citiZEN | Vancouver edition

Here's a round-up of some of the stories about Vancouver that have caught my eye over the last while. It's a bit of a hodge-podge of topics, as is usual with my thought processes...

History

As a result of often being listed near the top of various city-ranking lists [a quick example], Vancouver seems to have a large segment of the population that are little more than resident-visitors. We welcome folks from all over the world, who seem to stay for three or six months, or even for a few years, and then move on to someplace else. Some decide to stay, of course. Either way, I've always thought it was important to learn about where you are, and one of those ways is through the history of that place. When I decided that Vancouver was going to be My Home for the foreseeable future (even though I didn't move here from very far, as a British Columbia-er with deep roots), I felt it was almost like a civic duty to start learning about where this fantastic city came from.

There are lots of great Vancouver History sites, and lots of local bloggers that delve into history to generate some blog content. Rebecca Bollwitt over at Miss604 puts together some of the best (usually with lots of help from Chuck Davis' History of Metropolitan Vancouver site, which is truly magnificent). As an example, here's a post she put together on the Hastings Mill Store.

Oh heck, there's too many pretty good posts of hers to pass up, so here's a smattering:
The 2009 winners of the City of Vancouver Heritage Awards.
Behind-the-scenes at the City Archives.
Stanley Park.
When Vancouver won the Stanley Cup.
Vancouver Flag and Coat of Arms.
100 Years of the PNE.

Another interesting post, presented as a call to action for the present but containing a good deal of interesting history, is Daniel's post at City Caucus regarding Lost Lagoon... which was connected to Coal Harbour a century ago and used to be saltwater instead of freshwater. Daniel proposes re-connecting Lost Lagoon to the ocean. In fact, City Caucus is another local site that I enjoy checking out. They often have a more political perspective underlying the "reason-to-post", but I enjoy the depth in the research and they exhibit a clear understanding of the history surrounding the present situation. Some post topics I've found interesting:
Vancouver Streetcars.
The Waterfront and the cannery.
Bloodied But Unbowed.

The Vancouver Police Museum posted a good article about the collapse of the Ironworker's Memorial Bridge in 1958.

And there is nothing but fantastic things to say about Jhennifer Phabilano at the Buzzer Blog, as she is absolutely fantastic. I have a few issues with Translink (yes, I should list them, but to be honest I am too apathetic and disenfranchised to believe it would do any good at all), but Jhennifer is top-notch in her articles. A couple of my favourites:
The Central Park Line: the very first interurban in Vancouver.
Happy 94th Birthday to the Buzzer.