From having to haul poop out of the swamp and to Isaac Newton’s apple tree, to $1,000 beer bottles, to why Bing Crosby drove a tractor in Vancouver.
past year vancouver is amazing has published over 40 articles about Vancouver facts.
They are usually unusual, sometimes topical, and rarely useful, but they all share some part of Vancouver’s past or present.
Of the 200+ facts revealed in our “5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know” series, here are 10 of our favorites of 2023.
1. The SkyTrain used to have carpeted floors.
Yes, it is. In 1986, when the new public transportation system carrying thousands of people was first unveiled, SkyTrain cars were carpeted.
I can’t guess why it didn’t take hold.
From “5 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Skytrain.”
2. Bing Crosby helped raise money for the original Sunset Community Center
This is a bit of a long story, but the short version is that a man from Vancouver traveled to Hollywood to ask one of the big stars there to help him raise money for a community center.
No, this isn’t the plot of an 80’s teen movie, it’s actually how the original Sunset Community Center was built.
The man, Stan Thomas, somehow found Bing Crosby ( white christmas fame and many other things) and convinced him to come to Vancouver. Crosby’s visit was such a big deal that he was given the keys to the city and a film crew followed him (television news didn’t exist yet).
From “5 things classic celebrities did in Vancouver that you probably didn’t know.”
3. Several apple trees at UBC are descendants of one of Isaac Newton’s fame.
Isaac Newton is one of the most famous scientists of all time, and perhaps the most famous story about him is about an apple falling.
Thanks to his fame, it turned out that the tree from which the famous apple fell is known, and its descendants are being traced. In 1971 he brought two samples to his UBC and planted them, where they still survive today.
From “5 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About UBC.”
4. Blink-182’s First Date (and iconic GIF) was filmed at Big Splash Water Park in Tsawwassen
One of the most used GIFs of all time is of Vancouver.
In 2001, Blink 182 filmed a music video for their hit song “First Date,” which received a lot of playtime on MuchMusic and MTV in the early 2000s.
It used to be that old music videos mostly faded from the pop culture consciousness, but thanks to the rise of reaction GIFs, small clips from music videos have become incredibly popular. You may have used it when asking “WTF?”
From “5 things you (probably) didn’t know about pop culture and Vancouver.”
5. Hockey’s blue line was invented in Vancouver.
To be fair, many of the hockey rules in use today originated on the West Coast. Ice hockey’s roots are in eastern Canada, but metropolitan Vancouver has evolved greatly.
That’s thanks to the Patrick family, especially brothers Frank and Lester. They started their own league, brought in players from the East to play, coach, manage, operate, and more. Ultimately, they helped found the NHL.
Some of the things they invented include the aforementioned blue line, penalty shots, jersey numbers, and more.
From “5 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Vancouver Hockey.”
6. Someone tried to escape from the police by driving a tractor into Burns Swamp, but the tractor got stuck.
They didn’t just drive into a swamp and try to escape. That means they’re stuck.
And not only was it stuck, over 20 years later, the tractor was still there and a local man tried to pull it out and got his tractor stuck.
You know what doesn’t get stuck in the mud? helicopter. So authorities hired one person to lift a second tractor. But the first one is still rusting to pieces in the swamp.
From “5 things you (probably) didn’t know about Metro Vancouver’s Burns Bog.”
7. You have to poop yourself.
Burns Bog is unique enough to appear twice on this list.
Because it’s also (probably) the only place in Metro Vancouver where you have to carry your poop with you after you poop.
A small portion of the wetland is open to the public, but much of it is off-limits. Only researchers can enter, and if you poop there, you have to remove it. You even have to sign a form saying you want to participate.
From “5 things you (probably) didn’t know about Metro Vancouver’s Burns Bog.”
8. Canada’s first female police officer was in vancouver
Vancouver is one of Canada’s largest cities and was the first to get some things going, including female police officers.
Two women participated at the same time: Lurancee Harris and Minnie Miller. This was in 1912 (white women were not given the right to vote in BC until 1917), so they were employed at the lowest possible rank and were given no guns or uniforms. It was. Harris went on to have a distinguished career, and her mansion in East Vancouver still stands.
From “5 More Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know Vancouver Had First in Canada”
9. A local brewery produced a beer that cost $1,000 and sold out.
To be clear, while the beer inside was premium beer, it was the actual bottle that made these beer bottles so expensive.
They were handmade bottles and contained mammoth tusks (just in case mammoths have been extinct for thousands of years).
From “5 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Vancouver Beer.”
10. Once upon a time there was a three-room house made from two old tree stumps.
If you go to 4230 Prince Edward St., you’ll see that it doesn’t exist. But if you go back 110 years, you’ll discover an incredibly unusual house on the huge stumps of two of his trees that were cut down, with a hut built between them.
From “5 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Vancouver Trees.”