We’ve all heard of people registering potentially popular domain names in the early ages of the internet, one in particular that comes to mind is Rogers Video, whose “dot com” was a place where you could see videos alright, but they were completely unrelated to the actual video rental chain… and not suitable for children. Then there’s Vancouver’s own Kevin Ham, who bought up domains that ended in “.cm” that would cover those inevitable typos.

However, when it comes to valuable cyber space real estate in Vancouver the Parks Board is not after someone who is using a domain for clicks and giggles, their target is StanleyPark.com as it is not currently in their possession:

Vancouver entrepreneur Gerry O’Neil owns something the Vancouver park board wants badly — the domain name www.stanleypark.com.

He bought it for a couple of hundred dollars in 1997, and two and a half years ago, the board sent him a letter asking him to turn it over. But he refused. [TheVancouverSun]

Photo credit: unwritten on Flickr

O’Neil (who also owns www.stanleyparktours.com) doesn’t seem to want to part with the domain any time soon, and who could blame him. I know I’ve scooped up some domains (albeit far less valuable) just for the sake of having them in case there was ever a need to build a site. What he has there is pretty much a gold mine in terms of tourism in this town and unfortunately it seems as though the Parks Board wants it so much, they’re willing to throw their weight around - according to the Vancouver Sun article:

Conflict over the domain name kicked into high gear in November 2005 when the park board sent O’Neil a letter asking him to relinquish control of www.stanleypark.com. The letter also noted his lease was up for renewal in 2008.

“This [domain-name issue] is consistent with our policy of registering all key domain names that specifically identify an important park site within the park board system,” the letter states.

“We are aware that your current licence agreement with the board expires on April 30, 2008, and that you will likely wish to negotiate a renewal term in the near future.” [TheVancouverSun]

What gets me is that I’ve done ten “WHOIS” lookups on popular and random park names in Vancouver and so far all I can see is that someone @vancouver.ca has grabbed www.queenelizabethpark.com. That’s 1 out of 10, for those playing along at home, and 30% of them were not owned by anyone. Also, in the Sun article it states someone else owns StanleyPark.ca, and to their knowledge the Parks Board is not currently pursuing the owner of that web space.

Over the last few years I’ve had my problems with the Parks Board, from the lack of restoration in Stanley Park, to the preposterous idea of giant mechanized dinosaurs roaming the woods.

As a Vancouverite who enjoys all the Park has to offer and can see the benefit in horse-drawn tours (even over the exhaust-pumping trolleys) I sincerely hope they will renew this company’s lease. I can fully understand the appeal for the domain name, but I don’t blame O’Neil one bit for hanging on to it for dear life.

Last weekend John and I headed into the park to get a little muddy and explore some trails that have been refurbished. I wrote my blog post and included some photos from my iPhone. Well, John’s just getting around to posting his photos (he’s a pretty busy guy, ya know) and they were great so here’s a quick follow up photo post.

Bionic Hollow Treet - Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Planting - Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Enhanced drainage - Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Landscaping the Siwash Trail - Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Old and New Siwash Trails - Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Mr. Bollwitt and I cherish our multi-hour treks off the tourist-beaten paths through our city’s crown jewel - Stanley Park. We’ve been keeping a close eye on it throughout the years and especially since the big storm of 2006.

Yesterday after being disappointed about seeing the same piece of the Seawall I documented a year ago was still not repaired, we came across some pleasant surprises.

Heading down from Hollow Tree we turned onto the Merilees trail. About half way down Merilees we made a right turn onto the Siwash Rock trail - one we hadn’t ventured down in over a year. [See Stanley Park Trail Map]

To our amazement there was regrowth, plant pots, streams, creek beds, widened paths, a new metal railing and the whole trail was pushed back about 20 feet from its original route.

Also, good news for 88% of folks who participated in my poll will be pleased to know that the Hollow Tree will be laid to rest instead of going even more bionic. Head over to John’s blog for his update and to view a quick video.

During one of our most recent treks through a muddy Stanley Park we finally made it over to the Pauline Johnson memorial. [See: The Lions - The Two Sisters, Pauline Johnson Opera]

The Hollow Tree in Stanley Park is a tourist favourite. On the West side of Stanley Park Drive, it’s a frequent stopping zone and photo op. During the storms of 2006, the tree was weakened beyond already being hollow at the base, and the Parks Board would now like to spend $200,000 to restore it.

From: VancouverHistory.ca

The Vancouver parks board will vote next week on a staff recommendation to slice off the remains of the red cedar, believed to be about 1,000 years old, and lay the trunk’s halves out so that tourists can walk between them an appreciate the tree’s size…

… A staff report says more recent wind damage means the the only option to keep the cedar safely upright would be an awkward webbing of external braces. The $200,000 cage would ruin photos taken at the opening in the trunk and could not guarantee the tree wouldn’t fail further. [The Province]

This is not the first time a prominent tree has been given a little bit of a boost from cables and supports. On one of my weekend trips to Vassar when I lived in New England I was told about the London Plane tree on Library Lawn. It boasted the longest unsupported tree limb, and was even in the Guinness Book of Records. When the branch became unstable and the tree could no longer sustain its weight, cables were attached to keep the record-setting limb from budging.

The Vassar Library & the London Plane Tree - Photo Credit: Joseph A on Flickr

On the radio this morning Jeff O’Neil was saying that if tourists coming to Vancouver are most concerned about a hollow tree, then there’s something seriously wrong with that picture. Sure, I like the Hollow Tree, but I also like all of the other 404 hectares of the park. When our favourite big tree (that we called “Sam”) was toppled was there a rush to get him propped back up? No. Mainly because he was returned to nature, but part of me thinks it was due to the fact that he was located down a less traveled path, and not within handy-cam shooting distance from the roadway.

A lot is being done in the park in the name of tourism (ie. man-made clearcuts for expanded parking lots) meanwhile the true treasures and beauties of the park lie far from any parking spaces.

What would be best for the tree and public safety at this point? I’ll open it up for another Miss604 Poll:

 Loading …

Should the Parks Board spend almost a quarter of a million dollars to support and create a bionic Hollow Tree? Or should nature simply take its course, and we’ll lose a familiar natural landmark?

Our good friend Henry, who spends time all across the world but is still nice enough to send del.icio.us links our way for blogging purposes, sent along a this information.

A new Canadian chamber opera based on the life of the late writer, poet and actress Pauline Johnson will have its world premiere in Vancouver in two years….

…Pauline was written by Margaret Atwood with music composed by Christos Hatzis. It is the first commission ever undertaken by City Opera Vancouver, which announced the project in Vancouver on Tuesday… [CBC]

This sparked my interest not only because it involves one of Canada’s most esteemed novelists and poets (two of them really), but also because I was recently reminded of the work of Pauline Johnson.

Pauline deals with questions of dualism. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913) was a woman ahead of her time, traveling across Canada, the United States and Great Britain giving readings of her own work in an era when such female independence was rare and remarkable. She was the child of a Mohawk chief and a Quaker Englishwoman, always torn by loyalty and ambition. She was a popular stage figure who was in private deeply insecure.[CityOperaVancouver]

Source: Vancouver History

Pauline passed away in 1913 after a battle with breast cancer, and her ashes are scattered at Stanley Park. I have yet to check out the monument in her honor, but I have avoided some of the places in the park she spoke of in some spooky legends.

City Opera Vancouver hopes to stage the world premiere in the 100-year-old Pantages Theatre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside during January or February 2010. Plans are in the works to renovate the now-derelict theatre. [CBC]

Side note about the Pantages Theatre, during its heyday it hosted stars like Charlie Chaplin, Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth. Also, a nephew of the original Mr Pantages, Peter Pantages, took over the theatre in the 1920s and also founded Vancouver’s Polar Bear Club.

I haven’t been to the opera since I saw La Boheme in high school, but I’m definitely interested to see how Pauline’s prose, adapted for music by Margaret Atwood, will play out in one of Vancouver’s more historical venues come 2010.

When I was little I thought there was a mermaid perched on a rock almost 100 feet from the Sea Wall in Stanley Park. As it turns out one of the most recognizable marine landmarks in this city, the statue Girl in Wetsuit, actually does have a mermaid involved in her history.

Photo credit: Pat Z on Flickr from the Miss604 Group Flickr Pool

A life size bronze statue of a woman in a wetsuit, with flippers on her feet and her mask pushed up on her forehead, sits on a large intertidal boulder just offshore of Stanley Park. In September of 1968, Douglas Brown, a Vancouver lawyer, talked to sculptor Elek Imredy about his desire to commission a sculpture inspired by the famous Copenhagen mermaid, which could be sited on the great granite boulder just off the northern shore of Stanley Park. [City of Vancouver]

The “Little Mermaid” in Copenhagen is in fact fashioned after the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen. We may know her better as Ariel with an endearing yet annoying guppy friend Flounder. It’s hard to imagine that in a roundabout way our Girl in Wetsuit has that Disney connection.

To top it off, the original “Little Mermaid” statue in Denmark was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen of Carlsberg Lager.

If you put all the pieces together, our little seagull-stained Girl in Wetsuit sits perched on her rock on the north shore of Stanley Park, near the bridge erected by Guinness and resembling a statue for Carlsberg.

Although I may get Under the Sea stuck in my head the next time I walk by, at least I’ll be inspired to go drink some beer.

Remember when there was a Zoo in Stanley Park? Monkeys, nocturnal critters, kangaroos, and polar bears. There was horseback riding and those little penguins that would swim up and glide down a slide into their own little pool.

Photo credit: © caelie on Flickr - all rights reserved

The Stanley Park Zoo is now walking trails, although a small petting zoo still remains near the train where you can get chased by kids (either way).

There was also the “Game Farm” in Aldergrove which, in later years, changed its name to the “Greater Vancouver Zoo“. I remember riding Tina the elephant and watching lions in tall grass in the distance. The GVZoo has had its share of problems, most recently involving the housing conditions of the Hippo - famous for its Telus commercials.

This morning it was announced that the GVZoo has been re-accredited:

The Aldergrove facility has been re-accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums. That accreditation was yanked back in 2004, over concerns about living conditions.

The Zoo tells the Vancouver Sun, it means a lot to have it back but administrators hope it will also mean a lot to the general public. [News 1330]

Honestly, even the animals in the livestock barns at the PNE kinda scare me so it’s not an issue of if I would enjoy going to them anymore. However, this is a huge issue for most people, around the world.

I know the question is pretty general, so you have any comments to add feel free to do so.