100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #12

The Great Storm of '23 On Tuesday 5th June 1923, Vancouver was enjoying a heat wave, with noontime temperatures close to 80 across the city. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a storm erupted east of the city, moving rapidly west, moving first over Grandview and then much of downtown. "Great crashing in the heavens and … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #12 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #11

. The Pool Parlour On Tuesday 29th May 1923, G.J. Westwood received a building permit for a $3,000 one-storey building at 1816-1818 Commercial Drive. He hired William Francis Jones to design it, and R.E. James to build it, and by the following spring, Grandview Recreations was open for business at 1816 under the management of … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #11 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #10

Strawberries In the early spring of 1923, shoppers in Vancouver had been buying strawberries from Washington State. However, on Monday 28th May 1923: "The first British Columbia straws were put on sale Monday by a Chinese vegetable dealer at 1409 Commercial Drive, two crates being received from his Woodward's Landing ranch ... The inspector declared … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #10 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #9

. On Friday, 18th May 1923, John Y. Steel received a $3,000 building permit for a new store at 1544 Commercial. Steel had operated a dry goods business at 1584 Commercial since 1918. This image from 1922 shows the empty lot beside the corner block. Steel had moved into his new building by the spring … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #9 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #8

One hundred years ago today it was Mother's Day and then, as now, flowers were the usual gift for the celebration. At the time of this ad in the Vancouver Sun, Grandview Florists had been established less than one year. They would stay on the Drive until the mid-1980s. The full history of the Buftons … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #8 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #7

A Major Accident Friday 27th April 1923 began as an ordinary working day. That afternoon, Drive power-broker and realtor Charles Smith was driving his touring car south on Commercial. He had in the car with him a Mr Wilbrand who was looking for a property, and a Mr. Robinson who seems to have been just … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #7 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #6

. Monday 19th March 1923 saw the first running of motor buses as scheduled units within the BC Electric system. It seems self-evident to us today that the bus would eventually take over the role in transit that streetcars used to serve. But in 1923, this was still a new and exciting development, allowing better … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #6 →

International Women’s Day: Catherine Bufton

In honour of International Women's Day, I thought I'd write a short piece on one of the most dynamic women ever to grace Grandview and Commercial Drive. Catherine Bufton (nee Drake) was born in Gloucester, England, in 1881. She emigrated to Manitoba where she met and married Hubert Bufton. After Hubert's service in World War … Continue reading International Women’s Day: Catherine Bufton →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #5

. Friday evening, 23rd February 1923, saw the opening of the new I.O.O.F. Hall at 1718 Graveley Street. The new building was described as "handsome" and "commodious", with electric heating. More than 250 members attended the opening banquet, and they enjoyed: "an interesting program of vocal and instrumental music, followed by dancing to the orchestra … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #5 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #4

. On Friday 9th February 1923, movie-goers at the Grandview Theatre on Commercial got their first chance to see fan-favourite Harold Lloyd as a country doctor who cures a girl (Mildred Davis); she promptly falls in love with him to the ire of her father (John T. Prince.)Having been released at the end of November, … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #4 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #3

. Swap Columns The Vancouver dailies included scores of pages of ads. Many of them were corporate material just trying to sell you stuff; but a significant number were "swap" ads, where individuals offered up something in exchange for something else. For example, on Saturday 3rd February 1923, someone offered a short silk plush coat … Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #3 →

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview, #2

. It was a big day for Grandview -- January 29th, 1923 -- as the Grandview Theatre debuted its brand-new $15,000 orchestral organ. It was, they said, "the last word in organs." You got all this, plus a Jackie Coogan feature, for just 30 cents!

100 Years Ago in Grandview, #1

. One hundred years ago today, on 24th January 1923, it was announced that the School Board had purchased the block between Lakewood & Templeton, and E. Georgia and Barnard (now Adanac), for the sum of $10,500, a price that was considered "exceptionally low". This would eventually become Templeton School.

The Italian Labourers’ Strike, July 1910

. The summer of 1910 was a hot one for labour across North America. In the first couple of weeks of July, more than fifty thousand garment workers went on strike in New York in a dispute that would eventually draw in more than 100,000 workers; bricklayers and stonemasons walked off the job in Montreal; … Continue reading The Italian Labourers’ Strike, July 1910 →

Happy 100th Magnet Hardware!

. Magnet Hardware, which currently operates as a Home Hardware franchise on the corner of Commercial & Graveley, has been in business for exactly 100 years today. Magnet originally opened on 28th October 1922 “in the gallery of the Cal Van Market” at 25 Hastings Street. By early 1923, the business was located at 1515 … Continue reading Happy 100th Magnet Hardware! →

The Drive: Birth of a Community (1901-1907)

This is the third chapter in my history of early Commercial Drive. Chapter One: In The Beginning Chapter Two: False Start * * * * What pushed things forward was the change in use of the interurban line and its inclusion in the city-wide streetcar system. The Vancouver Electric Car Co had been given rights … Continue reading The Drive: Birth of a Community (1901-1907) →

The Drive 1890s: False Start

. In 1890, the boostering land owners of Vancouver and New Westminster -- backed by their respective mayors and financial elites -- decided it had become necessary to link the two cities by means of an electric interurban railroad. One contemporary observer later confided that "there was a strong suspicion in many minds" that an … Continue reading The Drive 1890s: False Start →

The Drive: In The Beginning

. In the beginning there was forest, where the local indigenous peoples hunted deer and other animals for untold generations. But then the settlers arrived and much of the rolling hills east of the new city of Vancouver had been granted to the Hastings Mill Company as a timber lease in 1870. They paid a … Continue reading The Drive: In The Beginning →

Louis Toban: Drug Store Tycoon and Philanthropist

. Louis Toban was born in 1901 in Lithuania to a Jewish family. His father, Samuel Toban, came to Vancouver in 1910. The following year, Samuel’s wife and six children joined him and they were all naturalized as Canadian citizens in 1914.i It took a while for the Toban family to settle down; between 1914 … Continue reading Louis Toban: Drug Store Tycoon and Philanthropist →

The Buftons of Commercial Drive: A Biographical Sketch

. The Bufton family opened a store on Commercial Drive in the early 1920s. By the time they closed their business in the 1980s, they had become Drive royalty, both as a result of their corporate longevity and also because of their active involvement in so many of the issues that faced Grandview in those … Continue reading The Buftons of Commercial Drive: A Biographical Sketch →