Vancouver’s Royal Theatre bombing, 1933

16 May 2018

[By Lani Russwurm] The Forbidden Vancouver Tour explores the neighbourhood in and around old Hastings Street, which was once the centre of town. An early morning explosion on 20 March 1933 rocked the 100 block...

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 in Vancouver? On The Forbidden Vancouver Tour, we delve into the shocking racism of Vancouver’s past. This city was fertile ground for several racist organizations. The Ku Klux...

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

Here’s an old street we explore in The Lost Souls of Gastown Tour. Cordova Street looking west at Cambie, ca. 1900 and 2017. The building on the left, on Cambie Street, in the 2017 pic...

Secret Vancouver Beach Histories title image, English Bay, ca. 1925. McCord Museum #MP-0000.158.144.

4 Secret Vancouver Beach Histories

04 Jul 2017

[by Lani Russwurm] It looks like summer weather is going to linger for a while, so we thought we’d supply you with some beach reading. The following are little known histories of four Vancouver beaches. Two...

Dominion Day celebration in New Westminster, 1878. Photo by French, City of Vancouver Archives #677-452.

Dominion Day on Burrard Inlet

01 Jul 2017

150 years ago, Gassy Jack was just thinking about opening a saloon at Burrard Inlet – which he did later in 1867. (Find out all about it on The Lost Souls of Gastown Tour.) British...