Menus from days gone by, via the MoV. The Chilco Grill, the Lux Café, the Senator Grill, the Press Club, all circa 1948-1952, donated to the Museum of Vancouver by Mr. Sonny Farrington. About Sonny, from the items’ description:

Sonny Farrington b. 1923 in Flin Flon, Manitoba, moved to Vancouver in 1942 with his parents. The family lived at 11th Avenue and Yukon, and Sonny attended Edith Cavell Elementary School (where Pal’s Café was his favourite hang-out) and then King Edward High School. In 1945, Sonny’s mother got a job as a cook at Cunningham’s Grill in Union Market, and Sonny often stopped by there for a meal. Between ages 15 and 20, Sonny went to weekend Teen Town dances, and went out afterwards for something to eat. Many of these menus were obtained on such occasions. Many menus have thumbtack holes in them, where the donor displayed them on a wall or bulletin board…

Purchasing the Future, an oil canvas by Leanne Christie. From the artist’s website: 

The CPR railway station at the foot of Granville with the queue to purchase Shaughnessy Land.

Shaughnessy was named after the CPR president: Thomas Shaughnessy and was part of the land deal the CPR had struck with the Canadian government during negotiations about the railways expansion West.

Inspired by this Vancouver Archives photo by Philip Timms, September, 1909.

The Rocky Mountains, from Calgary to Vancouver by Mrs. Adelaide Langford, 1916, as seen in the lobby of Vancouver’s Waterfront Station. Born circa 1856 Adelaide Elizabeth Winyard Hurd, she passed away in 1939, living to about age 83. From The Hedley Gazette, March 29, 1917:

Review of C.P.R. Work for 1916
Important Undertakings Marked the Activities of the Company During the Year

The year 1916 was an interesting one in the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It has been a year of progress even though the Dominion is struggling in a great war…

…The walls of the spacious waiting hall of the new Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Vancouver have been recently beautified by a series of rural decorations representing the principal mountains from Calgary to Vancouver. The decorations are the work of Mrs. Adelaide Langford, an artist with a wide reputation…

While Mrs. Adelaide Langford may have had a wide reputation at the time of the article, she is not well remembered today. I came upon an article from 1927 when she was about 71 which provides further insights into her work. Below is a transcript of the article from 1927 seen above:

The Morning Leader - August 6, 1927

Pictures by Canadian Woman Adorn Many European Homes

Duke of Cambridge and Other Noted Collectors Have Acquired Paintings From Brush of Vancouver Artist

To have the work of one’s life adorn many of the stately mansions of the world is the proud achievement of one western woman in the person of Mrs. Adelaide Langford of Vancouver, B.C., many of whose canvases are hung in old ancestral homes in Europe, the late Duke of Cambridge, Sir Augustus Nanton and other distinguished collectors having acquired her work throughout England, Canada and the United States.

Mrs. Langford, whose pictures bear the signature “Adelaide Langford,” is the widow of the late Capt. H. Ayliffe Langford, and is a truly western artist of no mean ability. She is a student of the Slade school, London University, England, and is also a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, having studied under Frederick W. Freer, W. M. R. French and John H. Vanderpoel of Chicago, and has completed most of her work in the west. She inherits her artist gifts from parents and grandparents who were painters. She is the daughter of the late Thomas Gladwin Hurd, formerly of Toronto.

Mrs. Langford paints in a broad, free style, which has the distinction of the Barbizon school and marked individuality. She is a wonderful colorist and her canvases are truly decorative as well as restful. They are pictures which one can live with from day to day, finding added charm as they become more familiar. Among her recent works is an oil painting of the buffalo at Banff, Alta., completed just before the big drive when so many hundreds were extinguished. This hangs in the rotunda of the Royal Alexandra hotel in Winnipeg.

In an exhibit she is presenting now at Vancouver she is showing a painting of the Indian reserve at West Vancouver and the Indian village at North Vancouver; these are particularly attractive. She is also displaying her “Fraser Canyon,” painted at Yale, B.C., where the waters roar and tumble hundreds of feet below the railway line, and which is one of the beauty spots of the Rockies. In this Mrs. Langford has shown her knowledge and understanding of the great outdoors. The collection also includes pictures of English and continental scenery.

Mrs. Langford lost her husband during service of the late war; her son also served for several years in the motor boat patrol in the North Sea as well as Russia on special service and in the Arctic, for which he was decorated by the British and Russian governments. Mrs. Langford’s own charitable work will always remain in the minds of those who were closely associated with her during that time, and she was never at any time too engrossed in her own troubles that she could not find time to aid those less fortunate than herself.

[the original article incorrectly named John D. Vanderpoel instead of John H. Vanderpoel, and the Barbizon school was misspelled as the Barbazon school; these two errors are shown corrected in the text above]

According to Gary Sim’s British Columbia Artists:

An article “The Fine Arts”, published June 9, 1923 in the Western Women’s Weekly, noted that Langford was a critic of the Studio Club. The Vancouver Studio Club and School of Art was a predecessor organization to the B.C. Society of Fine Arts, and began exhibiting in Vancouver as early as 1904. Founding members of the group included T.W. Fripp and Spencer Perceval Judge.

And according to National Soul: Canadian Mural Painting, 1860s - 1930s, “Langford’s brother-in-law was general superintendent of the Pacific Division of the Canadian Pacific Railway and likely was helpful in securing the commission for her.”

Ironically, the placement of these paintings at Waterfront Station so far from our line of sight has probably helped to preserve them. At the time of writing, it is not clear if any of her other paintings have survived. The Royal Alexandra Hotel in Winnipeg was demolished in 1971, though the dining room from the hotel has been preserved and rebuilt in Cranbrook at the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel. An email to the museum has determined that no paintings were included in the reconstructed hotel dining room. The CPR Archives has no record of the painting’s whereabouts either. It is unknown if paintings from the collection of Prince George, the late Duke of Cambridge, or Sir Augustus Nanton have survived. Just to be sure, I’ve sent a letter to the senior archivist at Windsor Castle…perhaps one of Adelaide Langford’s paintings has been passed down to the Royal family and remains in their collection to this day. I’ll keep you posted if I receive a reply…

The Sun Princess by North Vancouver artist Keith Campbell. This painting was commissioned in 1994 by the father of the current proprietor of the Peg General Store on Commercial Drive. The Peg shopkeeper reminisced how his father used to live at International Plaza in North Vancouver with a great view of the Lions Gate Bridge. When he moved up to Lynn Valley, he missed seeing the ships coming in and out of the Burrard Inlet, so he commissioned this painting! I cannot find any biographical information about Keith Campbell, but perhaps this is him? Any additional comments would be appreciated!

This is a particularly nostalgic view, depicting the ship known as the Sun Princess circa 1974-1988. Originally built as the Spirit of London wikipedia tells us it was an Italian built cruise ship put into service in 1972. More lore from wikipedia: 

The ship appeared in the 1975 Columbo episode “Troubled Waters”, guest starring Robert Vaughn, as well as in Herbie Goes Bananas (1980). She was also featured in at least one episode of The Love Boat involving a competition between Captain Stubing of the Pacific Princess and the captain of the Sun Princess.

The current ship named the Sun Princess also built in Italy had her maiden voyage on December 2, 1995. Thanks to the Peg General Store for this great nautical gem! ps: the painting is available for sale!

Old Capilano Beach, Vancouver, BC a signed and monogrammed etching by James Blomfield. From the booklet Rainbows in our Walls, Stained Glass in Vancouver 1890-1940 by Robert D. Watt. More on Robert Watt from wikipedia:

In 1973, he was appointed Curator of History at the Vancouver Centennial Museum (now the Vancouver Museum). He became Chief Curator in 1977 and was Director from 1980 to 1988. In 1988, he was appointed Chief Herald of Canada.

A reminder, I’ll be speaking at EastVanLove8 tonight at SFU Woodwards! Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Ladies Parlor of the Castle Hotel, a vintage postcard-like image via Glen A Mofford’s outstanding collection of hotel and beer parlour ephemera on flickr. This photograph shows a series of large scale murals above each booth, which I presume to be paintings they but could also be tapestries? I do suspect these are original art and not merely reproductions or wallpaper. I have never seen this interior before and it looks to be phenomenal!

This hotel was once located at 750 Granville Street tucked in next to the Vancouver Block, and it operated at that location from 1915-1990. Previously it was known as the Windsor Hotel which operated from 1888-1914. This postcard image is circa 1930, and it appears to mix art deco styles with some very organic folk art, creating quite a contemporary visual feast. It must have been spectacular to see in colour! This would have been such a great place to hang out after a show across the street during any of these eras: the old Opera House (1891), the Orpheum [#3] (1913), Loew’s Vaudeville (1914), the Orpheum [again, this time owned by the Orpheum Circuit] (1915), Vancouver Theatre (1927), Lyric Theatre (1935), International Cinema (1948), and Lyric Theatre again (c.1965-1969).

If anyone ever finds any further documentation surrounding these murals or the artist responsible, please leave a comment! I stretched a few of the panels for a simulated view of the art, but it is very difficult to reconstruct at this dramatic angle. It also appears to me that there are at least 8 large scale panels on the right hand side, with at least 3 more on the left, possibly with room for 4 or 5 more on the left! Conceivably, there could be as many as 16 original panels in this room - astonishing.

For more ephemera related to Beer Parlours and the Castle Hotel, see Glen’s additional posts on flickr. Thanks to Tom Carter for assistance clarifying the complicated theatre chronology above! The years listed above roughly indicates the year the name changed. Furthermore, between the last name change, the theatre was actually turned into a bank for a while! Alas, if only I could find a time machine, this would be the first block I visit!

urbansketcher:

Powell Street Facade

The 1919 Vancouver Millionaires [simulated] hockey cards, caricatures by Hal, via the VanArchives. Although I’d like to pretend that I found these pressed between the pages of an old encyclopedia, I admit they are pure Photoshop fabrications, mocked up with a free paper background courtesy of psdGraphics. The original artwork was photographed by Stuart Thomson, and I imagine they were intended to be published in some form, perhaps even as trading cards. Here’s Stuart’s bio, from the VanArchives:

Stuart Thomson was born in Hampstead, England, in 1881. Trained as a railway worker, he emigrated to Vancouver in 1910. He took up amateur photography but soon embarked upon a career as a commercial and press photographer. During the 1920s, he contributed to three daily Vancouver newspapers but relied more on commercial work by the 1930s. He died in 1960.

Stuart Thomson sold his negatives to the Vancouver Sun newspaper in 1954. The Vancouver Sun newspaper donated them to the archives in 1963.

Corner of Granville & Georgia Streets, 1889, a watercolour by George Thercer, or possibly George T Mercer (confirmed!). This painting is in the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s fine art collection, and in my mind, the dramatic wide angle perspective of this panorama gives the painting a decidedly modern feel (if it wasn’t for all the missing skyscrapers!)

Based on the vantage point of this painting, I’d say that we are on the third or fourth floor of the very first Hotel Vancouver, which was situated at the corner of Georgia & Granville Streets. We are looking down Granville Street, all the way to the waterfront. In 1889, the Hotel Vancouver was just 1 year old, and the great fire had leveled the city just 3 years prior. Remarkable how things change in just a few short years…

Kenworth Truck Calendar, acrylic painting from 1979 by George McLachlan. The scene depicts the corner of Granville and Hastings, a popular intersection to take a picture perfect postcard, as many images in the Vancouver Archives are taken from this very same vantage point.

The name Kenworth came into being in 1923, and this truck appears to be from this early era. The style of manned traffic light system shown here remained in effect until 1928, according to Chuck Davis. This would explain why the Trorey Clock is missing from the painting, as Birks had purchased the Trorey business back in 1907 and moved the clock up to Georgia & Granville in 1913.

The Waldorf Hotel by Ash Tanasiychuk, from a series of Vancouver venues and galleries participating in the Olio Festival last year. 2012 was the last year of the Olio Festival, as the programmers are moving on. From the Georgia Straight:

After four years as one of Vancouver’s more colourful and certainly hipper cultural events, Olio is calling it quits…

…Color Magazine is still holding JAMCOUVER this summer, the one-day skate fest it pioneered with Olio in 2011, while he’s teaming with some of his festival partners to launch a smaller “no-filler version of Olio” later in the year called CULt.R. “It’ll be more focused,” he said. “Not skate-fashion-film at a thousand different venues; it’s going to be one party at one venue.”

Co-founder Dani Vachon, meanwhile, is concentrating on her new project; a group of “talented marketing, design, and arts-based individuals” offering their navigation services to local businesses called The Beacon Collective.

Since its inception in August 2009, the Olio Festival hosted over 30 thousand visitors and a remarkable roster of local and international talent, including such varied musical fare as Teen Daze, Cave Singers, Father John Misty, Chad VanGaalen and J. Mascis.

I loved the Olio Festival, so hats off to all the organizers who created the institution in such short order. And thanks for the submission, Ash!

Gig poster for the Tubuloids, Sunday, April 6 at the Princeton Pub.

Sketches of Vancouver by Jo Scott-B, a sketchbook, revisiting Neighbourhoods walked with John Atkin.

pasttensevancouver:

Granville Pedestrian Mall proposal, 1960

Looking south from Dunsmuir.

Source: City of Vancouver Archives #LEG26.14 

Mural commissioned for the Officer’s Mess at HMCS Discovery on Deadman’s Island in Vancouver by Robert Samuel Alexander (August 25 1916 - April 20 1974). Commissioned in 1944 while he was stationed at HMCS Discovery, the mural was completed in 1945.

There is much to study in this mural, though the physique of the sailor at the far left often attracts extra attention. The two sailors at left are caring to the cannons below the deck, and they appear to be holding a tool called a sponge used for cleaning the bore after firing. A ribbon stating “In Which We Serve” scrolls along the bottom of the mural; this phrase also happens to be the title of a 1942 British patriotic war film directed by Noël Coward. The film revolves around the exploits of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, commander of the destroyer HMS Kelly when it was sunk during the Battle of Crete. The left half of the mural shows naval technology from the era of Captain Vancouver, while the right half of the mural shows modern day technology, circa WWII. It would appear that Captain Vancouver himself is reaching out to offer a hand to the modern day captain and his crew. 

The panoramic image above has been digitally stitched together from 3 separate images I took last fall, when Sub-Lieutenant Brunton gave me a tour of Vancouver’s Naval Reserve Division. I found it interesting that HMCS Discovery is a building but still referred to as a ship or stone frigate (a naval establishment on land); when you are inside HMCS Discovery, you state you are ‘on board’. From the Navy’s portal:

HMCS DISCOVERY was named in honour of HMS DISCOVERY, which, under the command of Captain George Vancouver, was responsible for surveying much of the northwest coastal area of North America.

The final photo above of a self promotional brochure by the artist is included in Gary Sim’s BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS:

This photograph was taken courtesy of the artist’s daughter, Renee Alexander. The artist is seen at work drawing and painting the mural at HMCS Discovery’s Officers Mess in Vancouver. Art techniques listed in the brochure are fresco, baked enamel, tempera, glass, graffito, and oil on plaster.

Renee Alexander also posted these comments about her father to Mother Tongue Publishing’s website:

He was born 1916 and died 1974. He was a contemporary of Toni Onley, Gordon Smith, Gordon Caruso etc. He was an honours graduate from the Vancouver School of Art and received a scholarship to study at the Art Students’ League in New York. He won many art competitions including two for the Seattle Art Museum. UBC commissioned him to do two portraits, which are both hanging in the main Library. In the early 1960s he received a Canada Council Grant. He also published a couple of books. The Penticton Library and Civic Centre restored a mural he did in the early 60s for the then new Penticton Airport and it now hangs in the Civic Centre. In the book ‘Letters from Nan’ one of his paintings was referenced as the only great painting in the Confederation of Artists show.

For some reason he has not been recognized in the Vancouver scene today like many of his contemporaries though he was viewed as a rising star in the early Vancouver art world. I can only put it down to the fact that he was not an aggressive self-promoter and died at the age of 57.

A number of years ago I did a CD of my father’s work. Copies may also be found at the Vancouver Art Gallery, UBC special collections, the National Gallery of Canada, Emily Carr, Penticton Library and Civic Centre etc.

Surviving murals are a rarity, especially in Vancouver, and to ensure their preservation, public awareness about these murals needs to exist. Fortunately, this mural has been well preserved, and based on its current condition, I expect RS Alexander’s mural will survive for many generations to come.

Cross-posted to VancouverIsAwesome.com.

Update! More interesting anecdotes from Renee: her father also painted some black light murals at the Waldorf, one of the murals in the old Grosvenor Hotel in the Potlatch Room, as well as a mural somewhere in The Ritz hotel at 1040 West Georgia (this is the hotel that took over the St Julien Apartments circa 1929).

Another great bit of Alexander family trivia: this brush script logo for the Woodward’s Store was designed by Renee’s mother, Irene Alexander (Porter), when she was head show card writer at the downtown Woodward’s store in the 1940s. An amazing family legacy!