Places Archive

Alexander Pantages is important in the show business history of Vancouver because he built two theatres here that were part of his vaudeville empire, and because of his influence on the careers of two men who were important in the Orpheum’s story: Marcus Priteca and Tony Heinsbergen. Pantages’ life story reads like an adventure novel. He was a sailor, a laborer, a Klondike prospector, a guide, a bartender, saloon co-owner……

It’s been hit by lightning, plugged with rocks, short-circuited, silenced by work stoppages and even (briefly) stolen but Vancouver’s famed old Nine O’Clock Gun has—as faithfully as circumstances have allowed—boomed out the time of day from its home in Stanley Park for 107 years now. The early life of this famed 12-pounder muzzle-loaded naval cannon is vaguely known. Thanks to an inscription on the gun itself, we know it was made by H & C King in 1816……

There are people who’ve lived in Vancouver all their lives and never seen it, yet 2005 marks the 95th anniversary of the dramatic double-domed Shaughnessy giant, the Tait Mansion.

A retired B.C. lumberman named William Lamont Tait built the place, and critical reception to it was mixed right from the start. There are some who think it’s the ugliest house in Vancouver, some who think it’s beautiful—and some, like me, who simply stand looking at it, open-mouthed…..