THE TALK OF THE TOWN
/What Do We Have For You This Month?
Welcome to “The Talk of The Town” for November, 2026. Click on the following links to find:
West End News & Notes: An update on the Nelson Park substation, a plea for help from a local business, a special Dine on Denman promotion, two book launches, and much more …
Word On The Street: Openings, closing, staff changes, and promises of things to come.
Lest We Forget: Hundreds of West Enders perished in the first World War. Let us remember a few of their names.
West End Moments: Photos capturing moments of West End life by local photographers.
Hidden Treasure Hunt: Be the first to email us identifying the location of this West End “Hidden Treasure” and win your choice of a $50 coffee shop gift card.
West End Street & Lane Names: Vancouver’s streets and lanes each has their own history. Here’s the story of Eiu and See-Em-Ia Lanes.
West End / Coal Harbour In The News: In case you missed it, here’s a round-up of last month’s news stories from our community.
(click images to enlarge)
West End News & Notes
NELSON PARK SUBSTATION GETS GREEN LIGHT
Subhead
the future look of nelson park, according to an artist’s rendering.
As we prepared to launch this issue of The West End Journal we received an email informing us that the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) had completed its independent review of the West End Substation project and issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.
This decision allows the project to move forward to the construction phase, which is expected to begin in mid-November.
This news broke too late for us to do any follow-up, but stay tuned to our Facebook page for updates. In the meantime you can find the BCUC report here and the BC Hydro project webpage here.
HELP SAVE DENMAN SHOE REPAIR
Still a bit short of the fundraising goal
HuengSeo Kim is keeping the family business going while his son daniel recovers from eye surgery. (KDM Photo)
We’ve never repeated a Talk of the Town item in these pages before, but last month’s appeal for support for our neighbourhood shoe repair business is still top of mind.
Last August the owner of Denman Shoe Repair at 982 Denman, Daniel Kim, was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery for a detached retina. The surgery went well and Daniel is now resting in recovery mode. In addition to the business Daniel has two young daughters, ages 8 and 2, and is also a pastor at a Korean church in Burnaby. During his recovery period he will need to step down from both of these work roles.
Daniel’s father, HeungSeo Kim, who opened the business in 2011, has been keeping shop hours Mondays and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. to keep things going. Daniel is doing well and expected to be back at the shop sometime in November. In the meantime, the fundraising appeal to help the shop and the Kim family stay afloat has fallen a bit short of their original goal. So if you’ve a mind to help a local business out in t time of need, make a donation to the fundraiser here.
DINE ON DENMAN
Celebrate the flavours of the West End Nov. 5 - 19
Arthur Aschiam at the cozy walk will be among the denman street restaurateurs welcoming you to dine on denman. (Jacqui Birchall Photos)
Speaking of supporting local businesses, the busy folks at the West End Business Improvement Association (West End BIA) has organized a two week culinary celebration showcasing the diverse restaurants that make Denman Street and nearby areas a beloved dining destination.
With 15 restaurants participating, explore their specially curated three-course prix-fixe menus priced at $35, $45, and $55. Drop by one of your all-time favourite spots, or discover a new neighbourhood gem — or over the two weeks do both, maybe a couple of times. It’s all there for your enjoyment.
Participating restaurants include: España Restaurant, Tavola, Nook, S.A.M.E. Vietnamese Eatery, Noah’s Cafe, Fresh Solo Pasta, The Sauce Pasta Cafe, Shack Stack, Papi’s Seafood and Oyster Bar, Café Portrait, Bomb ay Kitchen on Denman, Dan Dan Noodle, Peaked Pies, The Cozy Wok, and Modern Handi Indian Cuisine.
Find the participating restaurants menus and reservation details here. Bon appetite!
Caelte and robin ouside ashby House. (JAMES OAKES PHOTO)
OUR FURRY FRIENDS
Meet Caelte
This month we introduce a new feature, spotlighting the many neighbourhood dogs, cats, and maybe even the occasional hamster. We start with …
Robin Richardson’s friend Caelte. That’s pronounced “Kelty”, for the non-Gaelic speakers out there. Caelte is an eight-year-old Scotty who has shared Robin’s Ashby House Bed & Breakfast on Bute Street since she was a three-month old pup.
Robin tells us that Caelte’s defining characteristic is unusual for a Scottish Terrier (as the breed is more formally known), in that she is very people friendly — pretty much an essential trait when you live in a bed and breakfast. She was purchased from a breeder in Alberta who since 1959 has made a point of developing a more friendly line of this traditionally stubborn, one-person, ratter.
You can often find Caelte on the front porch at Ashby House greeting her many neighbourhood friends as they pass by. Say hello …. treats are always welcome!
Kevin Spenst.
A TALE OF TWO BOOK LAUNCHES
West End Authors Release New Works
As regular readers know, the West End is a hotbed of talented authors, poets, and learned scholars whose works we often write about.
This month two of those West Enders will be launching new books at special events. You are cordially invited to join them.
Kevin Spenst will launch his latest book, Stanley Park Manor: A Collective Memoir on Wednesday, November 18 at Outsider & Others (938 Howe Street. Doors 6:30 p.m. & reading at 7. A second reading will take place with co-author Lyn Guy in a narrated video at Roedde House at 8 p.m. Thursday, November 19.
Wendy Sarkissian.
The book is a compilation of stories and memories of residents and previous managers, like Ms. Guy, of Haro Street’s venerable 1930 apartment block the Stanley Park Manor (if you hadn’t guessed!). More information here.
Wendy Sarkissian, who has contributed several pieces on West End development to The West End Journal, will launch her Twilight River Trilogy at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 21 at Friends For Life (1459 Barclay). These are three powerful books about personal and climate grief, our changing climate, and the healing power of Nature. For more information and tickets, visit here.
You’ll also find these events and many more in our Mark Your Calendar section, so check that out too.
THE BUNNY GARDEN
A touch of whimsy
As winter sets in here’s a reminder of the pleasures of strolling West End streets on sunnier days, and discovering some of the sponsored gardens maintained by local residents. Like this “Bunny Garden” on the south-west corner of Gilford and Comox. Created and cared for by a local resident known to neighbours as Edina, the garden is an oasis of whimsy and colour. Click on each photo to enlarge and see if you can spot the bunnies and some of the other tiny critters lurking in the foiliage. (James Oakes Photos)
Word On The Street
KEEPING UP?
Businesses and personnel have seen many changes, good ones and sad, that it’s a challenge to keep up. Here’s some news on several fronts.
NEW OWNERS AT THE DAVIE ART SHOP
40 years of art sales and framing
Mo Safari and wife Sogol are the new owners of the Davie Art Shop. (James Oakes Photo - click image to enlarge)
by James Oakes
This past July, after 40 years of ownership, Phillip Tran handed over the reigns of The Davie Art Shop to new owners Mo and Sogol Safari. The Iranian-Canadian couple are the fifth proprietors of the shop since the original location near Bute and Davie opened around 1930. Sogol is an accomplished artist herself, and Mo, who worked as a machinist in Iran, is the "handyman", as he puts it.
After the shop officially changed hands, Phillip offered to stay on for three weeks, showing how things worked. Since then they have hosted several "opening" events featuring local artists. Among some of the more prominent artists to be found in the shop are Tony Only, Tony Max, Barbara Wood, Paul Ygartua, and First Nations artists Richard Shorty, David Gonzales, of the Squamish Nation.
Drop by, welcome them to the neighbourhood, and buy something special for that empty space on your wall!
ELECTRIC VEHICLE POWER STATION COMING TO DENMAN
Crews working on a new electric Vehicle charging station site at Denman and Comox. (Rob Caseyt Photo)
For more than 15 years the north-west corner of Denman and Pendrell has been an unkempt parking lot. Some longtime West Enders will remember when it was the site of a Shell gas station, from the late ‘40s through to the early 2010s. Today it is the scene of some busy clearing, digging, and construction work.
Signage indicates that the work is being done by Power Pros Electrical, a BC based firm, and a contact with the company confirmed that they are building an electric vehicle charging station on behalf of the developers, Wesgroup Properties. The charging station will service local residents who don’t have charging facilicities in their own buildings, passers-by, and delivery vehicles.
The new charging station should be open soon, and The West End Journal will keep you posted.
Michael White.
WELCOME TO THE ‘HOOD!
New leadership at PAL Vancouver
Michael White has been named as PAL Vancouver’s new president, replacing outgoing president Cal Shumiatcher.
PAL (Performing Arts Lodge) Vancouver is a housing complex on Cardero, just north of West Georgia, for seniors from the performing and other arts fields in Vancouver. The facility is also the site to our community’s only dedicated theatre space, PAL Studio Theatre, the home of Western Gold Theatre.
White is a respected urban planning leader with 25 years of experience across North America, the Middle East and Asia. His expertise spans urban and regional planning, transportation, strategic planning, community development and Indigenous engagement, with a focus on affordability, reconciliation, sustainability and connectivity.
During more than a decade with the City of Vancouver’s Planning Department, he played a leading role in community planning, transit integration and citywide policy initiatives. He subsequently became one of the founding managers of the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, guiding its Planning Policy team from 2007 to 2011.
After returning to Vancouver in 2011, Michael became a Principal at AECOM Canada, working on projects across Canada, Abu Dhabi and the Philippines.
Michael holds a Master of Science in Planning from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts. He is a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners.
The West End welcomes Michael White, and extends thanks to outgoing president Cal Shumiatcher for his dedicated service.
Lest We Forget
LEST WE FORGET
Hundreds of West Enders died in WW I. Remember their names.
by Daryl Nelson
November 11 is the day we remember and give thanks for the service of the men and woman who payed the ultimate price for our freedom. Many of those in service in the World War I were West Enders. Let us pause this month to remember their names.
They were all someone’s brother, son, husband or friend. The collective grief of the West End must have been staggering.
If we could cast our minds back to when these young men were hunkered down in some muddy trench in Europe wondering when the order would come to “go over the top” did they ever, just for a moment, think about their lives in the West End? Did they remember playing ball at Lord Roberts School, swimming in English Bay or listening to a concert at the bandstand in Alexandra Park? Did they recall exploring Stanley Park or walking down Denman Street on a nice day? I like to think that, if for only a moment, these memories may have provided some solace from what they were facing.
This following are entries on the map that Global News produced from records of The Canadian Great War Association. Each poppy on the map represents a Canadian killed in the First World War.
The map shows that 1,401 Vancouverites were killed in World War I, of that number perhaps 200+ were from the West End. Here are a few who made the sacrifice.
John McLean
1656 Pendrell Street
Rank: Gunner
Died: October 27, 1917
Buried or commemorated at Air—Noulette Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Archibald Cockburn
1328 Barclay Street
Rank: Lieutenant
Died: September 2, 1918
Civilian Occupation: Timekeeper
Buried or commemorated at: Dury Mill Cemetery, France
Alfred Henry
1709 Burnaby Street
Rank: Private
Died: June 3, 1917
Civilian Occupation: Mechanic
Buried or commemorated at Villers Station Cemetery, France
Clayton Keyes
1657 Robson Street
Rank: Private
Died: January 17, 1917
Buried or commemorated at Barlin Communal Cemetery,
Pas de Calais, France
Cuthbert John Creery
1389 Jervis Street
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Died: October 20, 1916
Buried or commemorated at: Heilly Station Cemetery,
Mericourt-L’Abbe, France
Robert Hulbert Creery|
1389 Jervis Street
Died: April 23, 1917
Civilian Occupation: Student
Buried or commemorated at: Duisans British Cemetery,
Etrun, Pas de Calais, France
As so the names go on and on – perhaps a hundred pages of young men from the West End, who were gone much too soon.
You can find the Global News map here.
Lest We Forget
West End Moments
Our community is blessed with many avid photographers, documenting moments that alarm, amuse, and inform. Click on each photo to see the story. Send your latest photos to editor@thewestendjournal.ca.
West End Street & Lane Names
EIHU & SEE-EM-IA LANES
(click images to enlarge)
Two of the named West End lanes have a family connection, illustrative of the intermarriages between Hawaiian settlers and First Nations.
A kanaka ranch family photo.
Eihu was one of the original settlers at Kanaka Ranch, an informal settlement of native Hawaiians located on the south shore of Coal Harbour. He married Mary See-em-ia, the granddaughter of Chief Capilano. Mary was also married to indigenous Hawaiian Joe Nahanee, at a time when such multi-party relationships were not unusual, in part because of the relative scarcity of women in the community..
Kanaka Ranch, circa 1890s. (click images to enlarge)
In the 1800s, thousands of people came from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest in order to work in the fur trade and the fishing industries.
Kanaka Ranch, circa 1890s.
The Kanakas – whose name derives from a Polynesian term meaning a human being or person – arrived in the 19th century to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Kanakas were workers from various Pacific islands employed in British colonies, with Canadian Kanakas all being Hawaiian in origin.
Many of them married local women, often from First Nations, and settled permanently – including Eihu, Joe Nahanee, James Keamo and Nahu, while others returned to Hawaii once their work was complete.
(Lane sign photos by james oakes)
Because Eihu was married to Chief Capilano’s granddaughter, members of both Hawaiian and Squamish families lived together at Kanaka Ranch, creating the first roots of Hawaiian-First Nations inheritance.
Although Kanakas merged with local communities, losing some of their ethnic traits over time, many British Columbians still trace their ancestry back to these Hawaiian pioneers.
Located between Alberni and Robson streets, Eihu Lane runs from Burrard to Chilco, with a short interruption between Jervis and Bute.
Another West End lane, See-em-ia Lane, between Pendrell and Davie, is named after Mary See-em-ia.
Born in 1838, Mary See-em-ia was the granddaughter of Chief Joe Capilano, leader of the Squamish from 1895 to 1910. She married the two Hawaiian settlers Eihu and Joe Nahanee. Together they lived at Kanaka Ranch, a settlement of native Hawaiians located on the south shore of Coal Harbour.
Mary See-em-ia’s life echoes the story of many First Nations whose land was taken from them in order to develop the West Coast. At the end of the 19th century, Mary See-em-ia and her two children William Nahanee and Maggie Eihu were still living at Kanaka Ranch, but the pressure from private interests and the expansion of the Canadian Pacific Railway were intensifying in the region, starting to shape what would become Vancouver.
In 1899, Mary wrote a letter to the mayor and city council to protest against land developers. “Notwithstanding our title to said land, said real estate dealer has broken down our fences, destroyed portions of our orchard, and taken possession of five-sixths of our land, and they destroyed and burned three of our dwelling houses, and consequently left some of the family in destitute circumstances.”
In the end, the family decided to relocate to the north shore of Burrard Inlet, where Mary passed away in 1905.
Hidden Treasure Hunt
IDENTIFY THIS PHOTO …
Win A $50 Coffee Shop Gift Card
The first reader to contact editor@thewestendjournal.ca and correctly identify the location of this image will win a $50 gift card to their choice of Blenz, Delaney’s, Melriche’s, Waves, J.J. Bean, or Greenhorn Cafe.
So if you recognize this unique piece of art write in now!
The answer, and the clue to the next contest, will appear in our November issue.
The photos and information in the answers were originally published in TWEJ several years ago as part of our “Hidden Treasures” series by Vancouver author Dianne Maguire.
LAST MONTH’S WINNER IS …
Congratulations Alaina Kotowski!
The lifelike bronze mare and foal sculptures at Marina Square park along Bayshore Drive in Coal Harbour, were created by Canadian sculptor Joe Fafard (1942–2019), a celebrated Canadian artist from Saskatchewan known for his bronze and laser-cut metal sculptures of animals.
Titled “Evangeline and Flowers” this privately owned work was installed in 2004.
There is little more information about the sculptures or the owner available, but you can google the artist’s name to learn more about his life and extensive career.
West End / Coal Harbour In The News
Police Crackdown on E-Scooters / Vancouver Sun / Oct 2 / Police target helmetless, underage, and doubled-up riders and other risky behaviour.
Man’s Pants Set On Fire In Random Attack: Vancouver Sun / Oct. 7 / A man sitting alone on a park bench near Beach and Davie was approached by an unknown suspect. The suspect threw a liquid accelerant onto the 57-year-old victim’s pant leg and ignited it with a lighter before fleeing the scene.
Appeal Court Pauses Aquatic Centre Demolition / Daily Hive / Oct. 13 / The demolition of the Aquatic Centre and its planned replacement with a pool half the size of the current one, has been paused until November 3, one day after the newly elected Park Board’s first meeting.
