City preview · Metro Vancouver

Harbor edges, silos,
and a city with a sense of humor

Metro Vancouver keeps both its industrial harbor frame and its sense of humor: a prank sign became official art, the East Van cross glows toward downtown, giants occupy working cement silos, and an old cannon marks nine o'clock every night.

4 web previews 53 stories in the app

City Whisper editorial illustration of Dude Chilling Park
Mount Pleasant · Editorial illustration, not a historical photo

Look again as you pass

Four Metro Vancouver footnotes

Short previews and public sources only. Read the complete collection in City Whisper.

City Whisper editorial illustration of Dude Chilling Park

01 · Mount Pleasant

Yes, it is really Dude Chilling Park

A prank city sign got taken down, then 1,500 signatures turned it into official park art.

In 2012, a Dude Chilling Park sign styled like official city signage appeared without permission in Guelph Park and was quickly removed.

Source: vancouver.ca
City Whisper editorial illustration of East Van Cross Monument by Ken Lum

02 · Grandview-Woodland

East Van, glowing westward

This 57-foot illuminated cross points its EAST and VAN straight at downtown, on purpose.

The EAST VAN cross symbol circulated in East Vancouver for decades, and where exactly it came from has never been settled.

Source: covapp.vancouver.ca
City Whisper editorial illustration of OSGEMEOS Silos

03 · Granville Island

Giants painted on working silos

The six colored giants by the market are 70 feet tall, took 1,400 cans of spray paint, and stand on silos that still load cement.

Granville Island is not a natural island; it was filled in during the 1910s for False Creek industry. Markets, theaters, and studios moved in over the years, but industry never fully left: Ocean Concrete still mixes cement here.

Source: Wikipedia
City Whisper editorial illustration of Nine O'Clock Gun

04 · Stanley Park

Nine at night, one shot, every night

At nine sharp every night, this 1816 cannon booms across the bay; the city set its watches by it for close to a century.

This 12-pounder naval gun was cast in Woolwich, England in 1816 and moved to Stanley Park in the 1890s.

Source: Wikipedia

All images on this page are City Whisper editorial illustrations, not historical photographs, news photographs, or evidence.

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