(in no particular order)
Michelle Worthley – Cruise Director
Matt – DJ
Hatta – Stateroom Steward
Geoffrey – Beverage Steward (Lido/Aft Pool) and Wine Steward (Pinnacle Grill)
Kristy – Party Planner
Jojo Flores – Guest Relations Manager
The Members of Tribute – Entertainment on Night 2
Craig Richard – Entertainment on Night 4
Frank – Techspert (Digital Workshop)
I hope I’m not forgetting anyone I meant to post!!
Thanks all for your wonderful bon voyage messages and birthday wishes!
I had an amazing time onboard and I can’t wait to share more about it with you!
Beisdes a great time though, I also brough back a bit of a cold and some sinus pressure so I can tell I’ll be sleeping a lot while I recover from this. So if replies/posts are a bit slow in the meantime, please stay patient!
I’ll soon let you know all about my cruise, the incredible entertainment we saw, the food onboard and the incredible staff!
Until I have a chance to share this all with you, I want to send a quick THANK YOU FOR A GREAT TIME to anyone onboard the Zaandam that may be reading this!
DBA
I’ve arrived in San Diego and my flight home has already begun. Over the next few days I’ll be posting pictures of the ship, the scenery, the menus, the daily programs… everything! Just like from my Amsterdam cruise! So stay tuned! (Regular posts to continue in the meantime!)
Cheers!
DBA
It’s October 7th, and my cruise is almost over, but today I’m sailing along the great state of California. A state I even called home for a few years. Want to learn more? Sure you do!
Cheers!
DBA
From http://www.50states.com/facts/calif.htm
California’s Mount Whitney measures as the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Its most famous climb is Mount Whitney Trail to the 14,495 feet summit. Wilderness permits are required.
In 1925 a giant sequoia located in California’s Kings Canyon National Park was named the nation’s national Christmas tree. The tree is over 300 feet in height.
More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.
Pacific Park, on the venerable Santa Monica Pier, re-creates the amusement parks once dotting the ocean areas along the Pacific Coast. Featured are 11 amusement rides including the 1910-vintage hand-carved merry-go-round appearing in the movie “The Sting.”
Alpine County is the eighth smallest of California’s 58 counties. It has no high school, ATMs, dentists, banks, or traffic lights.
Fallbrook is known as the Avocado Capital of the World and hosts an annual Avocado Festival. More avocados are grown in the region than any other county in the nation.
In the late 1850s, Kennedy Mine, located in Jackson, served as one of the richest gold mines in the world and the deepest mine in North America.
An animal called the riparian brush rabbit calls Caswell Memorial State Park (near Manteca) its home. Endemic only to the state’s park system, the critter lives in approximately 255 acres stretching along the area’s once-vast hardwood forest.
In Pacific Grove there is a law on the books establishing a $500 fine for molesting butterflies.
The largest three-day rodeo in the United States is held on the Tehama County Fairgrounds in Red Bluff.
Demonstrations on making toothpaste from orange by-products were popular attractions at the Los Angeles County fair in 1922. The fair is held in Pomona.
Located in Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is the largest museum of its kind in North America.
Several celebrities are buried at Hillside Cemetery in Culver City. Included gravesites are those of Al Jolson, George Jessel, Eddie Canter, Jack Benny, and Percy Faith.
California Caverns claims the distinction of being the most extensive system of caverns and passageways in the Mother Lode region of the state.
Totaling nearly three million acres, San Bernardino County is the largest county in the country.
On Catalina Island in 1926, American author Zane Grey built a pueblo-style home on the hillside overlooking Avalon Bay. He spent much of his later life in Avalon. The home is now a hotel.
Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge contains the largest winter population of bald eagles in the continental United States.
Author Richard Dana (1851-1882) wrote the novel “Two Years Before the Mast.” He inspired the name for the beach community of Dana Point.
In Atwater the Castle Air Museum has the largest display of military aircraft in the state.
The Country Store in Baker has sold more winning California State Lottery tickets than any outlet in the state.
Reputed to be the most corrupt politician in Fresno County history, Vice-leader Joseph Spinney was mayor for only ten minutes.
The Iron Door Saloon in Groveland claims to be the oldest drinking establishment in the state. It was constructed in 1852.
The Hollywood Bowl is the world’s largest outdoor amphitheater.
The first person to personally receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood was actress Joanne Woodward. She received it in 1960.
Death Valley is recognized as the hottest, driest place in the United States. It isn’t uncommon for the summer temperatures to reach more than 115 degrees.
The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902.
Inyo National Forest is home to the bristle cone pine, the oldest living species. Some of the gnarled trees are thought to be over 4,600 years old.
San Francisco Bay is considered the world’s largest landlocked harbor.
Sequoia National Park contains the largest living tree. Its trunk is 102 feet in circumference.
Yorba Linda is home to the Richard Nixon Library.
The Coachella Valley is nicknamed The Date Capital of the world and The Playground of Presidents.
One out of every eight United States residents lives in California.
California is the first state to ever reach a trillion dollar economy in gross state product.
California has the largest economy in the states of the union.
If California’s economic size were measured by itself to other countries, it would rank the 7th largest economy in the world.
Los Angeles is ranked the fourth largest economy in the United States compared to other states.
Simi Valley is the home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
It is estimated there are approximately 500,000 detectable seismic tremors in California annually.
During his engagement at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, Otis Redding stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito. While there he wrote his last song and greatest hit: “The Dock of the Bay.”
The state motto is Eureka!, a Greek word translated “I have found it!” The motto was adopted in 1849 and alludes to the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada.
California is known variously as The Land of Milk and Honey, The El Dorado State, The Golden State, and The Grape State.
There are more than 300,000 tons of grapes grown in California annually.
California produces more than 17 million gallons of wine each year.
The redwood is the official state tree. Some of the giant redwoods in Sequoia National Park are more than 2,000 years old.
The California poppy is the official state flower. The California grizzly bear (Ursus californicus) is the official state animal.
California holds two of the top ten most populous cities: Los Angeles and San Diego.
Fresno proclaims itself the Raisin Capital of the World.
The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are within 100 miles of one another. Mount Whitney measures 14,495 feet and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.
Castroville is known as the Artichoke Capital of the World. In 1947 a young woman named Norma Jean was crowned Castroville’s first Artichoke Queen. She went on to become actress Marilyn Monroe.
California’s Proposition 215 (1996) was the first statewide medical marijuana initiative to pass in the USA – keeping attorneys busy for years.
The majority of today, October 6th will be spent sailing the coasts of Washington and Oregon. So I thought you might want to learn a little more about both of these great states. If so, here they are!
Cheers!
DBA
WASHINGTON
From http://www.50states.com/facts/washingt.htm
The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president.
Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant, 1961.
Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.
Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.
Washington state’s capitol building was the last state capitol building to be built with a rotunda.
Everett is the site of the world’s largest building, Boeing’s final assembly plant
Medina is the home of the United States wealthiest man, Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
The Northwestern most point in the contiguous U.S. is Cape Flattery on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
King county the largest county in Washington was originally named after William R. King, Vice President under Franklin Pierce; it was renamed in 1986, after civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Microsoft Corporation is located in Redmond.
Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn’t confuse it with The District of Columbia.
The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named after Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge at Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge connects Seattle and Medina across Lake Washington.
Washington is the birthplace of both Jimi Hendrix (Seattle) and Bing Crosby (Tacoma).
The oldest operating gas station in the United States is in Zillah.
Washington’s state insect is the Green Darner Dragonfly.
The world’s first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.
Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle.
Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World’s Fair. – 1974
The state capital is Olympia, and the largest city is Seattle.
As of the 2000 census, the state population was approximately 5.9 million and the state work force numbered about 3.1 million.
Residents are called “Washingtonians” (emphasis on the third syllable, pronounced as tone).
Washington is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west; Oregon to the south (the Columbia River forming most of this border); Idaho to the east and British Columbia, Canada to the north.
Puget Sound’s many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States.
The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests (such as the Hoh Rain Forest) in the continental United States
The first European record of a landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora.
The Lewis and Clark expedition entered the state on October 10, 1805.
The first settlement in Washington was New Market (now known as Tumwater) in 1846.
In 1853, Washington Territory was formed from part of Oregon Territory.
Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889.
Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture, lumber, shipping, fishing, salmon canning and mining.
By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being “the roughest town west of the Mississippi” because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s).
The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during World War I and World War II, and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area.
During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States.
During World War II, Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, a number of which were quartered at Golden Gardens Park.
In eastern Washington the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of the nation’s atomic bombs.
In 1980, the northeast face of Mount St. Helens exploded outward, destroying a large part of the top of the volcano.
As of 2004, Washington’s population included 631,500 foreign-born (10.3% of the state population), and an estimated 100,000 illegal aliens (1.6% of state population).
The six largest reported ancestries in Washington are: German (18.7%), English (12%), Irish (11.4%), Norwegian (6.2%), Mexican (5.6%) and Filipino (3.7%).
Washington is home to many innovative Internet companies, including Amazon.com, Classmates.com, Whitepages.com, and Marchex.
The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states.
The state of Washington is one of only seven states that does not levy a personal income tax.
Property tax was the first tax levied in the state of Washington and its collection accounts for about 30 percent of Washington’s total state and local revenue.
In 2004 Washington ranked first in the nation in production of red raspberries (90.0% of total U.S. production), hops (75.0%), apples (58.1%), sweet cherries (47.3%), pears (42.6%), Concord grapes (39.3%), and Niagara grapes (31.6%).
There are 140 public airfields in Washington, including 16 state airports.
Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge connecting the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.
Three ships of the United States Navy, including two battleships, have been named USS Washington in honor of the state.
United Airlines was originally owned by the Boeing Airplane Company.
Popular games Pictionary, Pickle-ball, and Cranium were all invented in Washington.
The town of Artic was to be named ‘Arta’ after the wife of the town founder. The application was misread and resulted in the unusual spelling of the word Artic.
OREGON
From http://www.50states.com/facts/oregon.htm
Oregon’s state flag pictures a beaver on its reverse side. It is the only state flag to carry two separate designs.
Oregon has more ghost towns than any other state.
The Columbia River gorge is considered by many to be the best place in the world for windsurfing.
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and is formed in the remains of an ancient volcano.
Oregon and New Jersey are the only states without self-serve gas stations.
Eugene was the first city to have one-way streets.
Pilot Butte, a cinder cone volcano, exists within the city limits of Bend.
At 329 feet the Coast Douglas-Fir in Oregon is considered the tallest tree in the state.
At 8,000 feet deep Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America.
The hazelnut is Oregon’s official state nut. Oregon is the only state that has an official state nut. The hazelnut is also known as the filbert.
Oregon’s state birthday is on February 14, Valentine’s Day.
The “Oregon Pioneer” statue that tops the capitol building is a work by Ulric Ellerhusen. This heroic figure represents the spirit of Oregon’s early settlers.
The state park system has 159 yurts located in 19 parks. Yurts are a circular domed tent suitable for camping.
Navy blue and gold are Oregon’s official state colors.
The Chinook salmon is Oregon’s official state fish.
The Willamette River was discovered in 1792.
In 1858 the richest gold find in the Cascade Mountains was discovered in the Bohemia Mining District at Sharp’s Creek near Cottage Grove.
Dorris Ranch in Springfield became the first commercial filbert orchard in the state.
In 1876 the University of Oregon opened in Eugene. Deady Hall was the first building on campus and still exists.
In 1880 a sea cave was discovered near what is now known as Florence. Sea Lion Caves is known to be the largest sea cave in the world.
The nation’s most photographed lighthouse is the Heceta Head Lighthouse located in Lane County.
Darlingtonia Wayside is Oregon’s only rare plant sanctuary.
Oregon’s second highest waterfall is Salt Creek Falls in the Cascade Mountain range. It drops 286 feet.
The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is one of the largest long-term ecological research sites in the United States.
Eugene is rated by “Bicycling Magazine” as one of the top ten cycling communities in the United States.
There are nine lighthouses standing along the coastline. Five are still being used; the others are designated historic monuments.
Portland is an example of outstanding urban planning. The city is known as The City of Roses.
High above the city of Portland the International Rose Test Garden features more than 500 varieties of roses cultivated continuously since 1917.
At 11,239 feet Mount Hood stands as the tallest peak in Oregon. Mount Hood is a dormant volcano.
Silver Falls State Park is the Oregon’s largest state park. It features 10 waterfalls and contains a wide variety of forested hiking trails.
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It was formed more than 6,500 years ago. Its crystal-blue waters are world renowned.
Discovered in 1874 the caves located in Oregon Caves National Monument are carved within solid marble.
The world’s largest rosary collection is exhibited at The Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center. A local resident collected the exhibit.
The Carousel Museum contains the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of carousel horses.
Fort Clatsop National Memorial contains a replica of Lewis and Clark’s 1805-1806 winter outpost.
The small village of Bickelton is filled with bluebird houses seen on the posts of every house.
The Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range.
The Ries-Thompson House is the oldest remaining residence in Parkdale. Built circa 1900 the home and area offer a commanding view of Mount Hood.
Tillamook is home to Oregon’s largest cheese factory.
Florence is known as Oregon’s rhododendron capital.
The Oregon Legislature designated the Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) as the Oregon state flower by resolution in 1899.
Oregon’s capitol building is located in Salem. Earlier capitals include the cities of Oregon City and Corvallis.
The Columbia River forms most of the northern border between Oregon and Washington. The Snake River forms over half of the eastern boundary with Idaho.
In 1905 the largest long cabin in the world was built in Portland to honor the Lewis and Clark expedition.
A treaty between the United States and Spain established the current southern border between Oregon and California. The treaty was signed in 1819.
The Oregon Trail is the longest of the overland routes used in the westward expansion of the United States.
The Tillamook Naval Air Museum is housed in the world’s largest wooden clear-span building.
Haystack Rock off Cannon Beach is 235 feet high and is the third largest coastal monolith in the world.
The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, built in 1880, is currently used as the site of the final resting place of up to 467,000 cremated individuals.
The Seaside Aquarium was the first facility in the world to successfully breed harbor seals in captivity.
Today’s my birthday!
I’m spending it in Victoria, BC which is an absolutely stunning city that really makes you feel as though you’ve transported to parts of Europe.
For more on Victoria, see the below!
Cheers!
DBA
From www.victoria-bc-canada-guide.com
Before the arrival of the Europeans in the late 1700s, the Victoria area was home to several communities of Coast Salish peoples, including the Songish (Songhees). Coast Salish refers to First Nation or Native American cultures who inhabited areas in British Columbia and Washington state.
The Spanish and British took up the exploration of the northwest coast of North America beginning with the voyage of Captain Cook in 1776. The Victoria area of the Strait of Juan de Fuca was not explored until 1791.
Spanish sailors visited Esquimalt harbor just west of Victoria in 1790 and again in 1792.
In 1843, the Hudson’s Bay Company was looking for a new location for its western base of operations. The company’s chief factor, Sir James Douglas, liked Esquimalt Harbor, but rejected it as a site for a fort because there were too many trees there.
Douglas chose a spot on the western shore of Victoria Harbor at the mouth of the Gorge Inlet. He called it Fort Camosun, after the “camosack,” a type of wild lily native to southern Vancouver Island, but later renamed it Fort Victoria in honor of Queen Victoria.
The Songhees established a village across the harbor from the fort. The Songhees’ village was later moved north of Esquimalt. when the crown Colony of Vancouver Island was established in 1849, a town was laid out on the site and made the capital of the colony. The Chief Factor of the fort, James Douglas was made governor of the colony, and would be the leading figure in the early development of the city until his retirement in 1864.
Gold Fever Strikes British Columbia Victoria!
With the discovery of gold on the British Columbia mainland in 1858, Victoria history changed greatly as the city became the port, supply base, and outfitting center for miners on their way to the Fraser Canyon gold fields. The city mushroomed from a population of 300 to over 5000 literally within a few days.
In 1866, when the island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria remained the capital of the new united colony and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871. Victoria was incorporated as a city in 1862. In 1865, Esquimalt was made the North Pacific home of the Royal Navy, and remains Canada’s west coast naval base.
Times Change
In 1886, with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway terminus on Burrard Inlet, Victoria’s position as the commercial center of British Columbia was irrevocably lost to the City of Vancouver.
In a significant Victoria history course change, the city subsequently began cultivating an image of genteel civility within its natural setting, an image aided by the impressions of visitors such as Rudyard Kipling, the opening of the popular Butchart Gardens in 1904 and the construction of the Empress Hotel by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1908.
Sir Robert Dunsmuir, a leading industrialist whose interests included coal mines and a railway on Vancouver Island, constructed Craigdarroch Castle (photo on the right) in the Rockland area, near the official residence of the province’s lieutenant-governor.
His son, James Dunsmuir, became premier and subsequently lieutenant-governor of the province and built his own grand residence at Hatley Park in the present City of Colwood. The residence was used for several decades as a military college and is now the Royal Roads University.
A number of municipalities surrounding Victoria were incorporated including the Township of Esquimalt, the District of Oak Bay, and several municipalities on the Saanich peninsula.
Modern Victoria History
Since World War II, the Victoria area has seen relatively steady growth, becoming home to two major universities. Since the 1980s the western suburbs have been incorporated as new municipalities, such as Colwood and Langford.
The thirteen municipal governments within the Capital Regional District afford the residents a great deal of local autonomy, although there are periodic calls for amalgamation.
Today I’ll be in Vancouver to board the Zaandam and begin my birthday cruise. Vancouver is a metropolitan city in every sense of the word and will host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games just after the start of the year. Want to know more about Vancouver? Here ya go!
Cheers!
DBA
From http://www.tourismvancouver.com/
Here, in a nutshell, are some of the highlights of Vancouver’s sometimes oddball history.
16,000 to 11,000 BC: Segments of the Coast Salish people-the ancestors of the Squamish, Burrard, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam (Xw’muthk’i’um), Tsawwassen, Coquitlam (Kwayhquitlam), Katzie and Semiahmoo Indian bands-arrive from Asia. They seem to be quite satisfied with the beaches teeming with seafood-they named English Bay Ayyulshun, which means ‘soft under feet’. And they liked the forests teaming with wildlife. Not to mention that nearby is the mouth of a big river emptying into a vast ocean where big, fat, silvery salmon swam by six months out of every year.
1592 – 1774 AD: The Spaniards cruised by as part of their exploration of Canada’s west coast. Spain claimed the west coast of North America by virtue of the Treaty of Tordesillas, which occurred in 1494. Their presence is still felt today even though the Spanish felt Friendly Cove at the entrance to Nootka Sound was a better place for a town. The City of Vancouver has a number of streets named after Spaniards: Cordova, Cardero, Valdez and Narvaez (Galiano Street in Coquitlam.)
1792: Captain George Vancouver arrived. He spent one day here, which was long enough to discover the Spanish had already claimed the place and headed off again. During the day British Captain Vancouver met with Spanish captains Valdez and Galiano and one of Vancouver’s best beaches, Spanish Banks is named for the meeting place. That’s also the same reason English Bay got its name. Note however, that the Bay is bigger than the Banks and there are a ton more streets in Vancouver named after the British. (There is a Vancouver Street but it’s, um, in New Westminster.)
1808: Simon Fraser, an explorer and fur trader arrived here following an overland route from Eastern Canada by a river he thought was the Columbia. Even though he was wrong about his travel plan the river was still named for him.
1827: Hudson’s Bay Company built a trading post on Fraser River. It was the first permanent non-native settlement in the Vancouver area. Since 1893 the company has occupied a prime location at the corner of Georgia and Granville in Vancouver’s downtown core and they’re still trading.
1858: The news there was gold on the banks of the Fraser raised a bit of interest. About 25,000 prospectors dropped in to have a look.
1860: Three English who should have stayed out of the sun built a brickyard. The business flopped amid much guffawing and “I told you so’s” from the local population. They were called the “Three Greenhorns”; the area is now known as the West End, one of the most populated places in North America. And there’s no shortage of brickwork in the surrounding buildings.
1867: A talkative chap nicknamed “Gassy Jack” opened a saloon for forestry workers on the shore of Burrard Inlet. It became so popular a community built up around the place and called itself Gastown.
1870: Gastown is incorporated as the town of Granville.
1884: The Canadian Pacific Railway moved its terminal from the head of Burrard Inlet to the area of Granville, now known as Coal Harbour. Port Moody was miffed but Granville grew like Topsy. That same year the vessel Robert Kerr left England with Seraphim Fortes aboard. Seraphim, from Barbados who had been living in Liverpool working as a bath attendant and swimming instructor, was heading for Victoria when the ship foundered. It was towed into English Bay and ‘Joe’ Fortes thought well, what the heck, I might as well stay and do the same kind of work here.
1886: Granville incorporated as the City of Vancouver: now that it had about 1,000 people. The first mayor was realtor M.A. McLean. On June 13 a brush fire got away and burnt the city to the ground in less than 30 minutes. McLean knowing the value of real estate got rebuilding going in a matter of days.
1887: The CPR’s first train arrived; the final stop of the first transcontinental trip.
1888: The last body is buried in Pioneer Cemetery, the graveyard of many of Vancouver’s earliest citizens. The cemetery stretched from Brockton Point to the Nine o’clock Gun. Why no more? Well: 1888 was when the road that would eventually wind around Stanley Park was first constructed in the Brockton Point area. The first perimeter road around Stanley Park was paved with the shells from native middens (refuse heaps) in the park.
1889: The first Granville Street bridge is completed. There was another one built in 1909. The one that’s there now is the third built in 1954.
1890: The first lighthouse is built at Brockton Point. Electric streetcars began operating this year.
1891: The city’s first tram-based public transit system, the Interurban starts up.
1898: Sand is added to English Bay Beach. Up to that time you had to walk through bushes to get to it. A large rock on the beach separated men and women bathers (no peeking!) The Nine o’clock Gun is placed at Brockton point. People still set their watches by it.
1900: Vancouver surpasses the provincial capital of Victoria in size. Did they immediately move the capital to Vancouver? No.
1902: The first meeting of the Vancouver Information & Tourist Association was held on June 25, 1902. Today, the organization celebrates more than 100 years of operation and is now known as Tourism Vancouver.
1905: Johann and Anna Breitenbach arrive in Vancouver from Brisbane, Australia aboard the Aorangi. They were two of hundreds of new immigrants to Vancouver as the flood of people moved through to settle the Prairies. The Breitenbachs stayed and their descendants are still in Vancouver. The trip took a month; they travelled in steerage the whole way. They brought their ten kids with them. And you think commuting today is tough.
1909: The Dominion Trust Building, the city’s first skyscraper opens at Hastings and Cambie. It’s still there but looking kind of puny. The same year the second Granville Street Bridge opens.
1911: Canada’s first artificial ice rink, the Arena, opened. People immediately begin skating around the edge counter-clockwise. It was at 1805 West Georgia at the corner of Denman. At the time it was the largest indoor ice rink in the world. The Vancouver Millionaires, the city’s first hockey team, was built out of players swiped from the National Hockey League.
The 1914-15 season: The Millionaires become Stanley Cup champions.
1915: The first lighthouse at Brockton Point is torn down and the current one is built. You notice the arch at the bottom of the current lighthouse? That was going to be part of a boathouse until somebody noticed that the ocean current right there would make it easier to not store boats there.
The University of British Columbia opens for business. A few students showed up. There are 17,000 there now.
1920: Vancouver grows bigger than Winnipeg, which was the main city of western Canada. For its next trick the city’s population turned out in droves to watch Houdini suspend himself from the top of the Sun Tower. He chose that building because that’s where The Vancouver Sun’s offices were located at the time.
1922: ‘Joe’ Fortes dies of pneumonia. The City paid for his funeral and thousands of people,
many of whom learned how to swim with Joe’s meaty hands holding them up in the lukewarm waters of English Bay, lined Granville and Hastings Streets to say goodbye.
1925: The first Second Narrows Bridge connects the city with North Vancouver. The one that’s there now is the second one.
1927: In Alexandra Park, a small drinking fountain, just the right size for kids, was built to commemorate ‘Joe’ Fortes; it was near where he lived in a shack that the City had saved for him when it tore down all the squatters shacks on English Bay Beach years earlier. The inscription on the drinking fountain reads: “Little children loved him.”
1929: Visiting Winston Churchill commends the decision to hold the 60th Annual PNE even though the fair grounds burned to the ground a few weeks earlier.
1931: The English Bay bathhouse was constructed out of concrete replacing the first bathhouse, which was made of wood.
1936: The new City Hall at 12th Avenue and Cambie is dedicated. It still looks like it ought to be in Gotham City. The same year the Denman arena was destroyed by fire.
1938: The Lions Gate Bridge is completed so a real estate company can at last sell the property it bought on the North Shore. It was engineered to last about 50 years.
1939: The landmark Hotel Vancouver is completed.
1954: The British Empire and Commonwealth Games Association of Canada donated the flag after the name change was voted on in 1952, and it was used for the first time at the 5th British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954. The games featured the Miracle Mile, in which two runners-Roger Bannister and John Landy-both broke the 4:00 minute mark for the mile, the first sports event televised to all North America.
1957: Elvis Presley sings a half dozen songs and leaves the stage after 15 minutes. The audience paid $2 per ticket and were pretty cheesed by being short-changed.
1959: A busy year. The city’s first shopping mall, the Oakridge Centre, the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the Vancouver Maritime Museum all open. That year they also sunk the George Massey Tunnel-most people still call it the Deas Island Tunnel. Fortunately, sinking it was the right thing to do because it goes under the Fraser River.
1964: For the first time the BC Lions won the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup.
1970: The Vancouver Canucks played their first game in the National Hockey League. They played the Los Angeles Kings (and lost.)
1974: The locomotive Royal Hudson logs its inaugural run since being rebuilt. People are steamed today, not because the famous loco plied the Squamish run for so many years, but because it’s now toast. Efforts however are currently underway to rehabilitate the Royal Hudson and hopefully it will soon be making its picturesque journey.
1979: The Vancouver Whitecaps won the North American Soccer League championship.
1983: BC Place Stadium inflates and becomes the world’s largest air-supported dome. It has 60,000 seats. Let’s put that in perspective. If you put all the residents of Vancouver in it when the city was incorporated 97 years earlier, you would have 59,000 empty seats.
1985: SkyTrain starts up mid-December. The initial route, from Vancouver to New Westminster, retraces in part one of Vancouver’s original Interurban lines.
1985: Vancouver holds its first Vancouver Sun Run, a 10 kilometre run through downtown streets and spectacular Stanley Park. Now an annual, very popular event, first year’s participants were 3200 – by 2003 there were approximately 49,000 runners – a true reflection of the love of sport in the outdoors!
1986: Vancouver’s centennial is marked by the highly successful six-month fair Expo 86 on the north shore of False Creek. It was the largest special category World Exposition ever staged in North America -the category was Transportation.
1988: The first ever Vancouver Gay Pride Festival. Now also an annual, week long event, it includes a parade and a variety of celebrations and parties throughout the city.
1990: The 1990s began with a roar as the first “Indy” race took place on the downtown Vancouver track, winding through tight corners, past apartment complexes, False Creek and Science World. It was an annual event held each summer, however 2004 was the final year that it took place in Vancouver.
1993: Woodward’s department store, a Canadian retail institution dating back to 1903, goes bankrupt and closes its doors. Over the following years, debate regarding reuse of the landmark building or redevelopment of its property has ranged from the creation of affordable housing to a downtown parking complex to various retail options. Today, there are several housing options still being reviewed.
1994: The Vancouver Canucks reach the Stanley Cup finals but lose in the final moments of the final game. The BC Lions football team won the Grey Cup for the second time in their history.
1995: The new Vancouver Public Library building opens and is a landmark within the downtown core. Interestingly, initial designs had the building facing the opposite direction, with the main entrance facing Georgia. As they finalized construction plans, someone noticed that by flipping the design, the main plaza would face the sun rather than being in the shadow of the main building!
General Motors Place for hockey, basketball and musical performances, opens and is nicknamed ‘The Garage’.
The spiffy Ford Centre for the Performing Arts opens for what turned out to be for three years before it reopened as The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, and today offers large-scale theatrical productions several times a year.
1996: Estimates show the central city’s population had increased by more than 107,000 since 1981-a 26 per cent jump!
The Vancouver Grizzlies joined the NBA, along with the Toronto Raptors, as part of the league’s two-pronged expansion into Canada. They are the first non-U.S. cities to join the league since 1946-47. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies were sold in 2001, so Vancouver only got to enjoy their NBA team for 5 years.
1997: The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts opens at the University of British Columbia, offering year round performance by University programs, touring companies and local performers.
1999: Vancouver creates the 2010 Olympic Bid team to organize the proposal to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. By July, 2004, Vancouver is selected!
2000: The annual Polar Bear Swim, started in 1920 by a local restaurant owner, Peter Pantages, reaches a record of 2,128 swimmers.
2001: It is estimated that 200 movie and television productions are filmed in Vancouver. Each year, this list grows more and more substantial, as estimates from 1981 show only 11 productions! Earning its nickname of ‘Hollywood North’, celebrity spotting is everywhere – they’re out and about on Vancouver streets, browsing in shops and relaxing in local restaurants and spas.
2002: The Economist magazine’s Intelligence Unit ties Vancouver and Melbourne as the World’s Top City to live in.
2003: Mercer Human Resource Consulting rates Vancouver as top city in North America for quality of life.
July 1 – Canada Day – 2003, Vancouver is selected as the Host City for 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. GM Place broadcasts the announcement live to a sold out crowd, while celebrations take place across the city.
2004: The hosting of the first large outdoor public arts show on the streets of Vancouver called ‘Orcas in the City’ by the BC Lions Society.
I’ve triggered an automatic post each day at 12 Noon Pacific time that will provide you with a historical timeline or some facts of where I’ll be each day (even the sea days!), so keep checking back!
Photos will happen once I return as I’d rather not be glued to the computer on my first vacation since April! You understand I’m sure! 🙂
I’ll be back soon!
DBA
Bon voyage Zaandam!
See you on Sunday!
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