Andrew Palmer e-mailed me to let me know about these panoramas on the City of Vancouver's web site. Official word from the city is that "In 1978 the city was photographed from a variety of viewpoints for a planning study. Today, those photographs are a valuable record of how the city has been transformed by recent planning intiatives.".
Remember that bridge that was discussed in a previous post? The one that appears in the top 1978 photo and not in the 2003 photo below it? Well, Kevin Kelly let us in on what the deal with that is...
The train bridge was known as the kitsilano trestle. It was built by the CPR and later used by the BC Electric Railway. At one time (when rail was used all over Vancouver) this would have connected the south shore of Vancouver to the railyards where expo was eventually held. It actually connected with Carral street originally as the Interurban street cars started there and then ran over the bridge, up Arbutus and into Richmond. It was removed in the early 80’s as it was seldom used and was a navigational hazard. There’s been talk of using the tracks for a historic streetcar from Science world up through Kerrisdale except that the Starbucks at Granville island is built on the tracks…doh!
