Union Steamships The Fjords Of British Columbia, a 1930’s brochure of the Steamship Catala, sister ship to the SS Cardena. This item was recently sold on ebay by seller canadianpacific77. The cover appears to be signed by H.E. White, but I’m sadly not familiar with their work.

The Catala had a long and storied history on the west coast. From sunshinecoastmuseum.ca

One of the best known steamers that plied the Sunshine Coast was the S.S. Catala. The 218-foot ship was launched in 1925 in Montrose, Scotland, and carried coastal freight and passengers from Vancouver to southeast Alaska. The name Catala derives from the Roman Catholic missionary Father Magin Catala who came to Santa Cruz de Nootka on Vancouver Island in 1793.

After the collapse of the Union Steamship Company, the Catala was sold in 1958 and used as a fish buying boat, as well as a hotel for the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. Apparently, it was one of three such ships used at the World’s Fair, but the only one to make a profit. By this point, the engines had been removed to make room for a theatre, so it lived out its retirement tied up on shores of Washington. According to the Seattle Times, there were some wild times for the ship ahead:

After the fair it was brought to Ocean Shores, where it was tied up at a causeway and used by charter fishermen. Something else fishy was going on, too.

There was gambling and “there were ladies of the evening available, so it was quite a deal,” said Beers.

In 1965, a storm caused the ship to list 30 degrees on the sand, and it could not be righted. Looted, abandoned, and set on fire, it was left to decay on the beach, until a curious explorer fell inside the ship and hurt her back. The State of Washington was sued, and as a result, the bulk of the ship was ordered to be cut up for scrap, with the remainder of the vessel buried in the sand.

Years later, the sands began to reveal the ship, and a curious passerby discovered oil inside the wreck. This resulted in a full scale environmental cleanup, with 131,000 litres of heavy fuel oil removed and recycled, along with more than 10 times that amount of oily water collected. The total project cost for removing the oil and restoring the beach was $6.5 million, and the cost of removing the remainder of the ship’s hull was $0.5 million. From the Washington State Department’s fact sheet:

Ecology funded the cleanup using the state’s Oil Spill Response Account, which comes from a tax on oil that passes through Washington marine terminals. The fund will only pay for cleaning up oil and contaminated sand and for ensuring the old hull is clean. Ecology will seek reimbursement from the federal government for part or all of the costs. The Legislature provided the Department of Natural Resources with funds to remove the hull.

As mentioned yesterday, here is the cover of that brochure from 1956, 971.133 V224co PAM in the VPL Special Collections, “Produced by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver for the enjoyment of discerning visitors”. The cover image is unfortunately unsigned, so we may never know who it was who penned this, But it is nice to see the Hotel Vancouver and the Vancouver Block towering above the jazzy little city…

Parks & Playgrounds, Vancouver BC brochure, dated 1925, seen at MacLeod’s Books recently. This cover depicts a proposed monument (I can’t recall if it was a column or an obelisk, sorry) at the end of the causeway entrance to Stanley Park, seen here overlooking Lost Lagoon. When the causeway was completed, they didn’t end up with a stone monument but erected a flagpole instead.

A reminder; TODAY there is a Walk in the Forest event at VanDusen Gardens. Come down from 12-2pm for a little art mob excursion! The 1976 modernist pavilion originally known as MacMillan-Bloedel Place is facing demolition, and Michael Kluckner, with support from Heritage Vancouver, would like to see it preserved. 

The building known as the Education Centre (also the Forest Education Centre) is a modernist masterpiece lost in the forest of an untended section of VanDusen Garden. Built in 1976, it was originally known as MacMillan-Bloedel Place, named for its donor, the largest forestry company in what was then the largest industry in British Columbia. Its unique educational displays, including a 50-seat theatre, were called “A Walk in the Forest.”

Architect Paul Merrick, working then as chief designer for Thompson, Berwick & Pratt, set the pavilion into a small hill on the edge of a lake in the northwest part of the gardens. Its green roof was one of the first in the city, and its unique internal columns used some of the finest wood in British Columbia. It won the Canadian Architect Yearbook Award of Excellence Award in 1974, and was constructed by Halse-Martin of Vancouver. It was once an object of pride for the city, VanDusen Garden and the Park Board…

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Note this campaign is not endorsed by the Park Board or VanDusen Garden staff.

Scenic Seas of the North Pacific Coast, a Canadian National Railway brochure painted by A W Bell in the Maritime Museum’s hidden treasures online. It depicts a steamship loading at a pier (preceding the CPR Pier B & C by a few years) in the Burrard Inlet.

This 1923 brochure from Canadian National Railway advertises the popular “Triangle Tour”. The tour began in Vancouver on board one of CN’s Prince ships. The passenger ship traveled north along the coast, and through the scenic Inside Passage, famous for the beautiful fjords, mountainous views, and tranquil waters that were occasionally disturbed by whales or dolphins. At Prince Rupert, tourists were transferred to train and then traveled to Jasper, through the Skeena valley and the Canadian Rockies, with views of the magnificent Mount Robson. After overnighting in Jasper, the train then returned to Vancouver using the more southerly route along the Thompson and Fraser rivers.

The Maritime Museum has such a great collection of maritime art and artifacts; check them out!

How the Rule of the Road was Changed in BC, a BC Electric brochure promoting the switch from driving on the left to driving on the right, which actually took place in two stages. First, on July 1, 1920, most of British Columbia made the switch. The coast region, including most of the major cities was the exception, and they were given until January 1, 1922 to make the necessary mechanical changes.

The mini comics decorated the corners of the pamphlet, and the 16 page brochure went to great lengths explaining what was involved (I estimate around 3,000-4,000 words!) Fortunately, by all accounts, the switch was without incident. Oh, and if you kids are wondering what a Wye is, see Wikipedia. Pamphlet from the VPL Special Collections, NW 388.4 B86h Pam.

translinked:

Discover Vancouver on Transit, a BC Transit brochure, 1990. This was the 100th anniversary of public transit in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, as the logo attests. Illustrations in the brochure were credited to Robert Dobie, Jim Koll, Klaus Ravn, and Paulo Venturi, though I’m not sure who designed precisely which illustrations.

UPDATE: I received an email from James Koll, who recalls this brochure from his days freelancing at Slicko Studios. Slicko Studios, later known as the Ken Koo Creative Group was founded by Ken in 1982, built from a staff of 4 to 60+, and was acquired by the Cossette Group of companies in 2000. The company now operates under the name of Identica.

Angelo Colari and the Hotel Europe, 1908, by Frank Lewis, 1976. As mentioned in his bio, Frank painted the mural on the side of the Maritime Museum in 1986, and he painted the hoardings at the old Vancouver Court house at some point as well. More about the drawing from Gastown.org:

Angelo Colari built the Europe on this triangular-shaped lot near the steamship docks that used to be located at the foot of Columbia and Carrall Streets. Colari was born in Italy in 1861 and immigrated to British Columbia in 1882 when he was 21 years old.  He spent four years in Victoria before coming to Vancouver in 1886.

This drawing was the front cover of yesterday’s historical map, a pre-Expo96 Downtown Historical Association Historical Trek.

Another unique artistic aerial view of the city, this time from DC Bucholtz. There have been a few vintage maps in the past that turn the aerial perspective on it’s head, and they’re quite refreshing to look at. The map was sponsored by CKNW, The Pop Shoppe, and The Province Newspaper, among other sponsors. It was published by Cornwall Publishing Co., and Chuck Davis was the editor. This was pre-Expo, as you can see the Expo site is simply indicated with a flag and a large circle, so I’m guessing it was drawn some time around 1983 or 1984, since the Seabus colour scheme was no longer orange in 1985. I also just noticed the map shows Cambie Bridge as the old truss swing span bridge (the new bridge was built 1984-85), so that reinforces it would most likely be circa 1983.

CBC Vancouver redevelopment brochure, published circa 2006 showing an artist’s conception of the project. The project was led by Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects (now known as DIALOG) and the team of architects included Joost Bakker, Alan Boniface, Kate Gerson, Deryk Whitehead, Bruce Haden, Eric Stedman, Tina Hubert, Teresa Lowe, Mona Tsui, Roland Küpfer, Ouri Scott, Ali Stiles. I’m not certain if one of those members created these renderings, as they are unsigned in the brochure.

Stanley Park, a map produced by Labatt Breweries of British Columbia Ltd, artist unknown. The brochure talks about the devastating effect Typhoon Frieda had on the park in the fall of 1962; more than 13,000 hemlocks were destroyed, knocking over mature trees onto younger generation of trees planted by foresters in the 1930s. In the spring of 1963, more than 22,000 Douglas fir were planted to repair the damage.

Restoration Report: A Case for Renewed Life in the Old City, a brochure originally published circa 1969 by the City of Vancouver Department of Planning & Civic Development and Birmingham & Wood, Architects. Illustrations inside this urban plan for a revitalized Gastown would not look out of place in today’s landscape.

You can see this brochure in the Vancouver Heritage Foundation Reading Room, established thanks to a generous donation by Yosef Wosk.

Early Hotel Vancouver pamphlet, lauded as one of the most modern hotels in the British Empire.