Evergreen Building
Yup. Still here, still working on my series on Arthur Erickson buildings that have shaped Vancouver.
This one is easy to walk past without realizing its significance. Located on a quiet intersection in Coal Harbour, the building’s recessed terraces are meant to emulate a mountainside. Erickson collaborated with landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander when designing the building.
Its unique footprint came about for a practical reason: it was the space available where the two streets meet at an obtuse angle, instead of the usual 90 degrees. It is categorized as an office building, but also has some corporate residential suites.
The Evergreen Building was completed in 1980.
Through My Lens: January Afternoon
I was going through old photos and came across this one, taken on a sunny January afternoon some years ago. That’s Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park.
Merry Christmas!
English Bay, Vancouver
The End of the Eras Tour
The hype is real, folks.
Honestly, I don’t think I have ever seen as much anticipation over a bunch of concerts. Yes, it’s Taylor Swift. Yes, she is a megastar. Yes, it’s the end of her tour. But this city has lost its mind.
And I love it.
It’s been a long time since we all came together over a cultural event of this magnitude. It reminds me a lot of when we hosted the Olympics.
For weeks now, we’ve been warned about the upcoming traffic chaos. Three concert nights, two Canucks’ home games, and, oh yeah, Cirque du Soleil is in town. These venues are all within spitting distance of each.
But hey, we’re among friends, right? It should all be fine.
Where the Streets Have Names
Here we are, finally. Last month of the year, last post on Hawaii.
One thing you notice as soon as you start moving around Oahu are the unique street names. Unique to English speakers, that is. For the most part, they are all in Hawaiian. I absolutely love it.
There are plenty of places in Canada with Indigenous names. Kitsilano is a Vancouver neighbourhood that takes its name from the Squamish Chief Jack Khatsahlano. Chilliwack, Kamloops, and Saanich are BC cities with names that have Indigenous origins. And Canada is from the Haudenosaunee word “kanata,” which means village.
And yet … Vancouver streets are predominately named for dead white guys. True fact: there are more streets in Vancouver named after golf courses than women or people of colour combined. My own street is the anglicized name of a chief of the Okanagan people, something I found out only while researching this post. Wouldn’t it be much more interesting if the nsyilxcən spelling was used instead of English?
In Canada, land acknowledgements before public events are routinely recited to recognize those who have lived here since time immemorial. Here’s the one I use on my work email signature:
I acknowledge that I am privileged to live and work on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish Nations, including the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Land acknowledgements are all well and good, but maybe it is far past time that we begin replacing the names of some of the many, many streets currently named after insignificant European men with Indigenous names. The Hawaiians have done it. Why can’t we?
Just a thought.
Museum of Anthropology
One of Arthur Erickson’s most iconic buildings, completed in 1976, is the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. It sits on traditional and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, at the tip of Point Grey, facing the Salish Sea.
I’m told that the post-and-beam construction was inspired by the architecture of the Northwest Coast First Nations. The floor-to-ceiling windows of the Great Hall let in all the light. And when you stand outside and look back at the museum, you see the sky reflected back at you.
The building incorporates several World War II gun placements. Rather than ripping them out, Erickson incorporated them into the building’s design. One has been repurposed as the base for Raven and the First Men, a sculpture by Haida artist Bill Reid.
The Museum of Anthropology began in 1949 as a department of the Faculty of Arts at UBC. It has one of the world’s best collections of Indigenous art and is particularly known for its Northwest Coast collection. In 2023, the museum closed to undergo a seismic upgrade that involved completely rebuilding the 25 concrete pillars of the Great Hall. It reopened again last June in time for the centenary of Erickson’s birth.
Cinque Terre
Here in Vancouver, we’re going through the first atmospheric river of the season this weekend, and I’m finding it hard not to feel green with envy toward anyone who might be vacationing in much more pleasant climes right now.
Like, oh, I dunno, Italy?
Except, it turns out that the folks I know who are vacationing in Italy right now aren’t immune to bad weather either.
Cinque Terre (literally “five lands”) is a collection of villages along Italy’s northwest coast. Connected by train and hiking trails, Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore are collectively one of the most stunning areas of Italy.
My people had gone to Cinque Terre on my recommendation, but no sooner had they arrived when they learned that the trails, the restaurants, and the shops were closing the next day due to inclement weather.
Above is a photo I took some years ago of Vernazza, Corniglia, and Manarola from one of the hiking trails above Monterosso al Mare. And below is a train pulling into the station at Manarola. It’s easy to see from the terraced landscape and steep cliffs why heavy rains are a problem in Cinque Terre — in fact, floods and mudslides devastated the villages in 2011, killing nine people.
My family was able to rejig their itinerary and head to Tuscany a few days early. I felt bad they missed out on spending time in such a special part of Italy, but, as I always say, when you don’t get to see everything on your list, it just means you have a very good reason to go back.
MacMillan Bloedel Building
Ahem.
I promised you a series of blog posts about Arthur Erickson buildings that have shaped Vancouver, way back in (checks notes) June.
What can I say? A glorious BC summer got in my way and I’ve been spending as much time away from my computer as possible. I’m sure you understand.
However, I do want to showcase those buildings, and so, here we go.
First up is the MacMillan Bloedel Building that stands prominently in the centre of downtown Vancouver.
It was completed in 1968 and is a typical example of Brutalism, the style of architecture the dominated the middle of the previous century.
Each window measures 7 feet by 7 feet and is a single pane of glass. The lobby is separated from the street by a series of sunken pools and concrete planters filled with trees and other vegetation.
Standing 27 storeys tall, the MacMillan Bloedel Building was the tallest in Vancouver when finished. It was built to house the headquarters of MacMillan Bloedel, a forestry company that hasn’t existed for 25 years. Although it was renamed Arthur Erickson Place in 2019, it’s still commonly referred to as the MacBlo Building.
Through My Lens: Beech Tree
We are well and truly into the season where we start paying attention to the trees around us, and what will be eventually be some pretty spectacular colours.
Until then, here’s a beech tree I photographed last weekend in Stanley Park. Also pretty spectacular, even though its leaves haven’t yet turned.
Paris 2024
I cannot lie. Paris 2024 hit all the right notes for me.
I love the spectacle of the Olympics. The biggest sporting event on the planet bringing together thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries to compete in dozens of sports never fails to catch my attention, whether it’s in my own city or in one far away.
I especially loved the historical setting of these Olympics, which were hosted by my second-favourite city in the world. The iconic competition venues with magnificent backdrops like the Eiffel Tower or Château de Versailles never let any of us forget where these games were taking place.
The Opening Ceremonies (yes, yes, I know, but les Français, they’re just so … French) weren’t held in some generic sports stadium, but in the centre of Paris itself, putting the City of Light on display. The Olympic Cauldron (like Vancouver’s Olympic Cauldron) was accessible to Parisian residents and visitors alike from its location in the Jardin des Tuileries, where it aligned with key landmarks: the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, and the Arc de Triomphe. In a nod to history, the fuel-free cauldron was built in the shape of a hot air balloon to commemorate the first-ever flight by humans, which took place over Paris in 1783.
Even the medals are historical: each one contains a piece of the Eiffel Tower. (The fragments of iron were left over from renovation work done over the years.)
And if you doubt that the City of Love has special powers, remember this record set by athletes during Paris 2024: the most number of marriage proposals ever at an Olympic games (seven).
It’s always difficult for me to choose just one photo when I write about Paris, but then I found this and knew it was the one. That’s the Tour Montparnasse as seen from the Arc de Triomphe. I took this photo in the summer of 2017, mere weeks before Paris was announced as the host city for the XXXIII Olympiad.
There and Back Again 