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.

pasttensevancouver:

The Last Street Car, Sunday 24 April 1955

Source: The Buzzer, 20 April 1955

Illustrated by Bob Banks, who drew cartoons for the Buzzer from 1954-1976.

City of Neon (aka Granville in the 50s), Sterling Richter’s electrical box wrap, on the 1000 block of Granville. B&W photo from the Downtown Electrical Box Wrap Facebook page, colour concept from Sterling’s gallery at deviantart. Sterling provides some colour commentary in this video (featuring an amusing sign of the times sidewalk interaction with a guy peddling digital apps, or something like that). These box wraps were installed some 5 months ago, but this one was a real favourite of mine, so I thought it deserved revisiting.

Cindy Buckshon’s Transit Roots Art Exhibition opens this Saturday, February 11, 2012 at the Deer Lake Gallery in Burnaby. I’m resisting the urge to show a link to her blog to help build suspense! I just know this show will be loaded with Vancouver transit love, and I implore you to go and check it out! Makes a great Valentine’s expedition!

Reception is from 2-4pm, and refreshments will be served, the general public is welcome; transit riders especially welcome! I believe the gallery is only open Tues - Sat Noon - 4pm, so be sure to get there before 4!

6584 Deer Lake Avenue
Burnaby, BC
Map to Deer Lake Gallery

Heritage Hall by Andrea Rodgers, another Buzzer cover illustration, via the Buzzer Blog. From the Buzzer interview:

Tell us about yourself and your art.
I like the aesthetic of rough hand drawn lines. Often working in pen, I like to add in watercolour and india ink. The unexpected nature of the medium appeals to me. Makes it more of an adventure. For this illustration I scanned it in and worked with photoshop and illustrator.

How did you come up with the concept for your illustration?
Heritage hall is an architectural beauty in Vancouver. It was an easy choice to represent the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. On a good day – From this point on the hill you can often see the mountains and a good part of the city too…

Cedar Cottage Station as sketched by a Grade 7 student at Lord Selkirk Elementary School. From Chuck Davis’ website:

In 1910 Vancouver’s Cedar Cottage neighborhood got its name from an Interurban train stop there. The station, in turn, was named for the Cedar Cottage Brewery.

And more from the Gibby’s Field Group site:

1902 (ca.) Cedar Cottage Brewery established by John Benson at Westminster Road (Kingsway) and Knight, on the banks of Gibson Creek at the site of the present-day Safeway building King Edward Village.

According to the book House of Suds: A History of Beer Brewing in Western Canada by William A. Hagelund, five other local breweries in Vancouver circa 1900 included:

1. Stanley Park Brewery
2. Red Cross Brewery
3. Royal Brewery
4. Columbia Brewery
5. Doering & Marstrand (Vancouver) Brewery

Again, thanks for your submissions, Sid!

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.

On the bus with Llewellyn Petley-Jones, the late British-Canadian artist (1908-1986) whose name lives on in a Vancouver commercial art gallery. This sketch is believed to be from around 1952 when he lived in Vancouver. Transit aficionados, can you determine which bus #264 is from? A Brill perhaps? And did Vancouver transit vehicles used to say “Cigarette Smoking only” (as opposed to pipes & cigars!?) From the collection of artist Tom Carter.

UPDATE! I asked the bus numbers man himself, and Michael Taylor-Noonan had this to say about bus #264:

It looks like a Fageol Twin Coach, with its tell-tale 4 piece windscreen.

VIN/SERIAL: 38S 1077C
UNIT: 5942
OWNER/LESSEE: BC Hydro & Power Authority (BC)
MANUFACTURER: Fageol
MODEL: Twin Coach 38S
BUILT: 1950-06

SECONDARY ENTRIES (VEHICLE HISTORY):

UNIT  OWNER/LESSEE  NOTES  DATE
264 Pacific Stage Lines Ltd. (BC) Assigned to Pacific Stage Lines 1950
264  Pacific Stage Lines Ltd. (BC)  To BCER, Oakridge, #M94  1958
M94  BCER (BC)  Transferred to BC Hydro & Power Authority  1962-04
M94  BC Hydro (BC)  Renumbered 3131  1964
3131  BC Hydro (BC)  To New Westminster, 5942  1966
5942  BC Hydro (BC)  RETIRED

The Twins were an American Design built in Kent Ohio, so called because they originally had two engines (for power). They were gasoline powered.  The ‘C’ in the serial tells you that this Twin was built in Canada, (Windsor I think).

Super details! Thanks, Michael! I love the fact that we can track down the entire history of a bus some 50 years after it left service! And with a bit more searching, I’ve just learned about the Canadian Pacific Transport Company, a division of CP Railways. Seems they operated their own bus line which had a Fageol Twin Coach 38S in their fleet, the all-time favourite bus of this guy! Neat!

Visions of Metrotown, 1971. Via Gordon Price’s post on SpacingVancouver.ca, this was the caption below the illustration:

Multi-level Central Area: The main activity level is the pedestrian platform. Underneath is vehicular access, car parking, loading facilities and public transportation. Above are shops, offices and residential clusters.

The drawing was originally published in the 142 page book, “Urban Structure: A study of long range policies which affect the physical structure of an urban area”, written by a staff member in Burnaby’s Planning Department. I’m not sure if the illustrations are actually credited in the book; I’ll have to take another look at the book if I get a chance. David Pereira has brought this vintage publication back into the spotlight, and he has used it as inspiration for his own Master’s project thesis. Further context is provided in the comments by David:

…the rendering…was intended to be a theoretical mock-up of all the elements that Burnaby Planners at the time believed should be placed into these Town Centres. It was never an actual blueprint. It was more of a dreamscape, if you will. To find out more about which elements were planned for Metrotown, and why they didn’t make the cut, stay tuned for a future update on the story behind Metrotown…

takohako:

comic about moving to vancouver from seattle and getting to know a new place.  page 2 of 2.

Swan and the Bear, 2011 by artist Ola Volo. This submission is also somewhat of a scoop, as Ola writes:

Inspired by the collision of wild life and urban life in Vancouver, this piece is going to be featured on TransLink Buses and Skytrains as of February 2012.

So watch for the swan and the bear, coming to a bus near you! Thanks for the submission, Ola!

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.

The cover of the December 2011 Buzzer by Dani Vachon. More samples of her fine vector poster art, traced poster designs, and hand-drawn posters here on her site.

Routes: The Lighter Side of Public Transit, cover illustration by Brent Harron, who has also worked extensively in the film business. From the book by Heinz Hammer, published June 1989.

Saltwater City by Carolina Becerra, Talent Pun, Nadia Chiu, Kat Cortes, one of seven posters from the exhibition By Any Other Name. Be sure to check out all the posters. Huge Props go to Working Format Design & Typography and the Emily Carr Alumni Association for putting this show on. I’ve been an advocate for ‘more poster power in transit’ for a long time!

The physical posters are on display in the Canada Lines’ Waterfront Station starting from October 2011. It has been conceived and curated by Working Format Design & Typography together with the Emily Carr Alumni Association [source]

Thanks for sending this over, Richard!

UPDATE: Excellent interview about this work over at VancouverIsAwesome.com