One of the most remarkable photography exhibits on Vancouver is currently wrapping up at the Presentation House Gallery Satellite space, upstairs at 560 Seymour Street.
NEWS! is a best-of collection from the Vancouver Sun photo archives – photos that don’t exist in the Vancouver Archives – photos that, unless you’re Vancouver Sun staff, you’ll never otherwise get the chance to see. For anyone remotely interested in Vancouver history, go! The exhibit ends on Saturday, March 30.
I attended the exhibit on opening night back in February. Here are a few highlights:
Yes, that’s what you think that is: Joe Strummer outside the Beatty Street Drill Hall.
David Suzuki, the “brilliant young Vancouver geneticist” in 1961. Cute!
Poor Dorothy Stratten, Vancouver’s own Dairy Queen server-tuned Playboy Playmate, ultimately murdered by her jealous hustler boyfriend two years after this photo was taken. I’m not sure who the other woman is, but there’s bound to be an interesting story there too.
An amusing photo of Bill Vander Zalm, apparently fishing at a pond at Fantasy Gardens, which he bought. I have childhood memories of playing at this now-defunct Richmond theme park/botanical garden/Dutch windmill town simulacrum. What a weirdo!
This is really just the tip of the iceberg. The photos go back to Vancouver’s earliest days, documenting, literally, the birth of our city. The photos are chronologically laid out so you can meander at your leisure and witness through the eyes of Vancouver Sun photographers the evolution of Vancouver.
Here’s a reason to go on Saturday, March 23: