Author Archives: Eve Lazarus

About Eve Lazarus

Eve Lazarus is a writer with a passion for history and heritage houses. She is the author of At Home with History: the secrets of Greater Vancouver’s heritage houses. Eve believes a house has a genealogy, much like a person, and comes alive through the human interest stories and mysteries that took place inside its walls. She is currently writing a book on Victoria.

How the Chinese saved Strathcona

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Eve Lazarus

The 1960s plan for a downtown freeway system would have wiped out Strathcona, most of Chinatown, much of the West End and turned Vancouver into a mini L.A. Continue reading →

Posted in Chinatown | Tagged Chinatown, Crosscut, Georgia Viaduct, Gordon Price, Harry Con, MacLean Park highrise, Mary Chan, Raymur-Campbell Public Housing Project, south fraser perimeter road, Strathcona, urban renewal | Leave a comment

Heritage Turkeys

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Eve Lazarus

This is one list you don’t want your name on. Crosscut, a blog out of Seattle, released it’s Heritage Turkeys of the Year list, what it calls “who did most to raze, wreck, uproot, neglect and generally trash our historic … Continue reading →

Posted in Endangered sites | Tagged Alexander Pantages, Crrosscut, fraser river, Glenrose Cannery, Heritage Vancouver, Pantages Theatre, Peter Pan Cafe, Peter Pantages, Polar Bear Swim, south fraser perimeter road | Leave a comment

Seriously–you think your house price won’t tank?

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Eve Lazarus

Want a conversation stopper at your next party? Just bring up the impending real estate meltdown in Vancouver –the one where house prices implode. You’ll be mocked and told how interest rates are at historically low levels and you’ll hear … Continue reading →

Posted in Vancouver history | Tagged CHMC | Leave a comment

Peter Pantages and the Polar Bear Swim

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Eve Lazarus

Being an Aussie, I really don’t get the appeal of plunging into frigid salty water, but I do love the history behind the Polar Bear Swim. Today marks the 92nd anniversary of the New Year’s Day swim, which Peter Pantages … Continue reading →

Posted in Home Histories | Tagged 343 East 13th Avenue, Peter Pan Cafe, Peter Pantages, Polar Bear Swim | 1 Comment

Wah Wong and the Parrot

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

Louis the celebrity parrot inherited a three-storey mansion and managed to stave off development for 17 years, before the estate succumbed to “progress” and was bulldozed to make way for the Chateau Victoria Hotel in 1966. Continue reading →

Posted in Home Histories | Tagged 1706 Denman, 730 Burdett Street, 798 Burdett, Alexander Munro, Chateau Victoria Hotel, Empress Hotel, Hallmark Society, Hupp Yeats, James Keith Wilson, Life Magazine, Louis Award, Louis the Parrot, Mary Wilson, Victoria, Victoria Jane Wilson, Wah Wong | Leave a comment

The Penthouse Night Club

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

I’m one of the few people in this city that’s never been to the Penthouse Night Club, and fortunately for me I’ll still get the chance because of the quick response by Vancouver firefighters early this morning. Yes, it’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in Modern heritage | Tagged Bernie Smith, bootlegging, Danny Filippone, Eagle-Time Delivery Systems, Joe Philliponi, Penthouse Cabaret, Penthouse Night Club | Leave a comment

Villa Russe

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

Looking for a mansion on the right side of town? 3390 The Crescent is on the market for $31.9 million. I’m guessing the owners are receptive to a lower bid, since it was up for sale last year for only $17.9 million. Continue reading →

Posted in Home Histories | Tagged 3390 The Crescent, Aileen Aviazoff, Arthur Erickson, BC Electric, Dal Grauer, Grand Duke Alexander, Misak Yremavitch Aviazoff, New Method Coal and Supplies, Prince Obelinsky, Serge Rachmanioff, Sherry Grauer, Villa Russe | Leave a comment

Fred Thornton Hollingsworth

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

When it comes to West Coast architecture, Fred Hollingsworth is a rock star. He invented the Neoteric style —affordable family housing with simple post and beam construction. Continue reading →

Posted in Modern heritage | Tagged 1205 Ridgewood Drive, 130 South Oxley Street, 2576 Edgemont Boulevard, 3635 Sunnycrest Drive, District of North Vancouver, Edgemont Village, Fred Thornton Hollingsworth, Lee Atwell, Moon Residence, Nat Bosa, Neoteric, North Vancouver, Russell Hollingsworth, the Modern Architecture of North Vancouver, UBC Faculty of Law building, Watt's Residence, West Coast Modernism | 1 Comment

The Sensational Murder of Esther Castellani

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

Set in middle-class Kerrisdale, the green duplex at 2092 West 42nd Avenue is such an ordinary place it’s hard to imagine it was the stage for one of the most sensational murders in Vancouver’s history. Esther Castellani, 40, died in … Continue reading →

Posted in Murder houses | Tagged Adelaide Ann Miller, Esther Castellani, Rene Castellani | Leave a comment

The Ghosts of Mole Hill

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Eve Lazarus

In honour of Halloween I’ll be running different house murder and ghosts stories this month from my book At Home with History. Back in the 1960s, the City of Vancouver started buying up heritage houses in the West End’s Mole … Continue reading →

Posted in House ghosts | Tagged Blair Petrie, City of Vancouver, Henry Mole, Mole Hill, Nelson Park | Leave a comment