One of the subjects in this historical Vancouver photo writes:
"We all grew up in the West End and we were in our early 20's with time on our hands, We would go downtown on a Friday or Saturday in search of girls, not very successful and beer … very successful. We all had different ethnic backgrounds – Ukrainian, Aboriginal, Spanish, Chinese and German – but we all spoke the same language. Dan Lim, Gene La Marche, John Anthony, Kevin O’Neil, Ron Wasko."
The story behind the man who captured this photo? Well, from 1934 to 1979, street photographer Foncie Pulice set up his camera on Vancouver city sidewalks and snapped candid shots of people strolling by. For almost half a century, he took thousands of photos, unwittingly capturing moments in time, the history of a city, and the lives of British Columbians. Photo negatives of Foncie’s images do not exist. He destroyed most of them when he retired. Until recently there was no central archive or collection.
Documentary filmmaker Melanie Wood and British Columbia’s Knowledge Network changed that by bringing these photographs together – collecting them from albums around the province and giving them a public home online and in the film Foncie's Corner. The photos continue to stream in and Melanie shares them with us regularly so we can share them here on our blog.
This is a story about Vancouver, about British Columbia, and about it’s people... so they need your help. Visit Knowledge.ca/FonciesCorner to add your photos and stories to the collection.
