This Sunday at 3:00pm we will have a small ceremony at William and Victoria to dedicate a plaque that will signifiy our work in preserving the wonderful Shelly's 4X Sign on the outside wall of the Via Tevere restaurant. This small ceremony will take place during a street party in that same block where cake … Continue reading A Party To Celebrate The Sign
I went to my barber this morning and had a cut. He mentioned that Frank's Hairdressing had closed this month and that he, my barber Tino, is now the only barber left on the Drive. That got me thinking. Here is a chronological list of all the barbers I know that operated on the Drive: … Continue reading Barbers On The Drive
Last Sunday we were involved in the Vancouver Heritage Foundation's Annual House Tour. For the first time, they had what they called a Heritage Fair which happened to be at the rear of a tour house on Kitchener. This was our table. ... with Penny and Christine handling the duties. Several of us took shifts … Continue reading Heritage Fair
A group of us were at Zawa's the other night, after the Heritage Awards, relaxing over food and beers, when the conversation turned to the short one-storey flat-roofed building that sat at Commercial & Venables until it burned down at the end of the 1990s. It seemed that most of us had memories of one … Continue reading The 900-Block Commercial east side
In another place, I have written about a marvelous lunch I had this week with JoAnn Bufton, granddaughter of Hubert and Catherine Bufton, founders of the florist shop that flourished on the Drive from 1920 through the mid-1980s. In addition to the wonderful oral history she was able to provide, she also gave me some … Continue reading More On The Buftons
In today's edition of the Vancouver Courier, an edition featuring all sorts of stories about Grandview, there are two articles about the Group. One tells the tale of the restoration of the Shelly sign, and the other celebrates our 2013 City of Vancouver Heritage Award for Advocacy. Thanks to the Courier!
There is a fascinating article in the Vancouver Courier today containing an oral history of the Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings by Rick Mills, son of the founder. "There used be a lot more houses in the east end so people could walk home after a night at the Waldorf. But our main business was … Continue reading More History of the Waldorf Hotel
We had fantastic turnout for our May 16th meeting, filling up the Board Room at Britannia, and we also worked through an ambitious agenda. All the signs for our 2013 Centenary Campaign have been installed and we had a celebratory party in Grandview Park to acknowledge this year's signs and the homeowners who agreed to … Continue reading May 2013 Meeting Notes
Here is a map prepared by the City of Vancouver that shows almost all of Grandview in 1945. This image is constructed from two maps (343.10 and 343.11) in the City of Vancouver Archives collection. The series of maps is captioned as being "hand coloured to show tax sale property for sale, property with no … Continue reading Grandview in 1945
It was just the most perfect day for our Birthday Party in Grandview Park this afternoon. We had a great turnout, a fabulous cake, and a good tme was had by all!
Kudos all round for the completion of the project to restore the unique Shelly's sign on the side of Via Tevere restaurant at Victoria and William. The owners of the restaurant paid the lion's share of the costs; our Neighbourhood Small Grant will cover the balance of the materials costs, and we have money in … Continue reading Shelly’s 4X sign restored!
The good folks at City of Vancouver Archives have made a significant change to the ability of researchers to view digital objects: Until now, digital objects that were under the copyright of a 3rd party (other than City of Vancouver’s copyright) could only be viewed online as a tiny thumbnail. Now they can be viewed … Continue reading Improvements at City Archives
We had another full and fascinating meeting of the Group last night, welcoming a number of first-time visitors. We began with a series of celebrations and good news. We have received confirmation that the Group has been selected for an Award of Merit for Heritage Advocacy in the 2013 City of Vancouver Heritage Awards. The … Continue reading April Meeting Notes
As I am sure most of you already know, the present boundaries of Grandview Woodland are Clark Drive to the west, the inlet to the north, Nanaimo Street on the east and Broadway to the south. These boundaries were established in the late 1960s. As local historian Bruce Macdonald has noted, the City has never … Continue reading What Might Have Been
While researching through the old "Highland Echo" editions today, I came across this map of streams and creeks that had formerly traversed Grandview. Obviously I cannot verify the accuracy of this map. However, it was prepared by Roy Blunden of the Dept of Geological Sciences at UBC in preparation for a geological map of BC. … Continue reading Former Streams in Grandview
Three of us piled into Penny's Mini this morning -- along with signs and stakes and letters to residents -- and terrorized the neighbourhood as we swept hither and thither from north to south, from Pandora to E. 7th, delivering and putting in place our 2013 Centenary Heritage signs. Here are a couple of examples … Continue reading The Signs Are In Place!
You can begin your research in your slippers and with a cup of tea, because there are good resources online. You might even find all you feel you need online. But once you start finding tantalizing tidbits of information, you will likely want to delve deeper; this will involve actually visiting the Archives or the VPL … Continue reading Online Resources for Researching the History of Your House
Nineteen people jammed the Britannia boardroom for our latest meeting, including first-timers, some of whom had been contacted about hosting a centenary sign on their front lawn. The highlight was Eric Phillips's excellent talk on the esoterica of knob and tube wiring, early electrical codes and how Grandview houses fitted seamlessly into the modern age … Continue reading Notes From The March Meeting
Some while ago, and in another place, I posted about an early version of Craig's List from way back in 1952. I have now found another example that, far more elaborate, could be a precursor of Wikipedia operating from a storefront on Commercial Drive. Here is the story as reported by The Highland Echo on … Continue reading An Early “Wikipedia” on The Drive
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