Vancouver History Blog - Forbidden Vancouver

Emily Pauline Johnson: Meet a Woman of Two Worlds

20 Mar 2019

Emily Pauline Johnson was born in 1861 to a Mohawk Chief and an English woman. She would go on to become one of North America’s most celebrated poets and performers, and would finish her career...

Recruiting Forbidden Vancouver storytellers – join our team

19 Mar 2019

Want to become a Forbidden Vancouver Storyteller? We are recruiting new storytellers for the Forbidden Tour Were you put on this earth to entertain people? Do you love Vancouver and its history? Are you...

Vancouver women's hockey team - The Amazons

Vancouver Women’s Hockey Team Makes History: Meet The Amazons

14 Mar 2019

A Vancouver women’s hockey team made history in 1921. Since before WWI, amateur women’s hockey thrived in this region. As far back as 1900, the city of Rossland hosted an annual tournament. New Westminster also...

Lurancy Harris is one of Vancouver's First Policewomen

Vancouver’s First Policewomen – Meet Lurancy Harris

06 Mar 2019

Bigamy, murder and (gasp!) female impropriety – all in a day’s work for Vancouver’s first policewomen: Minnie Millar and the woman pictured above, Lurancy (Lou) Durkee Harris. After being on the squad for just five months,...

The Really Gay History Contest

25 Jul 2018

Enter our contest and you could win the ultimate PRIDE day out! The prize package includes; Two adult tickets to our brand-new Really Gay History Tour ($64 retail value) Two adult tickets to the Vancouver...

The Marine Building

18 May 2018

[By Lani Russwurm] The Marine Building at 355 Burrard Street is widely considered the best piece of architecture in the city and among the finest examples of Art Deco architecture anywhere. It’s also the star...

Vancouver’s Royal Theatre bombing, 1933

16 May 2018

[By Lani Russwurm] An early morning explosion on 20 March 1933 rocked the 100 block of East Hastings Street. A bomb had been placed beside the ticket booth of the Royal Theatre, and the blast...

Title image showing Luther Powell saluting outside Klan Headquarters in Shaughnessy Heights in November 1925. Photo by Stuart Thompson, City of Vancouver Archives #99-1499.

The History of the Ku Klux Klan in Vancouver

05 Mar 2018

[by Lani Russwurm] The Ku Klux Klan is a uniquely American phenomenon, but in the 1920s Klan organizers decided to spread their venom internationally. They set up chapters in Saskatchewan and other points east of the...

The Death of Janet Smith

10 Oct 2017

[by Lani Russwurm] The death of Scottish nurse Janet Smith in a Shaughnessy mansion in 1924 is Vancouver’s most notorious cold case — a tale of unsolved murder, high society, racism, drug-fuelled parties, torture, and even...

Cordova Street looking west at Cambie Street, ca. 1900. Online Archive of California, UCR/California Museum of Photography #1996.0009.X4834.

Past & Present: Cordova Street, 1900/2017

24 Jul 2017

Cordova Street looking west at Cambie, ca. 1900 and 2017. The building on the left, on Cambie Street, in the 2017 pic was built in 1913 at the tail end of a major building boom....