Anyone who knows Commercial Drive knows Joe's Cafe on the corner of William Street. It is an unprepossessing single-storey flat-roofed structure, not unlike many other similar buildings along the Drive. This one has been that way since Harry Evans had it built in 1910: Building Permit issued 9th November 1910 Owner: Harry Evans Architect: Townshend … Continue reading What Might Have Been
We had another fine gathering this evening. There was a short agenda but we managed to fill the time with interesting discussions. Eric presented his latest Neighbouthood Update. Land assembly is going on around Broadway and Garden in preparation for the changes allowed under the new Community Plan Work is continuing on the Green House … Continue reading Meeting Notes: October
During a recent debate on the future of Commercial Drive, Jak King briefly described the historical/social processes that have created the Drive of today. These remarks may be of interest to our readers: "From its founding in the early years of the 1900s through to the Second World War, the Drive was a rather staid … Continue reading Getting To Today On The Drive
Another full house attendance last night -- the Boardroom was bursting -- including several new attendees, with a lively level of conversations and questions. As usual, we covered a lot of ground: We began with a presentation by Tania Willard about a piece of public art she is organizing. The art work will be two … Continue reading Notes From The March Meeting
Jack Burch worked at Grandview's local newspaper, the Highland Echo, from 1949 until he retired in 1994 as the owner and publisher. This video interview starts with Jack's experiences in Grandview in the 1920s and 1930s, and covers his experiences overseas in World War II. After the War, Jack describes his work at the … Continue reading Jack Burch at Age 92 Recalls Grandview’s 1920, 30s, 40s…
Seventy-five years ago today, the then-newly renovated theatre in the 600-block of Commercial Drive was opened and re-named as the York Theatre. The theatre, previously called the Palace, had been operated by the Vancouver Little Theatre Society since the 1920s. During the late 1930s, the group had fundraised enough money for a complete refurbishment of … Continue reading York Theatre Anniversary
We had another full house for our monthly meeting on Thursday, and it was an interesting one. Eric Phillips continued his marvelous Mechanicals and Materials series, this time with a lively discussion of what and how to keep records of your house. Using his own home as an example, he talked about property records, such … Continue reading Notes To January Meeting
There was a heavy rainstorm and a wintry wind last night, but still the came out for the latest of our regular monthly meetings. As always, the meeting was full of erudite and fun stuff: We discussed: The student program, working with UBG Geog. It didn't work very well for us this year. In fact, … Continue reading Meeting Notes: April 2014
My apologies for the delay in posting these notes; it has been a very busy week! Last Thursday we had a really productive meeting, covering a wide range of current and ongoing issues: We were joined by Vancouver City Clr. Heather Deal for the first hour. She took us through the City's new Heritage Action … Continue reading January Meeting Notes
Excellent meeting last night with a number of new people in attendance, including two from Mount Pleasant who have been inspired to start a heritage group in their neighbourhood -- that's what we want to see all over the City! There were a number of interesting items on the agenda: We started with an announcement … Continue reading Meeting Notes: October
It is very pleasant to see our work used as the basis of a story in Spacing Vancouver: The article in question is part of Erick Villagomez's series "Cartographically Speaking" and uses material that was originally presented at one of our meetings about a year or so ago. Erick is a good friend of GHG … Continue reading Business Development on Commercial Drive
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
Those residents of Grandview who have been here for more than, say, seventy years might remember that the north west corner of First & Commercial was the site of the Grandview School of Commerce. Since the mid-1980s,this has been the site of Il Mercarto Mall, which is how most people think of it.However, from the … Continue reading The Bentholme Building
We had a busy, lively and highly productive meeting on Thursday last. The Centenary Birthday House project: We are still exploring options for permanent signs for the Centenary House campaign. These will be offered to those houses that were celebrated in 2012. We followed up on our walk for the 2013 campaign, and will finish … Continue reading Notes From The February Meeting
On Thursday evening we had a grand turnout for our monthly meeting. It was, I believe, the largest gathering of its kind that we've had. There were lively discussions about a wide range of topics. We began by discussing the Heritage Workshop put on by the Community Planners that many of us had attended during … Continue reading Notes from the January Meeting
Even the torrential rain couldn't keep us away from the latest meeting of the Grandview Heritage Group last night! We began by reviewing the latest news on rezoning following Council's approval of the recommendations from the Mayor's Task Force of Housing Affordability. There was a spirited and articulate discussion that noted the economics of the … Continue reading Meeting Notes: October
Between 1908 and 1912, during the boom that essentially created Grandview, James Guinet was responsible for building at least 45 houses in the community, and probably more. But only the barest of facts are known about him. These are notes for a biography of what might be one of the most important figures of Grandview's … Continue reading James Guinet: A Builder of Grandview
Just the other day I was standing on Commercial Drive looking across at two of my favourite buildings which are in the centre of the east side of the 1600-block. The building on the left is the Odlin Block and the building on the right is the Rodway Block. My interest was piqued because these … Continue reading The Wealthy Barber and The Tin Man
In a previous post about photographs, I mentioned that the Drive had rarely been without a photographer and associated services. Following up, here is a list of all those artists and stores from the founding of Commercial Drive through to 1999: Philip Timms (1912) Merchants Photo Co. (1912) Grandview Studio (1915-1918) Vancouver Photo Finishing (1921-1978) … Continue reading Commercial Drive Photographers
The prestigious BC Studies journal has published a review of "The Encyclopedia of Commercial Drive", calling it "a valuable research source for creating feature articles, documentaries, or even historical fiction or film treatments. This is an all-purpose resource that will benefit many in the years to come."
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