THE TALK OF THE TOWN
/What Do We Have For You This Month?
Welcome to The Talk of The Town for April 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.
West End Moments: With many great photographers in our community, we like to share some of the best images each month.
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 concludes his series with the story behind Maxine Lane.
West End News & Notes
The West End Community Centre Association’s Spring Recreation Guide is now available, online and in print.
COMMUNITY CENTRES SPRING PROGRAMS
West End and Coal Harbour Ready For The Season
Spring registration for many popular programs offered by the West End Community Centre Association (WECCA), which operates the Denman Street, Coal Harbour, and Barclay Manor sites, opened last month, with programs and activities being run under the current COVID-19 guidelines. The Denman Street’s Fitness Centre remains closed while it undergoes extensive upgrades and renovations, but there’s still lots to keep you busy and connected.
The full spring program is now posted on the WECCA website here, and you’ll find copies of the printed Spring Recreation Guide (cover shown here) at the Centres and in many coffee shops and other community locations.
Stay safe, and stay engaged!
THE FOUNTAINS ARE RUNNING AGAIN!
Residents’ Plea Results In Action
Last month we shared an open letter to Vancouver Parks Board general manager Donnie Rosa asking her to take a look at the several West End water features that had been dry for the past three years. These included fountains in Barclay Heritage Square, Nelson Park, Bute and the Haro mini-park, and at the intersection of Pacific and Beach Avenues.
Well, talk about squeaky wheels getting the oil! Within three weeks workers were on-site clearing debris, checking the plumbing, and otherwise preparing the fountains for reactivation. And we’re pleased to report that at least two of these fountains are now running, once again offering, as the open letter said, “… residents a pleasant destination for relaxation and communing with nature -- particularly small children, adolescents, seniors and birds.”
When the fountains were not flowing, as the open letter noted, these parks looked and felt neglected and shabby.
“As of last week, all four fountains in the West End have been turned on” petition organizer James Oakes reports, “albeit at low pressure. We hope this means that staff are testing them and that the fountains will soon be flowing at full pressure. We also note that the newly installed plastic nozzle on the Bute mini-park fountain is not consistent with the artist’s original vision. We hope they are waiting for a proper replacement spout. And the water features at the Bute mini-park and Barclay Heritage Square are in need of pressure washing.
“We’re hopeful, but we’re not quite there yet” Oakes concludes.
Kudos to West Enders concerned enough to take action, and to the Park Board for responding promptly.
(Photos by James Oakes / click images to enlarge)
The latest wave of infections, and ensuing wave of restrictions, may make April 9 an optimistic goal for reopening, but along with many other West End businesses, Anytime Fitness is doing the right thing.
COVID CLOSURES
Playing By The Rules
At what we quaintly call “press time” here at The West End Journal (Tuesday, March 30), The BC government had announced a further tightening of various restrictions, including a ban on customer seating in restaurants. So it’s delivery or pick-up time at least until April 19.
Meanwhile, Anytime Fitness on Denman had announced that it was voluntarily and temporarily closing for two weeks, planning to reopen on April 9. That, of course, was days before the March 29 announcement closing or restricting activity at gyms and fitness centres.
Vancouver Coastal Health informed Anytime that there had been five cases, in addition to one earlier case, confirmed after a possible COVID-19 exposure at the location.
Club owner Dmitry Mishchenko assured patrons that the fitness club would be “professionally deep-cleaned” during the closure and that membership fees would be prorated to reflect the shutdown period. Check Anytime’s website here for updates.
Full marks to Mishchenko and his team for playing by the rules and putting everyone’s health first.
We share Stanley Park and environs with several coyotes. Your thoughts?
COYOTE PERCEPTION SURVEY
How Do You See The Coyote Issue?
A group of University of British Columbia (UBC) students are conducting a survey to reach “a deeper understanding of how the public of the Greater Vancouver area perceive coyotes”.
West Enders, frequent users of the Seawall and Stanley Park trails, have reported many encounters with coyotes in recent months, so your participation in this survey will be especially helpful. Despite the numerous incident reports, there are also many West Enders who say that though they use the trails often they have seldom, or never, seen a coyote, never mind experienced any aggressive behaviour.
The students, with the guidance of Stanley Park Ecology Society’s Co-Existing with Coyotes program coordinator, are asking residents in the Greater Vancouver area to take part in the survey here.
The survey is anonymous, will take ten to fifteen minutes to complete, and is designed to gather public input on coyote interactions and mitigation strategies to help guide management in the Metro Vancouver region.
If you’d like to learn more, check out the survey’s social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
Miko Abuyen at the new Lost Lagoon location in Denman Mall.
LOST LAGOON FINDS A NEW HOME
When Miko Abuyen, a longtime employee at Fast Frames on Denman, took over the premises when that long-running art and framing shop closed last year, she knew that her time there was limited, as an application had already been made to open a cannabis retail outlet, and so she immediately began her search for another location for her newly minted Lost Lagoon.
After a couple of false starts, Miko, who came to Canada from her native Philippines in 1994, has found a new and permanent home for Lost Lagoon, right across the street in Denman Mall. Just behind the Lotto kiosk is where you will now find the same great framing service and a selection of artworks to add to your collection.
Good luck Miko —and here’s hoping for a good, long run for a valuable West End business!
West End Moments
SPRING HAS SPRUNG AT MOLE HILL!
It seems to have been a struggle, with wind and rain doing their best to beat back the arrival of spring, but these photos by Chris Jennings show that spring has indeed sprung in our ‘hood, with flowers at Mole Hill leading the charge, and sunny days are ahead.
(click on arrows to view slide show)
STORMY WEATHER
The Seawall and Stanley Park can’t seem to catch a break, with yet another late winter storm — hopefully the season’s finale — tore through the neighbourhood in late March.
On the plus side, West End ace photographer Mikul Culver was able to capture these great images.
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? This story of Maxine Lane concludes our series on the little-known stories of some of our community’s pioneers.
Maxine MacGilvray.
This photo of Maxine was uploaded in September of 2022 to replace a photo of Julia Henshaw, which was previously used in error.
MAXINE LANE
by Lucas Pilleri
Maxine Lane, running between Burnaby Street and Harwood from Burrard to Bidwell, was named in honor of one of Vancouver’s pioneering women entrepreneurs.
Maxine E. MacGilvray (1892-1952) was the owner of a prosperous salon and beauty school in the 1930s, later converted into apartments.
Born in Wisconsin, Maxine MacGilvray received her training in California. In the 1920s, she opened a hair salon on Dunsmuir Street, followed by a second location in the West End at 1211 Bidwell. In 1930, she opened her famous Maxine College of Beauty Culture at 1215 Bidwell.
Maxine’s Beauty School. Only the grand arches of the facade remain today.
The businesswoman would also manufacture her own beauty products in a small factory located on East Georgia named Max Chemical Company.
Successful, Maxine hired several employees, including Welsh immigrant Igor Ewan Bebb. The apprentice later became her husband for life.
In 1935-1936, the couple replaced the original beauty school with a new building. Architects Thomas B. McArravy and, later, Ross Lort designed a two-storey Mission Revival-style concrete building.
Its most notable elements are undoubtedly the three gothic arches still visible from street level, displaying a very unique and recognizable style in Vancouver.
Although the building was demolished and replaced with a 21-storey rental and condo tower in 2014, the façade was preserved and is now a commercial space used by JJ Bean at 1221 Bidwell. Maxine College of Beauty Culture was closed in 1942 and was converted into Maxine Apartments. A year later, in 1943, the couple opened a motel in Seattle. After Maxine’s death in 1952, her widowed husband moved there to run the Max-Ivor Motel.
Fun fact: In 1960, criminal Joseph Corbett Jr., who was on the FBI’s most-wanted list, was arrested at Maxine Apartments.
Other fun fact: Rumours had it that secret tunnels connected Maxine’s building, which was thought to be a brothel or a bootlegging operation site (or both), to other buildings in the West End, including The Gabriola mansion on Davie Street. Many have searched for evidence of this legend, to no avail, and more recent excavations for the new building and explorations in the cellars of The Gabriola have found no evidence of such tunnels.
