Continuing my History Tidbits series we’ll explore the history of the McBarge, as requested by @TylerIngram. The McBarge floated into town in 1986 when Vancouver hosted the world for Expo, which began in the spring of and ran until the fall. Commemorating Vancouver’s centennial, it was the last world’s fair in North America, “it is [...]

A few weeks ago I was trying to come up with a

The other day I wanted to put up a post about some local history but I wasn’t exactly sure which direction to go. I put the call out on Twitter and received some great questions and responses so I created this tidbits series. @jbuffoonery – Asked about Vancouver’s neon history I wrote my own post [...]

I was struggling to find inspiration this morning although I knew I wanted to publish a history post this week. I put the call out on Twitter and received several inquiries about Vancouver history landmarks and tidbits. Since the response was so great, this will be a new series of user-generated responses to local history [...]

Those who frequent this site often may notice that I have a bit of a passion for all things history in and around Vancouver. This weekend a very special event is taking place in the downtown Eastside (our city’s oldest neighbourhood) and everyone is welcome to join in person or online. Start Time: Saturday, February [...]

About a hundred and fifty years ago cows were being raised at the north end of Burrard Street in Vancouver’s downtown. It was a farm bought by three Englishmen, who came to be known as the “Greenhorns”, that purchased most of what we know today as the West End, spending $1.01 for each of the [...]

The first time I heard of St Paul’s Hospital was when I was talking to my friend (and neighbour) about where we were born. We were about 9 or 10 years old and she told me she was born at St. Paul’s in Vancouver, which seemed strange to me since my brother, sister and I [...]

For some reason this morning Avalon Dairy popped into my head and I figured that having a farm in the middle of a single-family residential neighbourhood in South Vancouver is definitely something worth exploring. Photo credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr Last year John and I did the Amazing Hunt, a really fun, local version of TV’s [...]