Over 3,000 Japanese Canadian women, children and tuberculosis patients were unjustly detained here under traumatic and deplorable conditions between March 1942 - March 1943.
Country music legend Loretta Lynn was discovered in 1959 by record executives from the small Vancouver label, Zero, when they heard her sing at a backyard jam session in the 2500-block East Kent Avenue. The musicians’ gathering was held in a large…
A young black sailor of Caribbean origins, Seraphim “Joe” Fortes arrived in
Vancouver, then known as Granville, in September of 1885. He discovered his
beloved English Bay Beach by chance c. 1887, while rowing supplies to a…
China Creek Bowls Skatepark was opened in May 1979 and was among the first skateparks in the Lower Mainland.
Railroad tracks cutting through the Strathcona neighbourhood just east of Raymur Avenue separates Admiral Seymour School from the homes of the majority of its students. When the Raymur housing project opened in 1971 parents were dismayed that their…
The China Creek Cycle Track was built here for the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games.
"c̓əsnaʔəm, one of our Musqueam villages, existed on the stal̕əw̓ (now called the Fraser River) long before Vancouver was founded... Today, c̓əsnaʔəm has been paved over and built upon, yet it remains part of our territory, culture, and…
Charles Flavelle of Purdys Chocolates created Choklit Park in 1970 on the unused Spruce Street right-of-way at 7th Avenue, using a crew of six hired on an “Opportunities for Youth” grant.
Nellie Yip Quong was a bold and outspoken advocate for the Chinese-Canadian community, serving as a bridge between Euro-Canadian and Chinese Canadian societies.
The area now known as Burrard Inlet is host to numerous Musqueam villages, camps, and transformer sites. It was connected by water ways, trails, histories, and genealogies to other villages throughout our territory. For example, trails radiated from…
Built by the Welch Bros., Celtic Cannery opened in 1897 and in 1902, BC Packers purchased Celtic Island and Deering Island to form Celtic Shipyards. About 25 Japanese families employed in the fishing industry resided in single family homes on the…
The original Jewish Community Centre was built in 1928, when the community was relocating into Fairview from Strathcona. Today the building is owned by the B.C. Lung Association.
Since 1970, Main Street around 49th Avenue was known as Punjabi Market, the first in Western Canada. Every year tens of thousands of people congregate here to celebrate the annual Vaisakhi parade in April.
The area now known as Stanley Park is host to numerous important villages, transformer, and resource sites. spapəy̓əq (bent at the end) was home to Musqueam families into the early 1900s. Rose Yelton (nee Cole), Daughter of Matilda Cole (nee…
The first Sikh Gurdwara in Canada as built on W. 2nd Ave in 1908. Operated by the Khalsa Diwan Society until 1969, it was the center for spiritual, political, social, and economic life until the new Ross Street Temple was completed in 1970.
χʷay̓χʷəy̓ was once a large Musqueam village, with several longhouses, and home to hundreds of our ancestors at a time. χʷay̓χʷəy̓ is also an important spiritual site to our people. It’s from this village our ancestors received the…
The first Black immigrants arrived in British Columbia from California in 1858. They settled in Victoria and Salt Spring Island, but began migrating to Vancouver in the early 1900s, some making their homes in Strathcona (Old East End).
"Our territory is marked by sites where powerful beings, χe:l̕s, the transformers, visited on their travels. They transformed people into animals or aspects of the landscape. sɬχil̕əx (standing) is an import transformation site where χe:l̕s…
The blocks of Davie Street between Burrard and Jervis became the heart of Vancouver's gay community in the 1970s. Today the neighbourhood is a vibrant mix of people, businesses and West End history.
The church at 823 Jackson has been home to several congregations since its construction in 1910, but is best known as Fountain Chapel, the American Methodist Episcopal church and cultural centre of Strathcona’s Black community.
Walter and Mary Lee Chan were the driving force behind the campaign to stop urban renewal in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood in the 1960s.
Cambie Plumbing and Heating’s iconic neon faucet - the first neon sign on Fraser Street - has brightened the original storefront since 1946.
From 1931 to 1961, young Mennonite women were sent to Vancouver seeking work as domestic servants by their families, many of whom were indebted to the Canadian Pacific Railway for their passage.
Collingwood Neighbourhood House began "as an idea at a kitchen table" and got established in the late 1980s. With a mission to build community and develop relationships between neighbours, the Neighbourhood House provides everything from childcare…
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