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West Vancouver Dreaming by Reto Tschan - Municipal Archivist In this issue of 'Memories', West Vancouver Archives engages in a little bit of that favourite arm-chair-historian pastime: 'what if' history. What if Hollyburn sported a golf course? What if the Lions' Gate Bridge was the Lions' Gate Tunnel? What if an artificial reef graced our coastline? Outlandish as they seem, each was a dream which might have come to pass. Early real estate brochures were keen to promote land for sale on the recently cleared slopes of the North Shore. One consistent selling feature, clearly visible in the Irwin and Billings Co. pamphlet from 1911 for example, was a proposed golf course right in the heart of what is now West Vancouver's Ambleside neighbourhood (015.WVA.MAP). Also noteworthy on this plan is the location of West Vancouver's ferry terminus at Dundarave and a proposed route to English Bay. While the ferry did briefly call at Dundarave, the 14th Street Pier at Ambleside became its West Vancouver port. Set in idyllic, park-like surroundings -- contrasted with the industrial and smoke-filled city -- a cleared lot in the heart of Dundarave on "Palmerston Street" (now Lawson Avenue) sold for around $700. A close look at this pamphlet reveals a dotted line at the First Narrows. This represents not our familiar Lions' Gate Bridge, but a proposed tunnel. While the many schemes and plans put forward to cross Burrard Inlet could fill many tomes, one particular version was proposed by the Lions' Gate Tunnel Co. in the late 1 920s. It was put forwards after a 1927 Vancouver plebiscite rejected the construction of a bridge over First Narrows. The planned tunnel was located to the east of First Narrows and combined tubular re-enforced concrete with open-cut causeways to link Stanley Park to an area near present day Capilano Road (1730-01 .50.035.DWV). A second, successful, plebiscite on a bridge in 1933 meant that the tunnel plans were shelved. Whether coming by tunnel or bridge, more and more people chose to make West Vancouver their home. Hemmed in by mountains and sea, one developer dreamed of creating a new waterfront oasis. In 1969, West Vancouver Council was approached with a project to create an artificial peninsula at Navvy Jack Point. Featuring 700 units, an artificial lagoon with 160 marina moorings, and built on over 420,000 cubic metres of fill dredged from the sea, Laguna-del-Mar was one of several land reclamation projects floated at the time. Strong objections, centred on environmental and feasibility concerns, plus an estimated cost in excess of $12 million, meant that the project was never pursued. These dreams were not, of course, realized. Today they live on in the Archives' holdings, where they allow us to reflect on the West Vancouver we see today and the one which might have been. page 6