Kristen Harpula has put together an execellent article about heritage issues in Grandview. It can be found on her website here. With her permission we are embedding her video on the subject. http://youtu.be/CHhll0asqgU
GHG Helps to Spawn the New Mount Pleasant Heritage Group
The following message is from Bruce Macdonald who has been intimately involved in the events described: Grandview, the only of Vancouver's 22 local areas to have its own heritage group, this week helped to spawn the founding of a new heritage group. On November 13, 2013 Danielle Peacock and Alyssa Myshok organized the founding meeting of the Mount Pleasant … Continue reading GHG Helps to Spawn the New Mount Pleasant Heritage Group
Meeting Notes: October
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
1872 Parker Street
As many of will recall, we were lucky enough to have a tour of the interior of Brookhouse at 1872 Parker some while ago. This was just after a new owner had decided to move ahead with an HRA for the property. Unfortunately, that project had difficuties and the current owner is seeking a demolition … Continue reading 1872 Parker Street
Clearing Victoria Park 1909
The following is what is almost certainly a previously unknown photograph of the clearing of Victoria Park in 1909. The image was taken by Edward Faraday Odlum and is shown here courtesy of Ms. Ruth Raymond, a descendant. This is a view of the as-yet-uncleared Park looking north from the south-east corner of Grant Street … Continue reading Clearing Victoria Park 1909
The Growth of Restaurants on The Drive
I was recently asked about the growth of the number of restaurants on the Drive and I happen to have a graph I made in 2010 that shows that growth. The graph below shows the number of eating places on the Drive between Venables and the Cut annually from 1935 to 1956. In addition, the … Continue reading The Growth of Restaurants on The Drive
Meeting Notes: August 2013
We had another great meeting last Thursday evening. We covered quite a lot of ground: It was noted that the 1921 Census of Canada is now available for scholars. At the moment it is made available via Ancestry.ca and a subsription membership is required. The current search engine dies not allow searches via addresses. Bruce … Continue reading Meeting Notes: August 2013
Business Development on Commercial Drive
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
Meeting Notes: July 2013
A good turnout of enthusiasts spent one of the hottest summer evenings last night in the cool of the Britannia Boardroom, discussing a wide range of heritage and historical topics: We began by patting ourselves on the back for the organization and success of the Shelly's Sign Party in June. Especial thanks were given to … Continue reading Meeting Notes: July 2013
Worthless Grandview Property
I was looking through old copies of the Vancouver Sun on the Google News Archive (actually, looking for Shelly's 4X advertising to try to confirm the vintage of the Via Tevere sign) when I stumbled upon the pages of Tax Sale Properties, in this case the November 1, 1934 edition. It's relatively common knowledge that … Continue reading Worthless Grandview Property
The green house next to The Cultch
After a hiatus of a couple of years, I've begun to take my sketchbook out into the city looking for derelicts – looking for pending change. One place that's been on my mind is the house at 1885 Venables that was used as rehearsal and administration space next door to The Cultch. The house was … Continue reading The green house next to The Cultch
More Party Pics
Many thanks to Karen Reed for these images!
The Sign Is Truly Celebrated!
If you missed our street party at the Shelly's sign yesterday then you missed a wonderful event. Thanks to Ann Daskal the organizer, a good number of hard-working volunteers, and a helping hand from the rain which stayed away until after we had cleared up, this was a street party to remember. We had music … Continue reading The Sign Is Truly Celebrated!
Meeting Notes: June 20th
We had another well-attended and very productive meeting of the Grandview Heritage Group last night, dealing with a wide range of matters: We reviewed the Heritage Fair and Car Free Day experiences. It was agreed that we met a lot of people at those events, answered a lot of questions and, hopefully, enthused a few … Continue reading Meeting Notes: June 20th
A Party To Celebrate The Sign
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
Barbers On The Drive
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
Heritage Fair
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
The 900-Block Commercial east side
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
2013 CoV Heritage Award
More On The Buftons
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
grandviewheritagegroup.ca 