vancouver

By Arleigh McKerlich

Now that the days are becoming warmer and sunnier, Vancouverites are returning to a long-time favourite recreation spot: English Bay Beach.

Residents of Vancouver have been flocking to "First Beach" since the earliest days of the city. Called "Ayyulshun" (soft under feet) by the First Nations people, the name “English Bay” commemorates the meeting of Captain George Vancouver, along with Spanish captains Valdes and Galiano, in 1792. (This is also how Spanish Banks received its name.)

The beach was opened for recreation in 1893, sand was added in 1898, and by 1900 the Davie Street tram line made it accessible to residents from all over Vancouver. Residents built a pier, summer cottages, a dance hall called "the Prom", and a bathhouse. The original structures were all built out of wood, but the current concrete bathhouse was built in 1932.

As early as 1913, visitors to English Bay who had forgotten their bathing suits could rent one (10 cents for an adult, 5 cents for a child) along with towels and lockers. The wool suits were rented until the 60s at the majority of Vancouver’s beaches.

In 1939, the bathhouse  was converted into the city's first aquarium featuring Oscar the Octopus but by 1956, the aquarium facility was closed and manager Ivar Haglund moved to Seattle and started up a seafood business (Ivar’s Acres of Clams).

Today the bathhouse has new uses, including acting as a stage during the Celebration of Lights each summer and drawing record numbers of people to its sandy shore.

Vancouver got hot this week, and the people have flooded back to the streets! Before we get sunstroked, this week’s MOVments attempt to hydrate you, dear reader, on thoughtful events from around Vancouver and Canada.

The City of Vancouver wants you to combat glass-tower syndrome with a touch of green. They’ve announced two-million dollars in grants for the Greenest City Fund. Need inspiration? Check out the latest Nerd Jam event on turning streets into parks. Who knows, maybe our next exhibit will be a comparison of New York- styled high lines, rather than Dubai-esque sea walls.

On the industrial fence, Vancouver prepares to demolish a 100-year old school house, designated as having significant historical and cultural value. It appears seismic upgrades are too expensive for the large brick building. In its wake, perhaps a mini-school could replace this large antiquated schoolhouse? Some Gastown residents are making due with only 226 square feet of breathing room - in what is known as a, ‘micro-loft’. If that’s not enough leg-room for you, maybe you’d like to get out of town on a spacious “Bolt Bus”. This extremely cheap bus service transits between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland for as little as $1 each way. Personally, I find this very confusing.

Provincially, BC marks a significant move this month with an official apology for internment of Japanese Canadians.

At the MOVeum:
May 24 - Vintage Voltage! MOV Youth Council - Free - rsvp to gmilne@museumofvancouver.ca
May 31 -  MOV AGM - come vote, meet the board and MOV staff. Exclusive talk and tour from Ivan Sayers
June 2 - Swaporama
June 8 -  Dapper/Flapper Formal
 

Despite our efforts to bring people together over stimulating talks and exhibits, the conversation of “Lonely Vancouver” has reared its lonely head once again. Luckily, however, this time it comes with a well-written and somewhat rousing remedy: Rent-A-Friend. Do you find yourself yearning for occasional companionship? If Rent A Friend is up your alley, you might want to consider this bubbling compilation of events around town as date-options. Careful, it might make Vancouver seem fun and action packed.

In Burnaby, one woman is aiming to build, not only a network of friends, but an entire community of empowered immigrants. Through launching a community market in her Edmonds neighborhood, Lubna Abdelrahman is a shining example of the type of leadership Vancouver needs to embrace. Speaking of which, did you know there is a free market taking place this Sunday in Grandview park?

While the “Regeneration” dialogues around transportation and sustainability continue this week, some are calling the series a new platform for public engagement with the City. Indeed. On the contrary, forty years ago, the City’s idea of public engagement consisted of possibly the most daring act of grant-giving in the enactment of a Town Fool.

And on that note, we leave you with some contemporary, digital tomfoolery.

What do you think? Next MOV exhibit, “#YVRlolz”? 

Take Down The Giant Sign Now – a demand, yes, but also the name of a very concerned group of residents urging for the removal of the bright and blaring 1500 sq foot signs outside newly minted BC place. At MOV, it sounds very reminiscent of the storyline of our current exhibit, Neon Vancouver Ugly Vancouver. Except we probably won’t be celebrating the anniversary of digital signs in the same nostalgic way we look at Vancouver’s chic old neon signage. Happy birthday, neon tube!

In other land-use matters, things are heating up in Mt Pleasant too. The Rize development is hearing a lot of negative feedback from neighborhood residents worried about the future of affordability in the eastside; a frustration which, apparently, dates back centuries in our fair city.

Token words? A small, yet audacious, mayor and council on Vancouver Island is challenging the current legislation and casting a broad political net for the decriminalization of marijuana. We’d love your thoughts on this! While you’re debating the challenges and benefits, take a listen to up-and-coming, Pleasure Cruise, a brand new local indie-surf rock band. One thing's for sure, this city doesn’t lack artistic merit.

And neither does this museum in London, which is unveiling the world’s largest pieces of cloth made from spider silk.

MOVeum-related event: Re:generation – How we Move our City, Wednesday January 25.