Personal Fave #4 Wait for Me, Daddy, 1940 Taken in New Westminster, this is probably the most iconic wartime photo to come out of Canada. It was featured in Life Magazine, Liberty, Time Magazine, Newsweek and innumerable other publications. Many years later, Chuck Davis interviewed the boy in the picture and wrote about it here. Source: Photo by Claud Detloff for the Daily Province, via Life Magazine, 21 October 1940
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Personal Fave #4

Wait for Me, Daddy, 1940

Taken in New Westminster, this is probably the most iconic wartime photo to come out of Canada. It was featured in Life Magazine, Liberty, Time Magazine, Newsweek and innumerable other publications.

Many years later, Chuck Davis interviewed the boy in the picture and wrote about it here.

Source: Photo by Claud Detloff for the Daily Province, via Life Magazine, 21 October 1940

Source: books.google.ca

Personal Fave #12 Jack Black, mugshot from San Quentin, ca. 1912 I think I’ll put reading Black’s memoir on my things-to-do-in-2012 list.  Black was a hobo, confidence man, yegg, and thief who tramped around the old west in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. He spent a considerable amount of time in BC, including hanging out in opium dens in Vancouver’s Chinatown and a stint in the BC Pen for a heist he pulled in Victoria. In 1926 he published his memoirs, which heavily influenced a young William S. Burroughs. John Mackie wrote a good article on Black’s time in BC in the Sun. Source: flickr
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Personal Fave #12

Jack Black, mugshot from San Quentin, ca. 1912

I think I’ll put reading Black’s memoir on my things-to-do-in-2012 list. 

Black was a hobo, confidence man, yegg, and thief who tramped around the old west in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. He spent a considerable amount of time in BC, including hanging out in opium dens in Vancouver’s Chinatown and a stint in the BC Pen for a heist he pulled in Victoria. In 1926 he published his memoirs, which heavily influenced a young William S. Burroughs. John Mackie wrote a good article on Black’s time in BC in the Sun.

Source: flickr

Source: Flickr / bookstreet

Personal Fave #16 Valley of Dope, Friday 12 November 1920 What says Vancouver like a good Dope scare story? This was at the height of the early 1920s moral panic around drugs, which often involved lurid stories of white girls being corrupted by Chinese dope fiends. If you’re so inclined, you can read the first installment of this one here.  Source: Vancouver Sun
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Personal Fave #16

Valley of Dope, Friday 12 November 1920

What says Vancouver like a good Dope scare story? This was at the height of the early 1920s moral panic around drugs, which often involved lurid stories of white girls being corrupted by Chinese dope fiends. If you’re so inclined, you can read the first installment of this one here. 

Source: Vancouver Sun

Personal fave #17 Owney the Dog, 1895 Owney was a dog from Albany, New York who starting hanging out at the post office in 1888. He was strangely attracted to the mail bags, and when his master moved away, Owney decided to stay behind with his postie friends. Eventually he began following the mail bags on trains around the country, but always returned to Albany. He became the unofficial mascot of the US Postal Service and was considered good luck. At some point he was given a collar for hotel and baggage tags that showed where he’d been, which was replaced by a harness to distribute the weight more evenly as the number of tags increased. Owney traveled to Canada about six times and he received this tag from the (first) Hotel Vancouver probably around 1895. The Smithsonian points out that Mark Twain stayed at the Hotel Vancouver in August that year, but it’s not known if ever the twain met. While in town, Owney took a little side trip to New Westminster on the interurban, then called the“Westminster & Vancouver Tramway.” Owney and his tags now live in the Smithsonian. He was recently refurbished, commemorated on a stamp, and has been the subject of a look-alike contest and several children’s books. Thanks to Illustrated Vancouver for the tip. Source: National Postal Museum at the Smithsonian Source: postalmuseum.si.edu
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Personal fave #17

Owney the Dog, 1895

Owney was a dog from Albany, New York who starting hanging out at the post office in 1888. He was strangely attracted to the mail bags, and when his master moved away, Owney decided to stay behind with his postie friends. Eventually he began following the mail bags on trains around the country, but always returned to Albany. He became the unofficial mascot of the US Postal Service and was considered good luck.

At some point he was given a collar for hotel and baggage tags that showed where he’d been, which was replaced by a harness to distribute the weight more evenly as the number of tags increased.

Owney traveled to Canada about six times and he received this tag from the (first) Hotel Vancouver probably around 1895. The Smithsonian points out that Mark Twain stayed at the Hotel Vancouver in August that year, but it’s not known if ever the twain met. While in town, Owney took a little side trip to New Westminster on the interurban, then called the“Westminster & Vancouver Tramway.”

Owney and his tags now live in the Smithsonian. He was recently refurbished, commemorated on a stamp, and has been the subject of a look-alike contest and several children’s books.

Thanks to Illustrated Vancouver for the tip.

Source: National Postal Museum at the Smithsonian

Source: postalmuseum.si.edu

Personal Fave #18 Rug Cutters, Monday 15 April 1940 An 11-year boycott of American acts by the local musicians union kept big jazz bands from playing Vancouver through the interwar years. Duke Ellington was the first in 1940. The kids loved it and the newspapers didn’t really know what to make of it. The guy demonstrating the jitterbug in the second photo from the left with his back to the camera is Al Hendrix. This was his fifteen minutes of fame until his son Jimi became a superstar.
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Personal Fave #18

Rug Cutters, Monday 15 April 1940

An 11-year boycott of American acts by the local musicians union kept big jazz bands from playing Vancouver through the interwar years. Duke Ellington was the first in 1940. The kids loved it and the newspapers didn’t really know what to make of it.

The guy demonstrating the jitterbug in the second photo from the left with his back to the camera is Al Hendrix. This was his fifteen minutes of fame until his son Jimi became a superstar.

Source: news.google.com

Personal fave #19 St Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall From 1971 to 1976, 157 Alexander Street (now the Alibi Room) was a nightclub called the Banjo Palace. In the men’s room behind the urinals, the owner installed, brick-by-brick, the wall against which Al Capone’s goons massacred a rival gang in 1929 in what became known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. George Patey bought the wall in 1967, and dismantled it after his club shut down in 1976. From what I gather, the bricks have since been sold individually on ebay. Photos: George Patey More info here. Source: myalcaponemuseum.com
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Personal fave #19

St Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall

From 1971 to 1976, 157 Alexander Street (now the Alibi Room) was a nightclub called the Banjo Palace. In the men’s room behind the urinals, the owner installed, brick-by-brick, the wall against which Al Capone’s goons massacred a rival gang in 1929 in what became known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. George Patey bought the wall in 1967, and dismantled it after his club shut down in 1976. From what I gather, the bricks have since been sold individually on ebay.

Photos: George Patey

More info here.

Source: myalcaponemuseum.com

Personal Fave #20 Since today is my 1st anniversary on tumblr I thought I’d share some of my personal favourite posts from the past year. They’re not necessarily the most popular ones, but stand out to me for some particular reason(s). Here’s #20:  Jackson Avenue, 1927 These people are at the edge of a panorama photo of a funeral in Japantown. They seem fascinated by the camera and probably don’t realize that they will be in the shot.  Detail from a panorama by WJ Moore Source: City of Vancouver Archives #PAN N143B Source: Flickr / vancouver-archives
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Personal Fave #20

Since today is my 1st anniversary on tumblr I thought I’d share some of my personal favourite posts from the past year. They’re not necessarily the most popular ones, but stand out to me for some particular reason(s).

Here’s #20: 

Jackson Avenue, 1927

These people are at the edge of a panorama photo of a funeral in Japantown. They seem fascinated by the camera and probably don’t realize that they will be in the shot. 

Detail from a panorama by WJ Moore

Source: City of Vancouver Archives #PAN N143B

Source: Flickr / vancouver-archives

Source: Flickr / vancouver-archives