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Page 4 West Vancouver Historical Society March 2004 W.V.H.S’s 75th Birthday What happened to it? The goal originally was to mark the celebration as close to the anniversary as possible. The or- ganizing committee felt that there was some flexibility in arriving at a celebration date, insasmuch as the building was completed on October 28, 1927, while its official opening was celebrated on December 18, 1927. Dave Barker, who heads the organizing committee, is beset with responsibilities requiring big chunks of time. Besides his continuing and committed involvement on your board, he helps direct Theatre West Vancouver, which will enjoy improved exposure with the completion of the Kay Meek Centre. Most recently, Dave has been called in by the West Van School Board to help out at Rockridge Secondary School in Caulfeild. They could hardly have made a better choice; Dave was arguably one of the most capable secondary school adminstrators the district has ever had. You may be sure that when the way is clear he will dazzle us with the organizing of the Inglewood gala. Finally, returning for a moment to Inglewood’s history, it may interest you to know that the contract to build it was awarded to Hugh Hodgson on May 2, 1927. As mentioned above, the building was completed less than six months later. Today many single-family dwellings in West Vancouver take three times as long to build, and cost about the same (in pro- rated dollars). 2004 Heritage Awards Our two winners this year are Don Graham, whose wife Elaine accepted the award in her husband’s name, and Bob Young, currently Supervisor of Purchasing, West Vancouver School Board. Don’s work on the lighthouse and Lighthouse Park is widely known and acclaimed. Bob’s dedication brought about the restoration of Hollyburn School’s original exterior. If you haven’t seen it, do so. St. Francis-in-the-Wood The delay in including a little history of St. Francis-in-the- Wood is caused by one thing: lack of information, except- ing that contained in Henry A. Stone’s interesting account (obtainable at the WVML). We would welcome any sug- gestions you might have on the subject. Even more, we would be delighted to receive any bits you may have of the church’s history. Two-Digit Phone Numbers Dorothy (Sharman) Nelson was wondering recently who of our members at one time had two-digit (exclusive of letter suffixes) phone numbers in West Vancouver. Some busi- nesses did: West Van Pharmacy, West 37; H.P. Tearoe, West 84; Stratton’s Bakery, West 27. Tell us if you did and we’ll list them hete. Late entry: Dale (Ericksen) Cragg: West 75R1. (The Eriksens lived on Travers in West Bay.) straws in the wind. (from page I) On February 8, 1947, the last ferry (the No. 6) made its last trip to Vancouver. On September 1, 1950, Park Royal was officially opened. Its anchor store. Woodward’s, was one of the largest furniture merchandisers in the province. Before this time, Gibson’s had had little competition to worry about: the W.N. Morris Furniture Store at 1476 Marine Drive and Miss Jacks “Olde English Furniture Shoppe” at 1516 Marine Drive were hardly to be feared as competitors. But Gibsons did survive for a few years more, much to the benefit of Ambleside and all of West Vancouver, for that matter. The character of 14"’ and Marine has changed a good deal in the last six decades. The Hay Building (1405 Marine) and the Wharton Building (1401 Marine) have both gone, and replaced by condominiums and a grocery store, respectively. Interestingly, the former property was part of a business deal made in the two weeks following the end of the war in Europe. Mrs. Bernadine Bedford, who owned all of the property on the west side of H'" from the waterfront to Marine Drive, sold her holding to Bellevue Holdings Ltd for $42,500. (See West Van News for May 25"’, 1945) As historical society members many of us know quite a bit about Ambleside’s past, but are ill equipped to comment on what were best done to ensure its future. Judging from concern expressed by current and recent councils, we can be assured that matters will not be left to chance. -Ed The Big Brass Letters The red brick building at the corner of 17"’ and Marine Drive was opened in 1936 as the West Vancouver Post Office. We don’t know where the bricks went, but we do know that the brass “HOLLYBURN” letters adorning the building landed up in the storage facility yard above the Upper Levels Highway. Our dedicated antiquarian and sleuth Ian Macdonald discovered their whereabouts and decided they should be used to good purpose. On Saturday, February 21st, Ian’s efforts were recognized at a rededication ceremony held at John Lawson Park. The weather was near-perfectâ€"only a little fog intervenedâ€"as Mayor Ron Wood put his fine spoken touches on the ceremony. It was a superb prelude to the Heritage Awards presentations that followed only minutes later. A Real Treat Is in Store For You when you visit WWVV.WVma.net, and then click on the Destinations Time Walk. The bulk of the credit for estab- lishing this subset has to go to Lois Enns and project team members Carolyn Petrie, Project Co-ordinator, Jeremy Berto, Data Lead and Jackie Picard, Scanning Lead. A number of us were privileged be present at Lawson House on Eriday February 20th to see the launch of this project. All agreed that the site is stunning, dynamic and informative. (Lois re- minds us that on most of the pages you need to scroll down.)