Steveston was where its at for history
I grew up in Steveston Village and its so different now compared to even just 5 years ago

the longest standing building is the brick building on the corner of 2nd ave and moncton

wow, that Chevron on Knight and 57th has been there for a long long time!

Good read MG1.
Here's my contribution about Vancouver history:

Vancouver panorama images of changing city 1978 and 2003:

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/fade/fade.htm

Good panoramic view of changes in False Creek, Chinatown, and other parts of downtown Vancouver.

Steveston has changed so much over the years. My father had his fishing boat moored at Paramount (BC Packers). Hundreds of small fishing boats at the docks. Steveston Hardware. Nikka Fishing and Marine, The Japanese grocery store (forgot the name), etc. None of the condos and townhouses that line the streets of Steveston nowadays. Ditches everywhere........ friends lived on the streets along Garry Street.

you guys are so lucky you live in a city with so much history. it might not have the history of london or new york, or the modernness of hong kong, but its no slouch. i might be a bit bias since learning BC history was my favorite time in social studies back in school (im sure a lot of you werent here for that) and vancouver was a big part of it.

i've never lived in van (born and still live in kelowna), but i go there a lot and spend a fair bit of time just walking or driving around looking at the mix of history a modern development.

its a cool city. probably just behind montreal in canada. i read a lot of you bitching about all sorts of things down there, but every once in a while when you're driving over the burrard bridge, take a second to remember youre on a bridge thats 80 years old, and one of the best looking bridges around. or when youre stuck in traffic on the alex fraser remember that it was the longest cable stayed bridge in the world when it opened and is still the second longest in north america.


or maybe im just getting to an age where ive seen so much change that i get nostalgic over shit alot

I haven't looked into Richmond yet, but I'm sure if I find something it'll definitely be work looking into.

MG,
Do you remember anything about Hogan's Alley growing up? As far as I know, it was pretty much abandoned when the viaduct was built through the area and I imagine that was when that London Drugs disappeared.

A quick search turned up this:
Hogan's Alley Memorial Project

There's also some tidbits of Vancouver history on this blog:
Past Tense

Within that, a blurb about LSD in Vancouver:
Acid Al « Past Tense

One thing about Vancouver is that despite its outward appearance, one only needs to scratch the surface to dig up some pretty interesting info from the past.

Definitely South Hill still looks the same!

I remember the old Georgia Street Bridge before they built the viaduct. I remember all the hoopla about bringing the freeway through downtown. Tom "Terrific" Campbell was the mayor then. I often wondered why there weren't that many blacks in Strathcona. The kids must have gone to another elementary school. Hogan's Alley may have been out of the catchment area. Either that or there weren't that many school aged kids in that neighbourhood.

Lol my elementary school changed so much can't find any pics of it but the building was quite an eyesore, now it's some modern looking townhouse complex. (st francis xavier on princess ave. and e. georgia if anyone remembers) The area is definitely really nice now which is weird considering how close it is to the docks, homeless shelters and food kitchens, skid row, chinatown, etc.

what was the purpose of building the viaducts?

Cars can zip by and not notice the homeless, hungry, and poverty below???

It takes you downtown velly, velly fast. At least on weekends. You hit the lights the right way and you can go non-stop to Burrard from Venebles and Clark.

Proud to be born and raised in the DTES.

Strathcona. Vancouver's first neighbouhood.

Our History | Strathcona Residents' Association | Vancouver BC

After my grandparents passed away, I found a big stack of LIFE Magazines from the 1940's to the 1960's in their basement, and since I'm the photographer in the family, I got to keep them! This is an aerial photo of Vancouver that was in an article from the December 22, 1941 issue. This is also the issue that was published a week after the Pearl Harbour attacks. Some amazing photos from Pearl Harbour are in this issue. I'll post a scan of an unbelievable story in the Asian History thread.

Notice how much larger False Creek is. My grandfather came to Vancouver in 1918, and he told me of these small rivers or creeks draining into False Creek that were so full of returning salmon that you could literally walk on their backs! Sadly none of them remain.

Click for larger image to read the text.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...rap/img068.jpg

Yes, False Creek was a lot bigger. It was nothing but swamp back when I was a kid. They were developing it and filling most of it in during the 50's and 60's. I think it was mentioned somewhere in this thread - the many undergound creeks. All used to have salmon. The salmon are returning, apparently.

Video of 1961 Vancouver from Global news last night...

1961 Vancouver - News Hour Final - Videos | Global BC

Randene and Squire also provide some pretty funny commentary :)

It was supposed to be part of a highway that leveled stratacona and connected to the #1. Local opposition stopped the project.

i was wondering if that was the case. it looks like it was the start but then never continued. i always wondered why there wasnt a highway running from #1 into downtown too. also one that runs from #1 to the airport

anybody know the history about no 5 road and the highway to heaven in richmond?

the guy was like :awwyeah: @ 2:15
after catching the red snapper

Something about the viaducts?

The First Georgia Viaduct « Spacing Vancouver

I wonder how Vancouver would look if the Viaduct/highway project didn't terminate. Would love to see the old renditions.

^Ha ha..... Raymur Project.

Not sure if it solved problems or created more problems. When first built, the place looked really nice. Within months, the place looked like total shit. Somehow, it made the ghetto more ghetto.

SHUT THE HELL UP SQUIRE!

The preferred of the three proposed options for the 1972 Grandview Cut freeway.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2158/scan11s.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4200/scan41o.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/5990/scan31o.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2949/scan21z.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6262/scan51n.jpg

ya that makes so much more sense now

why did it get scrapped?

^ Omg how much better would traffic be right now if that freeway was actually built.