This Day in Vancouver

by Jesse Donaldson

Literary Nonfiction. Canadian History. Photography. The City of Vancouver has been through a lot in its first 125 years. It's a city that has played host to the likes of Mark Twain, Alice Cooper, Elvis Presley, Winston Churchill, The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Howard Hughes, Expo '86, and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. It's the birthplace of Canada's first female member of the legislative assembly, the country's first (and largest) clothing-optional beach, and the reason for the first nationwide prohibition legislation. It was the final resting place of Errol Flynn, and the city where two of his genital warts were briefly (and posthumously) kidnapped. It has been a hotbed of political activism, technological innovation, and bitter racial tension. It is the site of the West Coast's first electric light, and the nation's first female police officers, as well as home to world-renowned actors, deadly snipers, twisted serial killers, UFOs, the founders of Greenpeace, an official Town Fool, and even the headquarters for the Canadian Ku Klux Klan. It's a city on a journey; a journey that has taken it from being an unrefined, out-of-the-way, frontier logging village, to its current position as one of the most livable cities in the world. THIS DAY IN VANCOUVER is the story of that 125-year journey, one day at a time. Adapted from The Dependent magazine's highly successful online column of the same name, and drawn from more than 13 months of research, each of the book's pages is dedicated to a day of the calendar year, featuring a noteworthy event, historical curiosity, or ridiculous headline from Vancouver's past. Seeking to capitalize on renewed interest in the city's history--an interest fostered by recent 125th anniversary celebrations--each entry seeks to relate the day's events to the history and development of the city as a whole, thus providing not only a historical snapshot, but a broader understanding of many of the individuals and locations that have contributed to the creation of Vancouver's unique cultural identity. In addition, many of the entries are accompanied by a relevant full-sized historical photograph on the facing page, selected from the thousands of images available in the city archives.

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Vancouverite I am aware that sometimes my home is called 'No Fun City'; and 'This Day in Vancouver' does not do anything to dispel that image. Turgid prose recapping press stories negate any fascination engendered by the collection of b/w photos, making this a slog to read at best.

Trying to do a page for every day of the year clearly taxed the author's research skills, with multiple entries sometimes for facets of the same story, or some truly banal - like a performance by Nat King Cole. Yes, Cole was a gifted artist, but he played dozens and dozens of shows in Vancouver - from steak houses to supper clubs and theatres - so marking a single date as noteworthy enough for inclusion is truly grasping at straws. My guess is that the author's receiving grants from multiple art organizations for the book constrained him to actually follow through on the concept - a page for every day of the year - which turned out to be not such a great idea.

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" - the more things change the more they stay the same - is an underlying thema, with humorless articles about one cent price increases in a loaf of bread, or rising property values; along with racism, local politics, forgotten scandals, and urban growth.

A no fun book that does not do its subject justice, summarizing a vibrant and dynamic Vancouver as a no fun city. Fortunately the dullness of its presentation means most people will just flip through it and not bother reading it, making it a shelf-filler everywhere it lands.

[Fabrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice concept and a good way to learn more about Vancouver's (rather short) history, but this is let down by a) too many repetitions and b) some poor picture choices, often unrelated to the day's article