

Displaying posts 111 - 120 of 303 in total
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