Forbidden Vancouver on the Rush with Fiona Forbes

On Tuesday July 9, 2013 we were featured on The Rush with Fiona Forbes!

Will sat down with Fiona Forbes to discuss Forbidden Vancouver’s walking tour the Granville Street Reveal, a tour that takes audiences on a trip into Vancouver’s entertainment history. The storyteller takes on the character of an actor on the city’s early stages, known as Lord Fothrington Appleby.

Centered on Granville Street – the city’s entertainment district a.k.a. “Theatre Row” – the Granville Street Reveal includes glimpses into the past lives of notable venues such as the Commodore Ballroom and the Orpheum Theatre. It also takes a detour off Granville to take audiences behind the scenes at the notorious Penthouse Nightclub.

What did Fiona Forbes and Will Woods discuss?

• The splendour of the second Hotel Vancouver and the Vancouver Opera House.
• The tale of dancehall queen Marie Lloyd, whose ‘ankle watch dance’ sent 1913 Vancouver into a frenzy and was personally banned by the mayor.
• The outrageous history of the Commodore Ballroom. A bottle club built on rum-running money in 1929 and still going strong today.
• The bizarre world of vaudeville.
• Granville Street as theatre row, dominated by enormous movie theatres and bursting with enough neon to distract airline pilots.
• The career of Ivan Ackery, celebrated manager of the Orpheum from 1935 to 1969 and friend to Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.
• Art deco masterpiece the Vogue Theatre.
• The scandalous history of bootlegging, police raids, late-night parties with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr, showgirls, fires, vice, and murder at the Penthouse Nightclub.

The Granville Street Reveal ran for the summer season in 2013. Watch out for future special events and walking tours from Forbidden Vancouver!