THE TALK OF THE TOWN

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What Do We Have For You This Month?

Welcome to The Talk of The Town for January, 2022. Scroll through the following features (and click on images to enlarge) to find:

  • Our Lead Story: An update on the Haro Street Butterflyway project.

  • West End News & Notes: People on the move, openings and closings, and more.

  • West End Moments: Some of our favorite neighborhood moments in images.

  • West End Street Names: Most West End streets were named by CPR land commissioner and surveyor L.A. Hamilton. Here’s the story behind Bidwell Street. Next month, Broughton Street.

Our Lead Story

A BUTTERFLY LANE UPDATE
Some Delays, But The Project Continues

Charlotte Tarver confers with Haro Park's head landscaper Simon Williamson. (James Oakes Photo)

Last June The West End Journal ran a story about plans for a Butterflyway on Haro Street. Suzuki Foundation Butterly Ranger and West End resident Charlotte Tarver who is spearheading the initiative has the latest information. You can find the original story here.

by Charlotte Tarver

You might recall that I met earlier in the summer with city councillor Adriane Carr to get her support for a pollinator garden outside the Haro Park Centre along the newly reconfigured block of Haro -- between Bute and Jervis.

As the City didn’t complete the Haro Street section of the downtown water main project until the end of September, we are now setting our sights on rolling out the butterflyway garden in the Spring of 2022.

Throughout this winter I'll be working on obtaining funding grants, engaging more community members in the project, including King George Secondary students, the Girl Guides, the Haro Park garden club, and DIGA --  Disabled Independent Gardeners Association, and others. It’s turning into a bigger project than anticipated!

Meanwhile, as luck would have it, I was fortunate to meet up with Haro Park's head landscaper, Simon Williamson, to give some input on the newly renovated grounds along Bute Street. I told him about the Haro Butterfly project and suggested he put in native pollinator plants on the site. As a result, his crew planted fast-growing native ground covers about a month ago and installed river stones along the sidewalk to prevent soil erosion.

It’s not finished yet, but keep an eye out for further planting to create a structured and seasonal pollinator garden that provides habitat for birds, bees, and butterflies. I hope to tie the Butterflyway project on Haro into this site.

And finally, have you noticed the City’s posters along Bute announcing plans to construct a Bute Greenway from English Bay to Coal Harbour?  This project offers great potential to address a range of concerns --  most importantly, in my opinion, the issue of pedestrian safety along this busy corridor. I hope you were able to take part in the survey that the City conducted last month.

West End News & Notes

Outgoing Joe Fortes Library head Jane Curry.

NEWS FROM JOE FORTES LIBRARY
Fond Farewells To Longtime Staffers

Joe Fortes Library long-time head librarian Jane Curry retired at the end of December, following a distinguished career in the VPL system.

Also leaving the branch this month will be clerical supervisor Carolin Adeli-Sardo.

While the VPL does a search for permanent replacements, Els Kushner will serve as acting branch head while Shelby Miller takes over as acting children’s librarian and Christine Sandborn fills in as acting clerical supervisor.

Jane promises to stay in touch and visit her old stomping grounds from time to time, so keep an eye out for her at Joe Fortes's future events, and wish her well in her retirement.

COMMUNITY CENTRES WINTER OFFERINGS
Powering Through An Unpredictable Season

The West End Community Centre Association, which operates the centre on Denman, Coal Harbour Community Centre on Broughton, and Barclay Manor last month released its official Winter 2022 Recreation Guide, now available at all three venues and other community gathering places.

All programs and activities are being operated under the current health guidelines, which are changing frequently, so you are encouraged to register early for the programs of your choice (many fill up quickly), familiarize yourself with the current Public Health directives, and be prepared to be flexible.

As always, the three venues offer a wide variety of programs for all ages. From hip hop and ballet for the five and under set, to language, martial arts, and gardening classes and workshops to dance, yoga, and other activities for seniors, there is literally something for everyone.

Register here, or call the West End centre at 604.257.8333 or Coal Harbour at 604.718.8222 for further information and the latest programming updates.

VANCOUVER VICE
A Seedier Side of the West End’s History

Bestselling author, musician, and cultural historian Aaron Chapman’s latest book explores the gritty history of the West End in the 1970s and '80s.

Chapman, a two-time Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award-winning author, has made a career of exploring and exposing the darker side of Vancouver’s history, with such books as Liquor, Lust, and the Law (the story of the Penthouse Nightclub), The Last Gang In Town (the tale of the VPD versus the Clark Park Gang), and Live At The Commodore (the history of the iconic ballroom).

In Vancouver Vice Chapman turns his gaze toward the city's tumultuous West End in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the West End's tree-lined streets were also populated by sex workers, both female and male, who fought a well-publicized turf war with residents. This, combined with a rising crime rate, invited the closer attention of the Vancouver police, including its vice squad. But after a body was found dumped in nearby Stanley Park, it was discovered that the victim's high-profile connections reached far beyond the streets and back alleys of the West End, making for one of the most shocking investigations in Vancouver history, with secrets long-held, and never fully told until now.

Vancouver Vice reveals the captivating beating heart of a neighborhood long before the arrival of gentrifying condo towers and coffee bars. Part murder mystery, investigative expose, and cultural history, this book transports readers back to a grittier, more chaotic time in the city, when gambling dens prevailed, police listened in on wire taps, and hustlers plied their trade on street corners. With warm regard and a whiff of nostalgia, Vancouver Vice peers behind the curtain to examine how the city once indulged in its vices, and at what cost.

West Enders interested in revising a time they lived through, or learning more about their neighborhood’s not-so-distant history, can find Vancouver Vice at Little Sister’s bookstore on Davie and Indigo on Robson.

The volunteers who make Clothes & Collectibles Thrift Shop humming (Silmara Emde Photo)

THANK YOU, VOLUNTEERS!
So Much Wouldn’t Happen Without You

International Volunteer Day was last month, an opportunity to show a little gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers who keep our community humming.

Volunteers like this great team at the Clothes & Collectibles thrift shop in Denman Mall, and all the other volunteers at West End Seniors' Network whose programs and services sales at C&C support.

And may we add a big shout-out to the volunteers at the West End and Coal Harbour Community Centres, Gordon Neighbourhood House, Barclay Manor, the Stanley Park Ecology Society, St. Paul's Anglican, and St. Andrew's-Wesley United churches, the West End Community Policing Centre, and so many others.

That's a lot of gratitude to share!

West End Moments

Out and about in the West End, you never know who or what you’ll see. Here are a few special moments you may have missed … click on any image to read the story.

West End Street Names

BIDWELL STREET

Another example of a typographical error gone viral, Bedwell Bay, on Indian Arm, was misspelled on the map that Hamilton used to name West End streets.

Both the street and the bay are named in honor of Edward Parker Bedwell, who was the second master, under Captain Richards, of the survey vessel HMS Plumper (1837 - 1860) and was later master of its replacement vessel, the HMS Hecate, for which Hecate Strait is named.

For more West End street name histories visit our “Developing Stories” section here.