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 February 2021. Scroll through the following features (and click on images to enlarge) to find:

  • West End News & Notes: A roundup of West End-Coal Harbour community news, announcements, and other local gossip.

  • Milestones: Events of note in the lives of our community. Career moves, unions, births, and fond farewells.

  • Name That Lane: Three years ago the City started naming eight of the laneways that run east and west through the West End. This month Lucas Pilleri shares the story behind Pantages Lane.

  • West End-Coal Harbour In The News: Links to the past month’s reports in BC’s leading news outlets relating directly to our community — in cased you missed them.

West End News & Notes

(Peter McCue Photo)

BEES ON THE ROAD

Seen about town lately, this car belongs to Joe Average’s business partner, who is manufacturing and selling the masks with Joe's work on them, with partial proceeds going to Children's Hospital.

Said partner is a Chinese based businessman with a couple of factories in China, has been a patron of Joe's for many years, and has been stranded in Vancouver by the pandemic, so he’s turned his car into a promotion for the masks and a fundraiser for a good cause.

Find out more, and order some masks, here.

TOWERS A-POPPING UP ALL OVER!

The latest entry in the towers of glass and steel sweepstakes is a pair of very unusual (some might say bizarre) residential buildings slated for Alberni and Bidwell. Developers tell us that the towers are “designed to mimic large undulating cedars to lend a Vancouver character and identity to the project”.

The West End Journal this month launches a new section, “Developing Stories” where we will try to bring you the latest news and design, details, and marketing information about the numerous new developments popping up, and in March we plan to have a commentary on the subject of the deviations from the 2013 West End Community Plan that many West Enders are expressing concerns about with these projects.

Stay tuned!

The Windsor at 1924 Barclay is among the properties recently acquired by an Ontario firm.

APARTMENT BUYING SPREE
Six West End Buildings Purchased

Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. ("Crestpoint") has purchased two significant Canadian property holdings, including the Vancouver Legacy Apartment Portfolio,

The Legacy holdings are comprised of  15 multi-family residential properties, acquired from six different vendors, strategically located across Metro Vancouver. The West End properties acquired in the purchase include: the 38-unit Bay Tower at 1461 Harwood; the 48-unit Cresta at 855 Jervis; the 37-unit Riviera at 1260 Nicola; the 41-unit Glenmore at 1855 Barclay; the 61-unit Cardello at 1580 Haro; and the 42-unit Windsor at 1924 Barclay.

With older buildings changing hands the most dreaded word is “renovictions”, while those other dreaded words “development potential” aren’t far from West Enders’ thoughts either.

Read more about this major rental properties purchase here.

AND NOW, OLIV - THE MOVIE!

Sightings of Vancouver Empress X Oliv out and about in Davie Village are not that rare, and with her signature fashion sense, she’s hard to miss! But if you have seen her recently with an entourage that included a camera and mic, you’ve witnessed a moment in the making of a new documentary, Empress of Vancouver.

Chronicling the past 60 years of transformation in Vancouver’s queer community, a shifting landscape reflected in Oliv Howe’s own incredible life story, the feature film is written and directed by Dave Rodden-Shortt.

Anyone familiar with Oliv will know that this will be a no-holds-barred look at the good, the bad, and the … well, that other stuff too!

For a bit of a catch-up on Oliv’s legendary life, this column written by The West End Journal’s editor and publisher will bring you up to speed. Stay tuned for an announcement about the release of the film.

Signs of love, like these balls and umbrellas planned for Yaletown, will be everywhere around town in February, including Jim Deva Plaza.

HEART BOMBING
Love Your City!

A giant's handful of giant 'candy' hearts, heart-shaped decals and a whole lot of pink are just a few of the ways local business organizations are encouraging Vancouverites to take part in this year’s 'Love Your City' campaign and the West End Business Improvement Association will be turning Jim Deva Plaza into a celebration of civic love.

Visit the plaza and enter contests by adding a couple of hashtags to your photos: #LoveYourCity and #FindLoveWestEnd. The contest draws will take place on a regular basis while a grand prize worth over $5,000 will be drawn for at the end of the month.

There will be some place-making activity, giant heart candies (no nibbling!) and an array of love-themed decals on surfaces all over the plaza. Visit soon, visit often — through February. Find more information on the program, here.

MORE HEARTS
And while we’re in the mood for showing a little love, St. Andrew’s-Wesley church will be conducting an online auction, “Open Arms, Big Hearts” through February 10 to help fund eight refugees who want to start a new life in Vancouver.

The Refugee Committee at St. Andrew’s-Wesley has previously provided sponsorship for families and individuals who have found themselves in danger, threatened, and unsafe in their homeland and therefore forced to flee. This year the committee (and you!) will sponsor eight more people, including a single gay man, a woman with three young sons, and a single gay man along with his two sisters. Funds raised through the auction will help provide the basic needs of housing, food, and accompaniment for these people who are seeking a life that is safe and secure.

Find out more, and take part in the auction, here.

Milestones

hePhil Moon and his pal Mist.

FOND FAREWELLS

PHILIP MOON (March 29, 1938 - January 21, 2021). Phil was a popular bar owner in Davie Village for over 40 years, opening Numbers in 1980 and owning or co-owning several other venues over the years, including Rocks Cafe, the Oasis Pub, Sugar Daddies, and the Fountainhead Pub, as well as a brief run with Hamburger Mary’s.

When not overseeing his many business ventures, Phil enjoyed handball, bowling, and golf.

Phil is survived by his partner of 30 years Gary Barkley, his two daughters Sandra and Wendy, five grandchildren, and Mist, his beloved Chi Chi.

CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER!

West End lawyer barbara findlay.

BARBARA FINDLAY … The Canadian Bar Association’s B.C. branch (CBABC) has named long-time Davie Village lawyer barbara findlay QC as the 2020 recipient of the Georges A. Goyer QC Memorial Award for Distinguished service.

She had been locked up in a mental hospital as a teenager for being a lesbian, began practicing law in the seventies when there were no human rights protections for homosexuals, and has since been a huge part of the movement to eliminate legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ2SI+ community.

findlay – who doesn’t capitalize her name - in saying that she is honoured to receive the award, added: “However, to me, the most important part of the award is its recognition that fighting for ostracized or marginalized communities is important to the profession. Although awards are individual, the work of bringing equality for lesbians and gay men, and to begin that road for trans folk, was the work of an entire movement.”

D’ORO GELATO E CAFFE … This West End restaurant, with locations on Denman and Robson, been awarded the Ospitalità Italiana Award - a seal honouring restaurants worldwide that exhibit the authentic spirit of Italian hospitality. Cuisine is as integral to Italian culture as music or art and the Ospitalità Italiana Award, issued by the Italian Government to Italian restaurants all over the world, guarantees the respect of the typical standard of Italian hospitality.

Formerly “Mondo Gelato Caffè” and “Gelarmony,” D’oro Gelato e Caffè has been home to the ultimate gelato experience since 2000 when founder, Maurizio Grande opened the first location on Denman.

“We are a true ‘Gelateria Artigianale,’” says Pino Bacinello, current co-owner with his partner Kristina Sonney. “We produce fresh gelato in small batches daily and use only the freshest and highest quality ingredients following original Sicilian recipes.”

Well done!

Name That Lane

In 2017, the City of Vancouver started to rename eight laneways in the West End after local prominent figures. Who were these people? Why are we honouring their names? What legacy did they leave behind? Let’s find out about the little-known stories of some of our greatest leaders, activists and pioneers.

Peter Pantages at English Bay in 1927 (Vancouver Archives Photo)

PANTAGES LANE

by Lucas Pilleri

Located between Davie and Burnaby streets, Pantages Lane runs from Burrard Street to Denman Street.

Peter Basil Pantages (1901-1971) was the founder of the famous Polar Bear Swim Club in Vancouver and its long-time director for 51 years. Born into a Greek family of entertainment entrepreneurs, he also owned the Peter Pan Café on Granville Street, a popular spot for celebrations and the Greek community.

Born in Greece, Peter Pantages immigrated to Vancouver in 1919. The 18-year-old young man was passionate about swimming – it is said that he would swim up to three times a day in English Bay, every single day of the year!

Only a year after his arrival, Peter founded the Polar Bear Swim Club by convincing some of his friends to jump in the cold water on January 1, proving the ocean was never too cold to enjoy a bath. Just like that, a tradition was born.

The Polar Bear Swim celebrated its 100th birthday in 2020, attracting about 7,000 swimmers. According to historian Eve Lazarus, who published Vancouver Exposed in September 2020, participants would at first swim 300 metres or so around the pier that used to stand in English Bay. After it disappeared in 1939, a new tradition was launched with swimmers sprinting out to a red buoy located about 100 metres from the shore.

Every year, according to statistics published by the City of Vancouver, a couple of thousand people honour Peter Pantages’ legacy by taking the plunge in three- to nine-degree water. The Vancouver Polar Bear Swim Club is one of the largest and oldest in the world and the first of its kind in Canada. Today’s president is none other than Lisa Pantages, Peter’s granddaughter.

In addition to being a swimmer, Peter Pantages was a restaurateur. He was the proud owner of the Peter Pan Café located on Granville Street, a piece of Vancouver’s history where people would celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, or have big parties for no specific reason.

The apple never falls far from the tree: the Pantages were one of the most important families in Vancouver’s entertainment industry. Peter’s uncle, Alexander, opened the famous Pantages Theatre in 1907, specialized in vaudeville in its early days, and his son Basil, who died in November 2020, owned many clubs in town.

Peter Pantages died in 1971 in Hawaii from a heart attack. He was swimming, of course.

West End-Coal Harbour In The News

Each month West End Journal brings you a summary of the previous month’s stories in local media about West End and Coal Harbour events and issues, with links to the articles — just in case you missed them.

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Thank you!
Kevin Dale McKeown
Editor & Publisher