History

Vancouver Sun 1929 Peter Pan Café Located downtown on Granville, the Peter Pan Cafe was soon a local favourite and a city landmark. It was started by Peter Pantages (far right), of the Polar Bear Swim fame.

Sam Leung / The Province.

Wayne Leidenfrost / The Province. 2004 Sea to Sky Highway The community of Horseshoe Bay came together to protest the development of the Sea to Sky Highway, which would disturb the residents—human and animal—on the route from Vancouver to Whistler.

Ian Smith / Vancouver Sun. 2002 Queen Elizabeth II The Queen drops her first NHL puck at a San Jose Sharks/Vancouver Canucks game while the team captains and The Great One (a.k.a. Wayne Gretzky) cheer her on.

Why are house prices so high in Vancouver? Since the 1970s, the City has resisted densification. Only former industrial areas have seen significant changes. Many areas of Vancouver have less people today than 40 years ago.

Leonard Frank photo, Vanco ver Public Library VPL 14463. 1938 Ford Assembly Plant As a car is fitted together on the assembly line, this 1938 photo depicts the early days of the Ford Motor Company’s assembly plant in Burnaby.

City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 99-2215. Photo Stuart Thomson. 1928 Crystal Pool Already in motion, a girl raises her arms to dive into the Crystal Pool. Opened in 1928, the Crystal was originally racially segregated, but that would change in 1945.

City of Vancouver Archives, Pan P77. 1943 Shipyards Busy waters. Vancouver’s importance as a wartime shipbuilding centre — with more than half of the ships built in Canada at this time —is revealed in this 1944 panorama of its bustling shipyards.

Vancouver Public Library, Special Collections, VPL 4119. Leonard Frank photo. 1916 Dollarton Mill The Canadian Robert Dollar Company bought the land for its sawmill operation in North Vancouver, out toward Deep Cove, in 1916.

The Province. 1950 Atomic Bomb Shelter Fortunately yet to be used for its original purpose, the first backyard atomic bomb shelter for four was built by Eccles-Rand Limited in Shaughnessy Heights.