This happy little building has been sitting at the corner of 10th and Spruce for 93 years. The colourful awnings have been replaced by even more colourful ivy, which turns bright red in the fall. I wonder if the little saplings on Spruce Street are the same trees that are in my picture. (1927 photo from Vancouver City Archives).
Virtually unchanged (except for the tenants and a paint job) since the late 1950s and possibly longer. Buildings like these, as plain as they are, give Mount Pleasant an authentic charm which is rapidly disappearing from the Vancouver landscape. (1958 photo from City of Vancouver Archives).
I took this shot when the house came up for sale in 2015, and came across the vintage photo taken 97 years earlier from exactly the same spot where I was standing. Spooky. Three of Vancouver's most prominent families have called it home over the years. It sits on an acre of land just minutes from the downtown core, a rarity reflected in its recent selling price. As an added bonus, the most recent seller threw in a horror story to sweeten the deal.
Between 1931 and 1953, Wright's Canadian Rope Company occupied what is now part of the Public Market. In that time they produced wire rope for the Army during WW II as well as international projects like the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Back when this picture was taken, people drove on the left side of the road, Emily Carr taught painting a few blocks away, and you could buy a building lot in Shaughnessy Heights for $50. (1908 photo from Vancouver City Archives).
According to the sign on the building, you could dance to Latin-American music at the Blue Star Restaurant and Cafe. (1978 photo copyright city of Vancouver.)
In this one small corner of the city you could find dentists, cigars, typewriters, clothiers, a drug store, and an accordion school back in the day. Today it's pretty much one big coffee shop. (1940 photo from Vancouver City Archives).