The Man Who Named Vancouver’s Streets… and Barely Escaped With His Life

04 Mar 2024

My name is Alison Jenkins and I’m a musician, a songwriter, and a tour guide with Forbidden Vancouver. Born in Toronto, I moved here with my family when I was 14 years old. Let’s dive...

Unearthing Vancouver’s Chilling History in Gastown

04 Oct 2023

Quick Summary: Discover Vancouver’s most historic neighbourhood during Halloween, revealing a darker, atmospheric side where cobblestone streets and historic alleys evoke echoes of Vancouver’s 19th-century past. The neighbourhood’s Victorian-era charm hides stories of saloons, scandals,...

Truth & Reconciliation Day: Spotlight on Luke Marston

29 Sep 2023

The Truth and Reconciliation Day, on September 30th, is celebrated as a day for Canadians to acknowledge the harm caused by the residential schools and to honour the Indigenous survivors of these schools. As a...

Squatting Early Vancouver Part 2: Cut Throat Johnny’s

01 Jun 2022

Quick Summary: JR “Cut-throat Johnny” Linton, a grisled but ambitious squatter, built a floating cabin community at the foot of Abbott Street after the 1886 Great Fire, renting low-cost rooms to working-class men. Authorities increasingly...

Mugshot of Tar Flat resident William Rutt, aka, Billy the Rat, 11 January 1902. He was sentenced for stealing blankets from an Indigenous woman. City of Vancouver Archives #480-456.

Squatting Early Vancouver Part 1: Tar Flat

30 Mar 2022

Quick Summary [By Lani Russwurm] Like many cities grappling with skyrocketing housing prices, makeshift squatter communities have become a hot button political issue in Vancouver in recent years. But throughout the city’s history, these...

Georgia Medical and Detnal Building, ca. 1950 - City of Vancouver Archives: AM1517-S1-: 2008-022.040

Vancouver’s First Art Deco Skyscraper Crumbles Down

20 Jan 2022

[by Glenn Tkach] Quick Summary: Does Vancouver’s first Art Deco skyscraper look familiar? You might mistake this building for the iconic Marine Building on the corner of Hastings and Burrard Streets. But this one was...

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