Vancouver: A Distant Mirror offers glimpses into city's history

False Creek may be full of condos and bike paths today, but from the '50s through the '70s it was a hub of industry and construction.

That chapter in the neighbourhood's history has been captured in Vancouver: A Distant Mirror, a screening of historical films from the City of Vancouver Archives hosted Sunday afternoon by local historian Michael Kluckner.

Some of those films tell a familiar story of a growing city dealing with traffic and congestion.

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"Nothing changes, really," Kluckner told The Early Edition's Stephen Quinn.

Kluckner says around 1950, False Creek was at a crossroads: The city could either build a bridge over the water or fill in the neighbourhood entirely. The result was the new Granville Street Bridge.

"That's probably the only piece of infrastructure from that period that's never been overloaded," Kluckner said in response to Quinn observing that the bridge strikes him as overbuilt.

A connection to the past

Kluckner says when choosing films to screen, he looks for those that "make a connection" to the past.

The exhibit has an array of footage from the era, depicting, among other things, parties, industry, Chinatown, and even ads for the 1955 Grey Cup.

Ultimately, Kluckner says that footage of mundane things can tell us a lot about the past. He says the films tell us about how the roles of men and women have changed, and he begins each screening with a piece of advice: "Watch for the cigarettes.

"It's amazing the amount of tobacco you will see in the presenters of these films, just in the personal habits."

He also says that when people see the films, they'll be seeing a "shabby" Vancouver, a far cry from today's city, which "now looks extremely finished, it looks kind of gleaming and washed and white," he said.

By contrast, in the '50s films, Vancouver had come through the Depression and Second World War, "It was effectively 25 years that there was no maintenance done on the city at all."

Vancouver: A Distant Mirror will be screened on Sunday, Nov .29, at 3 p.m. at Vancity Theatre.

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled:'Shabby' Vancouver of 1950s on display in new exhibit