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June 1998 WEST VANCOUVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY Pag»3 AND THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS My Memories of the Lions Gate Bridge Barb Johnson, Contributions Editor Mr. Jim Roddick’s lecture and pictures of the Lions Gate Bridge at our Annual General Meeting brought back many memories of those years - 1937,1938. & 1939 and of the years until the war was over From the deck of one or the other of our good little ferries, the Hollybum or perhaps the #6 we watched its gradual construction. What an exciting show was played out before our wondering eyes. Could this be our small village being hitched to the big City of Vancouver? L. JONES The West Vancouver Ferry * MV Hollybum Before the building of the bridge it was a difficult job packing large bundles of necessities on the ferry. Each morning my husband Hal caught the Upper Levels bus from 25th and Mathers, boarded the ferry at 14th street for the half hour trip to Vancouver, then walked to work at Crane Ltd. on Beatty Street. He reversed this procedure on the way home. I can still see Hal carrying a long, heavy roll of linoleum over his back when Woodwards mistook my order for three square yards for three yards square! The stoiy of my Dad’s sack full of little pigs getting loose on the ferry dock does not need repeating here. [Seevl Tale of Two Pigs - History-onics - March 1995, page 3 and/or Growing up in A Place of Excellence - History-onics - January 1989, page 5 para. 4] Soon, even the pleasant, sociable ride back and forth each day, by the business men in the municipality would be abandoned for the quick drive across the new bridge. The King and Queen formally opened the Lions Gate Bridge in May 1939. Hal and I stood on Taylor Way to see the regal passage. We stood with our first baby. Skip, a month old, holding him high in the air for the royal eyes to feast upon. The bridge was used very little through the war years as gas was rationed. The ferries continued to be the chief source of transport to the city. Hal became a member of a car pool at the time, along with Jack Scott’s father, Agnes Colpitts (now Agnes Follonsbee) and others in Eddie Johnson’s old 1926 Chevy touring car, named Whirlaway. The car would struggle up the slope of the bridge to the crest, then the engine would be switched off and the car would coast all the way to Denman Street. This was a chilly trip on a cold day. The isinglass curtains would flap in the breeze and the passengers would shiver violently under blankets. Foggy days were fi-equent in that time of sawdust burners and wood smoke and the car would sometimes disappear in the mist for the whole voyage. The 250 toll plus 50 each per passenger was the biggest expense of the day. Gas was just pennies a gallon and Eddie had his ration from \hncouver Motors, where he worked. I, and lots of others, walked the Bridge sometimes, but it was a long walk. When they, finally took the ferries out of service in February 1947 (a sad loss), we began taking the bridge for granted. Thousands of people moved to our beautiful North Shore because of the ease of travel and our beloved little rural village was no more. wvm&a - geo. smith collection The South Tower of the Lions Gate Bridge during construction from the deck of a West Van Ferry