Tuesday 29 April 2014


28.1.14
An apparent first edition arts and crafts version of a classic Vancouver house typology- the wedding cake at 608 East 19th Ave.


Walk two blocks east and one block north to view a more traditional version. Here we witness a remarkable pairing of symmetrical homes clad in stucco, clay tile and trim. It takes a village.

Sunday 27 April 2014

27.4.14
On a day which has seen a flourish of beatification it seems fitting that this sculpture exhibits, if not celebrates, east-side martyrdom.

26.4.14
This detournement concluded with an appreciation of balcony typology on the three sisters. Broadway apartment housing embraces leisure spaces within required fire escape strap-ons.

25.4.14
Spring carnage. Rats, crows, sparrows in decay.



24.4.14
Walk two blocks west and enter the Sunrise market. This is ground zero for simulated flavoring. Aisle after aisle of processed rice flour, gluten powder, shrimp-esque fish fried affordability.



23.4.14
Walk two kilometers in a northwest-west direction towards Oppenheimer Park. The Pay-Less Meats store is long gone. The sign is soon to follow as the building is certainly slated for some version of renoviction. The possibility exists that the first wave of development will accommodate local input. A couple of doors down Tuesday Karaoke night features "Asians vs. Everyone Else."



22.4.14
Overcast skies and yet balmy. Spring murals and ghoul impression. Amusement lay in the solemnity of the portals. Sacred and profane.


21.4.14
A treadophile event lead to the viewing of an exquisite corpse dangling from a line. We were impressed by the possibility of discovery. 1000 Parker Street.

20.4.14
Buy me and Rent me.


19.4.14
The historic pharmacy down the road. Walk a country mile and turn right. The store is an emporium of clothing accessories, skin care products, pharmaceuticals and taxidermy. Bighorn sheep graze along one side of the shop while bison and bear stand watchfully along the opposite wall.

18.1.14
Commander warrior gear to be found at the mid-century mall in Oroville. The digitized camo is made of a fine cotton polyester blend and adorns a complete range of hunting apparel needs: pants, jackets, overalls, hats, caps, t-shirts, gloves, boots, masks, head bands, underwear, long johns, packs, bags and scarves. The ducks don't have a chance. Mallards paddle about in the stream outside.


17.4.14
The arc completes the encampment. Baptism at 5 knots as onlookers gaze on in approval.


16.4.14
A crucifix stands strong in the face of assembly. The fabric awning shades in partial a quiet congregation. At each turn the structure yawns westward.


15.4.14
A summer time compound for the holy seekers of a lost tribe known by some as the god squad. Congregations are secure in the windblown serenity of the lagoon. Cows ruminate in the distance while quail run around under foot.


14.4.14
Long after the old timers moved on a new generation of old timer lives in Hedley. A cautious glare greets the newcomer as he prowls up and down the rundown and historic. The past is now, now is past, past is future continuous. 


13.4.14
A psychogeography primer. Sleeping and storage, transport and tow. Finely detailed and perfectly utilitarian. Native to the region.

12.4.14
A much larger sub-specie with a hint of vintage. Wings flap outwards to accommodate sleeping quarters. Refuge space in rear. Signals received and decoded with plug in.
11.4.14
Beetle-like the carapace is poised for adventure. Illuminated under the sodium vapor lights it watches the road stretch out into the distance. A sense of the forlorn here, within the frame of isolation.
10.4.14
A personal mobile dwelling unit sits idly in the desert. The maintenance schedule has been followed with caprice.

Wednesday 9 April 2014



9.4.12
Like bloated seals sunning on the beach, the carcasses of cement mixers lie in a salvage lot near Terminal and Main. Imagining rust, spot weld issues and seam ruptures.





8.4.14
A poignant survey of New York views ten years after can be found here. Both gentrification and decay are on exhibit.

Tuesday 8 April 2014


7.4.14
Clay beds with particles consisting of minerals and crystals less than 0.002 mm in diameter dug up from an alluvial pocket. Such developments do not require piling and auger screw drives.

Saturday 5 April 2014


6.4.14
Ride 4.6 kilometers to the CBC Broadcasting Centre. Artist Laiwan has installed her piece Fountain: the source or origin of anything on The Wall. Excerpts from Summer Afternoon give Chinatown a Neo-Realist feel.
5.4.14
Walk two blocks west along 14th East and then turn north on Main and walk fifty paces. Bert's was a fine old diner that served a basic breakfast and cup of coffee for $4.50. You could eat and read the paper while your laundry was drying next door at the Pinky Coin-Operated Dry Cleaning and Laundry Lounge. (VPL)


In 1931 it was an option to have your laundry cleaned at The Monastery Laundry and Dry Cleaners at 562 West 14th. (CVA)


Laundry could also be done by hand much as Robert Jamieson was prone to do as seen here while working at the Good Hope Cannery in Rivers Inlet, circa 1890. (CVA)



4.4.14
Photographer Philip Timms took this photo of his brother Arthur's print shop at 228 East 14th. He lived nearby at 240 East 14th in a modest bungalow. We see him sitting grandly with family members in a car of Ford vintage, circa 1905. (CVA)


While the printing shop and house have been replaced long ago by three store apartment buildings there are a number of magnificent trees to be appreciated along East 14th such as this ornamental larch:


3.4.14
In 1964 the beat scene in Vancouver was the subject of a documentary by Leonard Forest. The clip shown here features the Al Neil Trio playing at the Cellar Jazz Club which was located at 222 East Broadway and Watson Street. Michael de Courcy produced an interactive piece on the fabled joint and can be seen here.


The "Christmas Day Fire of 2009" destroyed adjacent buildings including a fine restaurant, shops and numerous artist studios on the second floor. The highly contentious Rize development will be constructed on this site. Our attention is drawn southward along Watson where only a few original houses remain among the fleets of blue dumpsters and fast food loading bays.



2.4.14
"Portuguese Joe" Silvey was an early pioneer who squatted in Stanley Park in the 1860's. He married the granddaughter of Chief Kiapilano and ran a saloon in Gastown that rivaled Gassy Jack's. He also rented gill nets up and down the coast to natives and wore his wife's clothes. (BCA)


He eventually moved north along the coast to the mouth of Skookumchuk where he founded Egmont in 1880. Many descendants of his eleven children continue to live in the area. (CVA)


Across the harbor from his cabin site there is a quietude in the fishing village that one often finds lurking in old photographs. Little moves in this evacuation. Smoke curls upwards from shack chimneys but there is no sign of ownership. Boats list and bob or not at all.