Vancouver was incorporated on April 6, 1886.

Robson Square, Vancouver

Robson Square, Vancouver

Robson Square, Vancouver

Robson Square, Vancouver

@sherrylephotography May 18, 2022

We stayed at Time Square suites in a travel apartment in Vancouver BC Canada. Really a wonderful location, close to the beach, restaurant, grocery store and bus stops and more.

Time Square suites 1821 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6G 3E4, Canada

An Evening Walk Downtown at Christmas

Managed a quick walk downtown to view some Christmas lights and decorations.

The big ball was back as usual and this time I walked around the Art Gallery to Robson Square where they had some lovely string lights. A puddle made for some nice reflections :)

iPhone, Vancouver, BC, December 2023

When the engineer creativity meets with humanity. View Robson Square Vancouver Canada planned and designed 1973

Escalier intelligent pour handicapés

Roofs

What do you think about my pic?

Coolest discovery this year: Jack was born on Washaway Beach.

Kelly in Cas’s 12x19 The Future-vision was shown by the ocean.

Cas died there, too, like the loss of the town’s military force and its guiding light/navigator/lighthouse, The Willapa Bay Light.

Edith Olson, a correspondent for the Chinook Observer newspaper wrote in a 1992 article for that paper, "Four square miles of land have disappeared into the sea with many homes, the hotel, post office, school, cemetery, lighthouse, Coast Guard station, and countless local landmarks…”

Loris A Robson (postmaster): I remember North Cove as it was between 1937 and the fifties. I wish it were like that again. All is washed away now by the insatiable sea . . , there once were people, houses, farms, work, fun and laughter. Now there is only water!"

(On December 26, 1940, the lighthouse met its demise. It had been precariously hanging over the side of the bluff, looking as though it might topple at any second.)

Not only does All Along the Watchtower call the lighthouse to mind, but also the lyrics of the song it’s named after are echoing the doomed theme of the place.

Bringing Up Baby (1938, Howard Hawks)

I watched Bringing Up Baby earlier this summer in a packed theatre, following an introduction by Kevin McDonald. I wrote this afterwards, but, for whatever reason, I never got around to posting it.

Bringing Up Baby is a first-rate Walter Catlett vehicle. The actor tops such luminaries as Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald, May Robson, and Fritz Field. Of Course, the picture belongs to Nissa, a leopard who plays the titular Baby. She's an even bigger scene stealer than Skippy, the dog from The Thin Man series, who also appears in this movie. Seeing this as part of a crowd opened my eyes to Nissa’s star power. The collective tension in the theatre when she enters the picture, first interacts with a human, and when she's found wrestling with Skippy is immediate, and, each time, that tension is instantly melted away whenever she's revealed to be just a big affectionate kitty. She has the audience in the pad of her paw whenever she's on screen.

Nissa gets the titular role, but it's Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant whose names are above the title. Hepburn enters the picture in full force, never lets up, and still manages to ratch her performance up a notch for the climax. Grant is largely used as set dressing for Hepburn et al., gracefully misdirecting characters and dialog, as well as getting in a few choice outbursts of his own. For all of the chemistry the two leads share, their romance is never developed, and is rather limp on the side of Grant. The film is only interested in the flimsy romance only as a vehicle for the couple’s entanglements, an outburst of dalliances, with their barely repressed desire spilling out across the countryside in the form of slapstick routines.

The hit/miss ratio of the picture's gags rests squarely below the picture’s reputation. Grant, tasked mostly with reacting to the other players, suffers the most. With so many characters playing so much dialog and business up to the rafters at all times, he is often left holding a reaction for an extra beat or two, and his bits begin to sag before they even get their turn to play out. Other times, he has to repeat a gesture multiple times in quick succession, unable to build on his gag, so as not to take away from the reams of dialog being read by Hepburn, which diminishes his returns. However, Hawk’s breakneck pacing, and tendency for overlapping dialog and bits of business seems to have this failing in mind. When a joke fails to land, it's either covered up, or hurried by so quickly that the picture barrels forward without ever losing its momentum.

The picture is held up at all times by some of the premier screen talents of its day, and it doesn't begin to sag until its coda. The picture finally slows down following its climax, after which the cast is emptied,save for Hepburn and Grant. We are left in the room where we first began, only now the romance becomes the focus, turning away from the couple’s chemistry. This shift in focus is unprepared to carry its own weight, let alone carry out the picture through to its end. This, coupled with the fact that the main gag here runs on the fumes of the previous act - a back and forth lacking tension, which should have been brightened with grace and playfulness - prevents the ending from satisfying. That is, if you can consider a successful reunion between two such dizzyingly beautiful people to be inadequate. It's the rare moment where the picture leaves its blemishes uncovered, before cutting to the jaunty theme and end cards.

Bringing Up Baby is not a graceful movie, but a rough and tumble affair that’s only playful if you follow Hepburn’s lead. Otherwise, it’s an all-out relentless assault. All that aside, this was never less than a crowd pleaser, and I cannot recall the last time I was in a theatre filled with so much laughter. Granted, this was a curated audience, and, with my choice of pictures and playtimes, I'm seldom in a theatre with more than a dozen or two other people at any given showing.

Canadian Rockies While orbiting over western Montana, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photograph of the northern Rocky Mountains, also known as the Canadian Rockies. Sprawling approximately 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) long and nearly 650 kilometers (400 miles) wide at certain points, the Rockies are North America’s largest mountain range. The Rocky Mountains extend from British Columbia, Canada, southeast toward New Mexico, in the United States. At least 100 separate ranges comprise the Rockies, and they are separated into four geologic subdivisions: the Canadian and Northern Rockies, Middle Rockies, the Southern Rockies, and the Colorado Plateau. This image features the greater portion of the Canadian Rockies, which extends through northern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta. While there are approximately 50 peaks in the Canadian Rockies surpassing 3,350 meters (11,000 feet) in elevation, Mount Robson—in the center of the photo—is the highest peak at about 3,950 meters (12,970 feet) tall. Jasper National Park, in Alberta, encompasses around 11,214 square kilometers (4,330 square miles) of mountainous terrain, glaciers, forests, and alpine landscapes. The park was established in 1907 and is one of several contiguous parks in the Canadian Rockies that have been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park also supports a vast diversity of wildlife. There are 53 different types of mammals found in the park including bears (both black and grizzly), wolves, elk, and cougars. Part of the Coast Mountains, a major range along the Pacific coastline of British Columbia and Alaska, is visible in the upper-left part of the image. Glaciers carved out numerous valleys along the 1,600-kilometer (990-mile) long range, including several fjords along British Columbia’s Pacific coast. Astronaut photograph ISS068-E-31571 was acquired on December 21, 2022, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 50 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 68 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Minna Adel Rubio, GeoControl Systems, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.

Vancouver, Thursday Aug 4

Today began with swift activity because we slept-in and had to rush to meet the day’s agenda. After a quick ablution we headed out to find a close cafe for breaky. The closest turned out to be a vegetarian, vegan affair which we decided to try. Bernie had a fruit compote which she gobbled up, while I had a black bean roll, which while tasty had unfortunate effect later during our bus trip.

We made it in time to catch the coach to Granville Island, a major tourist location. We were going not just because of the markets, but mainly because we were booked on a food tour. The market is the second most visited locale in Canada after Niagara Falls so we wanted to see what the attraction is. Our small group of food lovers were guided by a lad named Freddy (from Indonesia) and we visited vendors in the market and got to sample from each of their stores all sorts of delicacies. Starting with artesian made sourdough of various flavours, we moved on to a cheese vendor and sampled many expensive cheeses. Then to locally cured meats, me especially liking the elk salami a tad more than the bison. Then in the seafood store my favourite was the maple cured smoked salmon, very sweet and tasty. We even got some pad Thai noodles in a Thai stall, chemically made flavour drops from a chemistry student and chocolate of delicious flavours at a chocolate artisan. Then macarons from a French patisserie. Then a brewed coffee from the JJBean shop closely followed by a honey donut from the donut shop that featured in some Netflix series. Hugo and Norah who are usually light eaters had no problem devouring all these delicacies. By this stage it was time for lunch but no one was interested so we toured the various market stalls and made quiet fun of the ways of the tourists from the USA.

After all this it was a bus back to our lodgings where Hugo and Norah were keen to have a swim after all that food, so Bernie and I went on a walk to Robson street shopping area.

For dinner we went back to Gas town, near Maple-tree square to a Greek restaurant called The Greek by Anatoli, where in we had very tasty Greek food and Aaron and I, a pint of Greek lager. With all that activity we haven’t many photos except one of a giant seagull who peaked at our window after a feed. Unfortunately the windows don’t open. But interesting is the size of seagulls here. They are the size of chickens, quite big, much bigger than Australian midget ones.

Posted @withregram • @vivaentertainment_ Babe we’re back!🕺🏽✨🪩 Celebrate PRIDE in style with our Roller Disco Pride Extravaganza! 🌈✨ Come live your gayest disco fantasy and enjoy an evening of roller skating, drag performance, amazing DJs, vendors, sparkle station, food trucks and much more! This is a FREE event open to the general public to take place at Robson Square Skate Rink this Summer. 🌈🛼🪩 Get the rainbow out and come celebrate our beautiful LGBTQIA2S+ community while strapping on a pair of roller-skates and breaking out your iconic disco moves. Dress up in your most colourful outfit and get ready to dance to music powered by three local DJs! We welcome all ages, all genders, all bodies and all abilities in a family-friendly and inclusive environment. 🌈 All skate levels welcome! ✨ Roller blades welcome! 🌈 Access to the rink will happen on a first come first served basis. Subject to venue capacity. ✨ Skate rentals available on site thanks to @rollaskateclub! 🌈 Lockers available, please bring a quarter to keep your belongings safe. **Prior to entering the rink all skaters will be asked to register and to sign a waiver. // EVENT DETAILS **Free and all ages are welcome to attend Drag performance and MCing by Phyllis Hull IG: @phyllishullofficially LIVE DJ SETS FROM: DJ FunkyBeak (He/Him) IG: @djfunkybeak 6:00-7:00 PM DJ Denise (She/Her) @djdenise35 7:00 - 8:00 PM G-Luv (He/Him) IG: @afrogsiac 8:00-10:00 PM POP UP SHOPS Vendors TBA ✨🌈 Event produced by @vivaentertainment_ and presented by Downtown Vancouver BIA. Event sponsored by @downtownvancouver #rollerdisco #lgbtq #loveislove #priderollerdisco #extravaganza #vancouverskaters #vancouverrollerskating #denzin8productions #vancouverrollerblading #rollerdiscoparty (at Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Səl̓ilwətaɁɬ, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Unceded Territory) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfpIgC8vseb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

minimum once a week I still think about this terrible idea for a ramp at Robson Square that I so clearly remember the internet thirsting over as “prioritising disabled people”

i’m not a wheelchair user, but I’ve only ever heard/seen abled people laud this.  I’ve heard many wheelchair users say “that looks a little too steep.” because it is “the corners are rather tight” because they are “it’s all one colour, integrating the stairs and the ramp makes it difficult to tell where the stairs are if you’re visually impaired” because that’s true.

I understand it was built in the 70s, before there were standards in place. But an abled man - with good intention, poor execution, and no guidelines - made..... this. 

I commend the effort, virtually nothing was accessible in the 70s/80s and he wanted to make a statement about wheelchair accessibility. He wanted to do it in a way where the wheelchair user was prioritised over the walking person. It was a good first effort, it just doesn’t hold up 40+ years later.

However

I recently learned that while people have constantly raised accessibility concerns about the stair ramp - the stramp - the government has said that they will not change it. Why? because they consider it historical. it’s considered “architecturally significant”

So when the BC government was asked “shouldn’t a commentary on accessibility be accessible?” the BC government said “the ramp should be considered ornamental.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/robson-square-province-reax-1.5265090

I admire the sheer unyielding confidence one must have to make accessibility inaccessible. I’m in awe.