JOY'S JOURNAL
/by Joy Metcalfe
Vancouver’s renownED Nine O’Clock Gun.
NETS UP - SAIL TO PORT!
Just off Stanley Park in Vancouver and facing Coal Harbour is the famed Nine O’Clock Gun.
The late Chuck Davis, former columnist with the Vancouver Province, tells us in his 2011 book The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver (Harbour Publishing / 2011) that this is a 12-pound, muzzle-loaded cannon, one of several that were originally made in the 1800s and given by the British government to the “provinces of Canada” in 1856.
Three of those cannons reached the Pacific coast via a trip around the Horn and two of them ended up flanking the entrance to the parliament buildings in Victoria. The third was our booming Nine O’clock Gun.
It was first used to warn fishermen (fisherpersons?) of the Sunday closing time for fishing. When my cousin, the late John Hopkins, was a young constable with the CPR Police, working during the summers to pay for his university tuition fees, something very strange happened one night with the gun - but first a little background.
Each day, the Parks Board crew would load up the cannon with gunpowder and at nine o’clock it was automatically fired. In those days, there were four gasoline barges permanently anchored in Coal Harbour to service fish boats and pleasure craft. Each barge had a large sparkly neon sign on top to indicate their particular brand of gasoline and at night, the sight was quite spectacular.
One evening, John was on his four-to-midnight shift, patrolling what was then Pier B and C (now Canada Place) when his patrol took him to the west side of Pier B facing the barges, neatly lined up in front of Stanley Park. It was just about nine o’clock and the gun was about to go off.
What he didn’t know was that, during the day, someone sneaked into the gun enclosure and loaded the cannon with rocks from the beach.
That night, precisely at the stroke of nine o’clock, the gun went off and the rocks blew clean through the “O” in the Esso barge sign! Later that day, they moved the Esso barge a little more to the right to avoid any more mischief and increased security at the cannon.
You can imagine how many more passersby jumped that evening when the Big Bang happened!
Today, more than 80 years after its arrival in Stanley Park, the gun booms out its nightly message - a message heard at Granville and Hastings five seconds after 9 o’clock, in Marpole, 30 seconds after that and in Mission, where it’s been heard more than once, more than three minutes after nine!
Our editor Kevin Dale McKeown, who lives three blocks from Coal Harbour, tells me that these days there seems to be some slippage in the timing, and he refers to it as “the 8:59 Gun” which, once it slips further to 8:58 gets readjusted and, for a while at least, is once again right on time every night.
Former Canuck goalie Corey Hirsch.
COMING BACK TAKES COURAGE
It’s wonderful that there are so many people out there who are trying their best to help those in need, people like Wendy Lisogar Cocchia, Ray Greenwood, Bob and Barbara Stewart who just celebrated their July birthdays, Bianca Fusco Zanatta and so many others including Lorne Segal who, along with his family, founded the Courage To Come Back Awards several years ago.
The Courage to Come back Awards is an independent registered charity and is the largest provider of community services for people living with mental illness.
In this most unusual year, Coast Mental Health and Lorne and his team managed to celebrate the awards ceremony in an all-new format on Global TV, hosted by former award recipient, mental health advocate and former Vancouver Canuck goalie, Corey Hirsch.
Thanks to Lorne and the Segal family and Terry Hui and Concord Pacific, donations up to a total of $200,000, were matched and raised $1.6 million for the charity.
Lorne was thrilled to introduce the five winners, five remarkable individuals - Lester Wong, Miranda Tymoschuck, Greg Anctil, Alex Sangha and Guy Felicella - and share their incredible stories of courage, determination, and resiliency.
It was one of the most amazing and inspiring fund-raising evenings of 2021 …
Darya Grytsenko.
CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER!
Kudos today to a determined young woman who has just received an unexpected surprise!
Culinary student and enthusiast, Darya Grytsenko has just been named the winner of the John Aisenstat Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship commemorates Hy’s Encore’s beloved vice president, who passed away in 2018.
The youngest son of Hy’s founder, Hy Aisenstat, John was an ardent supporter of continuing education and was passionate about encouraging young people in the culinary and hospitality industry ...
RADIO DAZE MEMORIES
Following my story about the late CKNW news icon, Warren Barker, several folks responded including Bill Hughes, the smooth-voiced top exec at CKNW, who ran the 8:35 a.m. show “On the Buses” (I’m not sure that that was the actual title but everybody called it that) where Bill chatted with visitors from all over the world. Bill and wife Dorothy have sold their home and have recently moved into a spacious condo in Tsawwassen.
“When we were looking, the place was alive with activity. Two days after we moved in, lockdown happened and most events were canceled.”
As he said, ”So much has changed for us all as the last year has flown by. Even CKNW, which took a great part of our working lives, has changed and is now streaming ten commercials in a row with no separation. The advent of the internet and its derivatives has changed everything and it’s hard to predict the future of broadcasting as we knew it.”
I know how he feels. I’d give anything to be back on the air - I’d work for free just to be able to get some good news out - it’s all so negative these days, with Covid still here, the dreadful drug situation, the forest fires, the hospital, and ambulance situation.
But Bill, you’ve forgotten. We’re both Moon Children - both born on July 17 - and Cancers are the best in the zodiac. We’re always positive, we never give up, we still keep going, believing in what we’re doing. Happy 96th, Bill ! I’ll catch up soon ...
Gale Honey (right) with pal Caren Reynolds and LaBaia chef Luigi Mirzaragar and maitre d’ David Simpson.
THE LADIES WHO LUNCH
My eagle-eyed spy spotted the always active Gale Honey and her best buddy, Caren Reynolds (former wife of politico John Reynolds) enjoying lunch at LaBaia in White Rock. Caren was in town looking for the perfect Mother of the Bride dress. Daughter Tanis and son in law to be, Tristan, will marry in December in a wedding ceremony in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Both Gale and Caren were so happy with the restaurant’s new menu, orchestrated by head chef, Luigi Mirzaragar and by the care and attention from maitre d’ David Simpson ...
NOTED IN PASSING …
KEEPING BUSY AT THE BAYSHORE … The only resort hotel in town, the 500 room Westin Bayshore has been overwhelmed by the attention being paid by the locals and tourists alike to their new resort offerings like Liquid Yoga, Indoor Yoga, the immersive Honey Bee Learning Experience at the onsite bee apiary, Kids Cooking Classes with the hotel’s culinary team, the Vida Spa and, most especially, the Westin Bike program. It’s so popular it’s difficult for the Bayshore’s cleaners to keep up! …
BOWEN’S TASTY SECRET … My spies also report that Bowen Island has a secret elixir made from their extra delicious sweet and tangy apples! It’s Riley’s Cider, judged by the experts to be the best in the apple-growing world! Who knew! ...
YOUR LAUGH OF THE DAY … And finally, a man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly the man realized that the next day he would need his wife to wake him up at 5 a.m. for an early morning flight. Not wanting to break the silence (and lose), he wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5 a.m.” and left it where he knew she would see it.
The next morning the man woke up only to discover that it was 9 a.m. and he’d missed his flight. Furious, he dashed off to see why his wife hadn’t awakened him.
There was a note on the bed. It read “It’s 5 a.m.. Wake up!”
Men are just not equipped for these kinds of contests!
Til next time...Cheers!
