What's New

 One of the city's most popular vegetarian restaurants, the Naam opened in 1968 when Kits was known as Rainbow Road. It's open 24/7 and has remained virtually unchanged, both inside and out. 

 Along with the nearby Depancier house, this one might qualify as the oldest residence outside the downtown core. Built in 1889, the photograph is from 1958, the oldest one I could find. The house is now home to The James Black Gallery. (1958 photo from Vancouver City Archives.)

 This Edwardian style house, built around 1894, is regarded as the oldest currently occupied single family residence outside of the downtown core. It has gone through many incarnations, including a brothel, candy company, shoe repair and restaurant. 

 Mount Pleasant was Vancouver's first suburb, providing affordable homes to working class families in the city. Calladine's Grocery offered home delivery to the area.  (1908 photo from Vancouver City Archives). 

 These two homes were built around 1908, and one is now a popular coffee shop for the West End crowd. The other one got a new hat! 

 I imagine a lot of love went into the transformation of this corner store, built in 1910, into a beautiful home. It's getting hard to find these little neighbourhood retail relics, although I recently came across a good trove of old photos so I'm going to focus for a while on finding the remaining ones in the City. 

One of the West End's first convenience stores, the Cardero Grocery opened up in 1902 and closed in 2017 and it, along with the house next door, were sold to an investment company for around $4 million. Both builldings have recently been renovated and the store is set to open very soon. The houses were built in the early 1900s. (1978 photo from Vancouver City Archives).

 Home of the legendary Seaforth Highlanders, formed in 1910. Their members suffered heavy losses in battles over the years, including Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. During the Second World War they collected 25 battle honours, and 'wrote the book' on urban combat for the Canadian Army. In 1945, they were welcomed home by over 200,000 Vancouverites. (1936 photo from Vancouver City Archives).

 This picture was taken the year the Armoury was built. A 2010 book about the home of the 15th Field Artillery Regiment highlighted the challenges of getting financing for construction during the Great Depression. Its Heritage Designation ensures that it will remain a Kitsilano fixture for many years.

Built in 1912, this store has been a Kitsilano fixture for generations.  The valuable property is slated for a two-family, two storey dwelling in the near future.