The cities of North Vancouver and West Vancouver make up the North Shore. Dominated by mountains and parklands and fronted by a shoreline that runs the gamut from industrial wasteland and dockyard to nature reserve and idyllic, secluded beach, it’s a magnet to weekend warriors keen to investigate Vancouver’s “supernatural” reputation. Here, we focus in on North Vancouver…

THINGS WE’VE SEEN HEREABOUTS

THINGS TO CHECK OUT

SEYLYNN BOWL – CANADA’S OLDEST SKATEPARK
SATURDAY MORNING CROISSANTS AT THOMAS HAAS
BRUNCH LINE-UPS AT THE TOMAHAWK RESTAURANT
GOOD BIRDING IN THE MAPLEWOOD CONSERVATION AREA
1000 YEAR OLD TREES
EVERYTHING AT ROOM 6
MUSHROOM FORAGING
DEEP COVE KAYAKING
HIKING UP QUARRY ROCK
BIGGEST NON-PROFIT PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY IN WESTERN CANADA
NO SHORTAGE OF FILMS, EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
A PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE 160 FT ABOVE A CANYON FLOOR
HIDDEN MOUNTAIN LAKES AND SHADY TRAILS
GOATS, BUNNIES, CHICKENS AND PEACOCKS

ESSENTIAL FOOD & DRINK

FASCINATING THINGS OF NOTE

– What we know as North Vancouver is actually two separate entities – The District of North Vancouver (1891) and the City of North Vancouver, which was incorporated in 1907. In 1915 the area known as Moodyville amalgamated with the city.

– Moodyville (1862-1901) was a company town that formed around a sawmill business on the North Shore and was the first European settlement on Burrard Inlet. It was also the first location on the Pacific Coast north of San Francisco to have electric lights (February 1882). This was such a momentous event, that the mayor and council of Victoria made a special trip over to see the electric lights being turned on.

– North Vancouver is home to Canada’s oldest nudist colony. The Van Tan Club was founded in the forest on North Vancouver’s Fromme Mountain in 1939.

– Prior to the opening of the first Second Narrows Bridge in 1925, the North Shore was only accessible by boat. This bridge was replaced in 1960 with the opening of the second Second Narrows Bridge or Iron Workers Memorial Bridge; the bridge honours the lives of many workers who died in building this bridge.

– Chief Dan George (1899 –1981) of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet was a leader, writer, performer and advocate for First Nations peoples. Working as a longshoreman for 27 years, George was in his sixties when he first started acting. His first role was on the CBC series Cariboo Country and later starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man (1970) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

– Built in 1903 at the intersection of Lonsdale Avenue and Esplanade, The Syndicate Block is North Vancouver’s first commercial block. It was built and occupied by

-The Western Corporation, a prominent early development company, responsible for much of North Vancouver’s early growth.

– North Shore film studios (formally Lions Gate Studios) have helped put this North Vancouver on the map with its production of many successful movies and TV programs including the X-Files, which filmed in the area for five seasons from 1993 to 1998.

– Now known as Presentation House, one of the oldest surviving structures in North Vancouver is the Central School building built in 1902 (with major additions in 1907). It was North Vancouver’s City Hall from 1915-1975 until becoming Presentation House in 1976 housing the North Vancouver Museum, a photographic gallery and a theatre.

– In 1971, the community of squatter’s shacks on the Mapleton Mudflats near the Dollarton Highway was demolished. Under the Volcano author, Malcolm Lowry, and his wife lived in a shack on the mudflats during the 1940s and ’50s. In the 1960’s the flats attracted an assortment of hippies, artists and free spirits seeking a simpler, alternative lifestyle.

– One of the most well known ships to be built at North Vancouver’s historic Burrard Dry Docks was the RCMP Arctic patrol vessel, St. Roch, in 1928. The St. Roch is now the central exhibit at Vancouver’s Maritime Museum.

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