Fergusson Block, 200 Carrall Street, 1887. Photo by JA Brock, City of Vancouver Archives #Bu P80.

Past & Present: Ferguson Block, 1887/2017

26 May 2017

The Lost Souls of Gastown Tour finishes at Gastown’s Maple Tree Square. This is the second Ferguson Block built there, at 200 Carrall Street. The first version, made of wood, was obliterated in the Great...

A Boozy History of Prohibition in Vancouver

27 Apr 2017

[by Lani Russwurm] Alcohol prohibition arrived in BC in 1917 and lasted just four years. Between the bootlegging, the corruption, and the scandals, it’s fair to say prohibition created more problems than it solved. It...

Angus Fraser's house on Carrall between Cordova Street and Trounce Alley, 1877. City of Vancouver Archives #Bu P28

Past & Present: Carrall Street, 1877/2017

20 Apr 2017

Angus Fraser and his brother Simon (not that Simon Fraser) ran logging operations that cleared much of what’s now Vancouver. Angus built this house in the 1870s (either 1873 or 1877 depending on the source) on Carrall...

Police parade on the 700 block of Main Street, eastside, 1918. Photo by Stuart Thomson, City of Vancouver Archives #99-1269

Past & Present: 700 block of Main Street 1914/2017

24 Mar 2017

Only one of the buildings in the 1914 photo is likely to survive much longer, the London Hotel on the southeast corner of Main and East Georgia streets. The building farthest to the left was...

A History of Deviant Alleys in Vancouver

08 Mar 2017

[by Lani Russwurm] The Lost Souls of Gastown Tour meanders through the oldest alleys of Gastown. Today we think of alleys as almost exclusively dedicated to garbage pick-up, deliveries, and parking cars. But Vancouver had...

The World Building (now the Sun Tower), wholesale district, and railyards, 1915. Photo by Richard Broadbridge, BC Archives #B-00406

Past & Present: Looking north towards the Sun Tower, 1915/2017

23 Feb 2017

The Sun Tower has a fascinating story, which we delve into on The Forbidden Vancouver Tour. The first photo was taken from the recently opened Georgia Viaduct. It was replaced in 1972 with the...

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