I didn't know Boeing has a plant in Coal Harbour.....
It's a shame it burned, though it almost certainly woulnd't have survived to this day. You can find images of almost anything you want; the discussion upthread about the the 2nd Hotel Vancouver being torn down only to languish as a parking lot for over 20 years reminded me of the 2nd Pantages Theatre, in the Unit block of West Hastings, demolished in the 60s according to most sources, only to serve as a surface parking lot until a few years ago.
I didn't know Boeing has a plant in Coal Harbour.....
Googled it and found these History of Metropolitan Vancouver entries:
Quote:
1929 - Boeing of Canada opened a plant on Coal Harbour this year. It had been the Hoffar-Beeching Shipyard at 1927 West Georgia; in 1930 Boeing would begin to build seaplanes there.
Quote:
1939 - On the same day as Churchill's broadcast the Boeing plant on Sea Island went into operation making Cansos and PBY Catalinas (“flying boats,” used for off-shore air patrols) and later the midsections of the B 29 superfortress aircraft. When it opened the plant employed 175 people. At the peak of production in 1945 there would be 7,000. “When people were interested in working for Boeing's Sea Island activities during the war,” one former worker recalls, “they first had to be interviewed at Boeing's on West Georgia Street. If hired, you were fingerprinted for your identification card and told to go buy coveralls, flat shoes or a sensible-type of oxford shoes. Women had to wear kerchiefs to keep their hair from becoming tangled in machinery. Boeing did not pay for any of these.”
Quote:
“The Boeing plant in Coal Harbor is the only one established here, but there are other companies whose present plants could be converted into airplane factories. However, it is the view of the board that in the event of an airplane industry being established, it should be in permanent buildings so that at the end of the war a peace-time program of construction for commercial purposes could be carried on. Building costs would be less here than in Eastern Canada.
Quote:
1943 - Construction began on Burkeville, west of Airport Road in Richmond. Harold Kalman, architectural historian, has written: “Burkeville was laid out and built by the federal government during the Second World War to provide 328 houses for workers employed at the Boeing Aircraft plant. It was named for Stanley Burke, president of Boeing. The streets are named after airplane manufacturers. The plain, no-frills dwellings came in several standard sizes. Most have been altered to fit the needs of two generations of residents. After the War, Boeing sold the houses to returning veterans. The tightly-knit community, already encircled by airport uses, is currently threatened by the intended further expansion of roads and runways.” Ironically, the “plain, no-frills dwellings” were designed by McCarter and Nairne, who gave us the Marine Building. The name of the development was chosen in a competition among Boeing employees.
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1944 - Out at the airport, Vancouver’s Boeing plant was busy. You get a nice feel for the times with this reminiscence by an unnamed former Boeing employee. She’d been hired as a gofer in 1944, and told a local web site: “I delivered radio parts to the ships [aircraft] and if the guys wanted nuts or bolts and other parts I'd go for them, hence the term gofer. You needed good footwear to work on that huge plant cement floor . . . and of course the stores [the shop] was located across the way in the other building up the stairs, so your feet were pretty sore by the end of the shift. I started at 40 cents an hour and finished at 80 cents an hour in Shop 63. I was making more money than my father at the time, who was making 60 cents an hour at Pacific Mills. My husband came from Montreal and was a Boeing electrical inspector at Plant 3 from 1944 to 1945. I lived in Vancouver and had to transfer about five times before reaching Marpole to catch the Boeing Bus. We called it the ‘Cattle Car.’ We weren't fortunate enough to obtain accommodation in the new Burkeville subdivision being built for Boeing employees, as it was designed for employees with families.”
Quote:
November 5, 1945 The Boeing Aircraft Co. factory on Coal Harbour—pretty much inactive with the end of the war—was to be sold to B.C. Packers, likely for use as a maintenance plant for their fishing fleet. “The big building, the main Boeing plant before the war added the Sea Island hangar and shops [in Richmond], would be used for the present as a net and gear storage loft . . . The building has a 132-foot frontage on West Georgia, extending back to the water's edge.”
More pics of Coal Harbour (right click on image and copy the url to see a bigger version) http://www.millbistro.ca/contact/History/history.html
Bigger Boeing building pic (don't know if they allow hotlinking from above):
Inside plant
More pics of Coal Harbour (right click on image and copy the url to see a bigger version) http://www.millbistro.ca/contact/History/history.html
Bigger Boeing building pic (don't know if they allow hotlinking from above):
Inside plant
thanks!
1948 and WOW!
__________________ Quote of the Decade on SSP: "what happens would it be?" - argon007
^^ That's not that old, the original test track was far shorter...I remember the 4 car train messages, and they were here as late as the late 90s (maybe even up to opening of Millenium Line?)
Yeah I spent hours going through it. I never found the test track section before...where was it?
Btw, the site doesn't allow hotlinking, so none of the images are showing up....you have to post the full url and people have to copy/paste to get it to show.
EDIT:
Just saw Vancouver bought all the Brills from Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Kitchener when they were gtting rid of them. Didn't know that...
__________________ Batman: "Better put 5 cents in the meter."
Robin: "No policeman's going to give the Batmobile a ticket."
Batman: "This money goes to building better roads. We all must do our part."
^ indeed i do. it's awful, inside and out. (but the sakura are nice).
Georgia Medical Dental was a rather drab, forbidding building. Its best feature, the nurses (in mould form), were transferred to Cathedral Place, which is a nicer building in every way.
Didn't see these ones posted here. They are from the Views of Canada collection at the McCord Museum. Copyright has long since expired on these...and they are public domain.
Douglas pine tree, Vancouver, BC, 1887
Great cedar tree, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, 1897
Dugout canoes, Fraser River, New Westminster, BC, 1887
Vancouver from Fairview, BC, 1904
__________________ Support the mob or mysteriously disappear...
Looking at these two pictures, I'd say the two cities have changed very drastically.
Can only imagine what the current city council would do if they inherited this city in the photo. I can see it now; "we must preserve the viewcones of the entire mountain, no building over 4 floors!" and, " no bridges to downtown; everyone must canoe or swim their way to and from downtown"...
__________________ Batman: "Better put 5 cents in the meter."
Robin: "No policeman's going to give the Batmobile a ticket."
Batman: "This money goes to building better roads. We all must do our part."
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The city has undergone a huge transformation. 
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