New blog answers: ‘What was there before?’
Posted July 22, 2013 6:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Do you ever wonder what happened to that childhood corner store or favourite nightclub?
As more of our older buildings make way for condos and other developments, What Was There Before? Recent Vancouver Before and After is a new blog aimed at helping you roll with those changes.
“It’s really a fascination with the city and how it’s evolved,” admits local author, walking tour guide, and heritage consultant John Atkin.
The blog is a living extension of The Changing City, Atkin’s 2010 book with co-author Andy Coupland. Atkin says Vancouver has always been in a state of flux; it’s just that more people notice it these days.
“The city is very different because people are living downtown. So, they’re watching the downtown much closer and I think the rate of change in some of our neighbourhoods has just gone through the roof,” he explains.
“So we just started working, matching up archive photographs with exact replications of the views today.”
The pictures were collected over an eight-year period and detail everything from departed downtown nightspots like the ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Richards on Richards’ to the old ‘Kripps’ pharmacy on Granville Street.
