Super Size Victoria Historical Photos - from the VANCOUVER Archives

[zoomer]

Sorry, for screaming the Vancouver Archives, but its frustrating how the Victoria and Provincial Archives fail the public by not providing us with a real online look at our history beyond the tiny little pics they bother posting.

In March 2012 a whole whack load of new Victoria pics surfaced on the Vancouver Archives site, in glorious large size (3000 by x).

I'll post a few below. If you click on the photo you'll get the Super Size Me version.

First up, Government Street in 186? from this page:



Next, the Empire Day Parade (Victoria Day) in May 1946. Who the heck knew the Parade went up Yates Street? From this page



And Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in Victoria in 1922 taken from here:

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, his wife with Capt. and Mrs. Waard on board Chinese Junk "Amoy" which crossed Pacific Ocean; Shanghai to Victoria B.C. in 87 days.

[Sparky]

Thanks zoomer. Those are great quality. Suitable for framing.

[slinkyo]

The movie at Capitol Theatre was from 1946 - The Harvey Girls-Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury

[LJ]

^I found it odd in the parade picture that so few men in the crowd were wearing hats.

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by LJ

^I found it odd in the parade picture that so few men in the crowd were wearing hats.

I think the war changed that custom.

[LJ]

I was thinking that as well but I remember my dad wearing hats well into the 50's and maybe later. There were hatracks in every office that were always in use.

[aastra]

I see plenty of men wearing hats in that picture.

[Holden West]

The men without hats mostly appear around 20 years old. I think hat-wearing was far more common among adult men. Like pipe-smoking it probably would have been seen as an affectation among younger guys.

Men Without Hats would be a good name for a band.

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by Holden West

The men without hats mostly appear around 20 years old.

Young men....just back from the war.

[LJ]

Originally Posted by Sparky

Young men....just back from the war.

Twenty would be a little young to be back from the war I think.

Are we judging their age by the amount of hair they have?

My dad and his friends were all back from the war and they all wore hats.

[Sparky]

I'm sorry LJ, I generalized that statement.

"All generalizations are wrong...including this one."

It was 1955 when my dad was driving my brother and I to Cloverdale school. It was 8:30 in the morning and we passed a gentleman mowing his lawn....yes ..wearing a hat.

I was 5 years old. I was curious. I asked dad why he didn't wear a hat.

After almost a minute of silence.

"I wore a phucking helmet night and day for two god damned years...."

I suppose it was personal....I never brought it up again.

[LJ]

Ah that would explain your viewpoint then alright.

Didn't seem to bother my dad but he was in the engineers and the only injury he got was a piece of shrapnel from a mine.

[Sparky]

Thank you for that LJ

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by LJ

I was thinking that as well but I remember my dad wearing hats well into the 50's and maybe later. There were hatracks in every office that were always in use.

In the 50's my both of my grandfathers would wear a suit and tie to a picnic in during hot summer months.

[zoomer]

Today's Vancouver Archive picture of Victoria is of R.B. McMicking's drawing room at 102 Menzies St (appears to have been replaced by an apartment building) circa 1893. The photo is from this page, and if click on the pic below, you'll get the full size:



Interesting to see the photos hung at an angle, looking down at those sitting on the chairs. I see a few peacock feathers, local I presume. A bit cluttered for my liking, but I'm sure if the residents of Victoria at the time could look into the future and see a typical stark, minimalist modern condo with stainless steel appliances it might be depressing for them.

I'm assuming this house belongs to the same Robert Burns McMicking (now there's a Scottish name laddy!) who was instrumental in the early telephone and electricity days of Victoria.

He is perhaps best known for demonstrating Victoria's first two telephones on March 22, 1878.

In 1883 he introduced "Arc electric lights for street illumination. And three towers of 150 feet in height, having clusters of lamps at top were erected" (that link has a lengthy bio on R.B.). He also founded the Victoria and Esquimalt Telephone Company (hey, what's old is new again - re: VICPD!), served on City Council, led musical services for St. Andrews and was Grand Master (not Flash) of the BC and Yukon Masonic Lodge.

He may have also had the first patent which originated from B.C. in 1876 for a glass insulator and bracket for air line telegraph.

[Ken Johnson]

Thanks for the heads up on the additional photos available from the Vancouver Public Library. Eight years ago, when doing research on the construction of the Legislative Buildings, I found them to be open and cooperative - willing to share all the information they had or could. This is contrary to some other local archives who feel they have a proprietary interest in our history.

[Rob Randall]

That drawing room photo is pretty amazing. It's on the BC archives site but in tiny .gif of course.

I can't believe it's typical and suspect it was staged to show what was the ideal Victorian decorating scheme. I know Victorian decor could look cluttered but you couldn't navigate that room without tripping over everything. It's comical. There's enough seating for a party but if more than three people entered that room it would be like an episode of Hoarders.

I do picture framing and I have never had anyone request a painting wired so that it hung down at that crazy angle. However, if you want it I will do it for you. A more popular request is picture rail hangers to hang art from the wooden moulding near the ceiling as shown above. Many Victoria homes still have them.

Regarding the ratio of men to hats discussed above, check out this 1923 Vancouver shot:

http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2012/...-in-vancouver/

[aastra]

Jubilee Hospital, 1963:
[Job no. 869] : Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria B.C. - City of Vancouver Archives

Direct link to pic...