A Year in Five Minutes: Vancouver 1946

The war was over, but a housing shortage was a big problem for the vets. The city also lost one of its most popular mayors this year.

By Chuck Davis, The History of Vancouver
Photos courtesy of Vancouver Archives

1946 was a dark year for Vancouver: the parking meter was introduced October 15. The charge was five cents for one hour’s parking.

Homeless Vets

On January 26, 1946 thirty-five homeless Second World War veterans—walking past unprotesting Army sentries—occupied the old (and vacant) Hotel Vancouver, two blocks east of the present hotel. They announced that the hotel was now veterans’ housing. Before long about 1,000 veterans—some with spouses—were filling the hotel. They stayed there until 1948. There was an extreme housing shortage, not just here but all across Canada. That led to the creation of a new government department this year: the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), formed to replace Wartime Housing Ltd.—which had built thousands of houses during the war—and to take over its assets. Today, the CMHC initials stand for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

‘Hush-Hush Troops’

ELEVEN ‘HUSH-HUSH’ TROOPS DOCK HERE was the headline on a February 14, 1946 story in the Vancouver Sun about the arrival from Australia of 11 Canadian soldiers who had served in the Pacific war. The war was over, but these men were still “under orders not to talk about their military activities.”

We know today what four of them had been doing. They were Chinese Canadian soldiers from B.C., and had served with a “secret Chinese Guerrilla unit” in the East Indies. The story of the fight Chinese Canadians had to wage to be accepted into our armed forces is too long to tell here. Not one was drafted; they were all volunteers, and served with distinction.

The four men were Sgt. Norman Lowe and Sgt. Louis King of Vancouver, Tpr. Douglas Mar of Port Alberni and Sgt. D. Jung of Victoria. That latter NCO would be Douglas Jung. He was 22 at the time, went on to become the first Chinese Canadian veteran to receive a university education under the auspices of Veteran’s Affairs, and the first Chinese Canadian lawyer to appear before the B.C. Court of Appeal. In 1957 he became Canada’s first Chinese Canadian MP. He won the Burma Star in the war. You can learn more at the Chinese Canadian War Museum at the Chinese Cultural Centre on Pender Street.

Alexander of Tunis

On July 13 Canada’s new Governor General, Field Marshal Viscount Alexander of Tunis, visited Vancouver. He was our last British GG, and one of the most popular, a genuine war hero. Alexander had become a major-general in the British Army in 1937 at age 45, the youngest of that rank, and had a distinguished record in World War II—including commanding the rearguard during the Dunkirk evacuation, where he was the last man to leave France. He led the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean from 1942.

All of which perhaps explains why he became the only white man in the history of the Pacific coast to become, with full tribal rites, a native chief. While he was here, Alexander received a Kwakiutl thunderbird headdress and ceremonial blanket, and became Chief Nakupunkim.

L.D.

L.D. Taylor, former mayor, died in Vancouver June 4, 1946, aged 88. Born July 22, 1857 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Taylor arrived in Vancouver September 17, 1896. As Daniel Francis’ 2004 book Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver makes plain, Louis Denison Taylor was a very interesting fellow indeed. In 1896 he hurriedly left Chicago, where he was in banking, with criminal charges pending against him in connection with accepting deposits when, the charge read, he knew his bank was insolvent. And for a brief period he was married to two women at the same time. He only looked like Caspar Q. Milquetoast!

“Taylor,” Donna Jean McKinnon writes, “was one of the most popular mayors of Vancouver, serving seven times between 1910 and 1934. It was his flamboyance that usually got L.D. back into office, most often during a period of growth and enthusiasm, following a nose-to-the-grindstone administration. A tireless promoter of the amalgamation of Point Grey, South Vancouver and Vancouver, he was, however, not in the mayor’s chair when amalgamation finally occurred in 1929. That honor went to Mayor Malkin, who slipped into office in between Taylor’s two 4-year terms. Taylor was called a courageous, capable administrator and initiator of many civic improvements. He opened the airport at Sea Island, and supported the development of the city archives. Between periods of public office, Taylor published and edited mining newspapers and produced a paper called The Critic, essentially an editorial leaflet on contemporary public issues.” Read Daniel Francis’ book. It’s a gem.

Other Post-War News

With the war over, Vancouver Airport was returned to civic control.

On September 19 C.D. Howe, the “Minister of Everything” (in this case, Transport), officiated at a ceremony at the airport in honor of the arrival of the first plane from Australia, and establishment of an air route around the world through the Commonwealth.

4,000 people of Japanese descent returned to Japan this year.

Also in 1946

On January 31 Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited was incorporated.

The great American bass Paul Robeson performed at the Orpheum February 7, 1946, and 3,000 fans in the sold-out theatre kept him coming back for more and more. The Sun’s Stanley Bligh, in a warm review, commented: “In addition to his great success in the artistic field, the eminent Negro has won an outstanding place in the world by his firm stand on the question of racial equality, his knowledge of languages, international economics and his wide sympathy for the oppressed peoples of the whole globe.”

That sympathy would later get him into trouble—and Vancouver was involved. More details to come in the installment for 1952.

TCG, one of the biggest companies in B.C., and the sponsor of 1946 in The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, had its origins in one automotive replacement glass store: Central Auto & Window Glass Shop opened its doors for business on March 21, 1946. The shop was at 26 McInnis Street (rear of Fogg Motors) in New Westminster.

As its part in the civic Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary) celebrations the Vancouver Parks Board hosted a dinner April 30 at the Pavilion for nine “Jubilarians,” all born in Vancouver in 1886 after incorporation.

Albert Edward “Dal” Grauer replaced W. G. Murrin as president of the BC Electric Co. in April. He would serve until 1960.

An earthquake June 23 felt mostly on Vancouver Island stopped the clock on the Vancouver Block, just as a 1918 quake had done.

July 1, 1946 marked the first Dominion Day since the end of the war, and Vancouver celebrated with a spectacular parade, in the world’s largest outdoor theatre built at Brockton Point. 250,000 people attended! (Dominion Day would become Canada Day October 27, 1982.)

Steveston held its first Salmon Festival July 1, and Sophie Kuchma, the first Salmon Queen, was crowned. Sophie won the title by selling most tickets to the festival at 10 cents each.

Vancouver’s first Jewish residence for the aged, Louis Brier Home, was opened July 7 by comedian and humanitarian Eddie Cantor, who gave a benefit performance in its support. “Early Sunday on July 7,” the Jewish Bulletin web site says, “the stage and screen star and his snowy-haired wife, Ida, officially opened the Home at 1190 West Thirteenth, which was gaily decked in flags for the occasion.” Today the Home is at 1055 West 41st Avenue.

Beth Israel Cemetery was consecrated July 28. The cemetery is slightly northwest of the Willingdon and Lougheed Highway.

The Cascades Drive-In Theatre opened in Burnaby August 30, 1946. Cars arrived two hours before the showing of Home in Indiana (a 1944 movie) was to begin. The theatre would close in 1980; the site is now occupied by Cascade Village condominium development.

Walter Mulligan, a Vancouver police officer with the force since 1927, was named head of the department’s Criminal Investigation Bureau in August, 1946. Mulligan would become chief of the department in 1947. Scandal would follow.

Charles Arthur Banks was sworn in as B.C.’s Lieutenant Governor October 1, succeeding William Woodward.

This from the Province of October 11, 1946: “Cecil Alton, chairman of a special advertising committee of the Vancouver Tourist Association, said: ‘At least 1,000,000 American tourists will have visited Vancouver this year . . .’”

Effective October 28, milk sold in Vancouver had to be pasteurized.

On November 23 boys band leader Arthur Delamont was named Mr. Good Citizen of 1946, a popular decision. We had always associated Delamont with the Kitsilano Boys Band (founded in 1927), but that group was just one of seven he was leading when this award was made: They also included the bands of West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Point Grey, Grandview, Fairview and the University of B.C. The Hereford-born Delamont had once played with a Salvation Army band in England, led by the composer Edward Elgar.

On December 10 West Vancouver voted to discontinue the ferry service to Vancouver.

1946 marked the arrival at Vancouver Airport of the first scheduled overseas airline, Australian National Airways (which later became Qantas).

Following five years as a pilot in the RCAF, Jack Bell became the first commercial grower of cranberries in B.C. this year. He planted three acres. “Every October,” says one web site, “the cranberries are collected by a unique method called a ‘wet harvest.’ The cranberry fields are flooded with millions of litres of water. Then a gas-powered machine with spinning frames moves through the field, knocking the berries from their vines. The berries float to the surface and farmers use rakes to push them onto conveyor belts and into collection wagons. This method is much quicker than the old method of picking the small berries off their vines by hand.”

W. C. Atherton became president of the Vancouver Real Estate Board.

Earle Birney began teaching literature at UBC. He would continue to 1965, starting along the way (1963) Canada’s first creative writing department.

Riga, Latvia-born (1901) musician Harry Adaskin, one of a prominent musical family, came to Vancouver from Toronto, where he was a founding member of the Hart House Quartet, and established UBC’s faculty of music. He would head the department for 12 years, spend 15 more there as a professor. In his autobiography (two volumes: A Fiddler’s World (1977), A Fiddler’s Choice (1982)), Adaskin wrote he had only to see a person’s hands to completely know him.

Alexander, Manitoba-born Gathie Falk, artist, came to Vancouver with her family. She was 18. Someone wrote that Falk has “revealed the magic found in everyday objects and sites for more than 30 years.” There’s humor, excitement and discovery in her work.

This year saw the first sail-past of the West Vancouver Yacht Club (at Sandy Cove).

The Norsal, which made its maiden voyage in 1922, was sold to the J. Gordon Gibson lumbering family. Gibson would rename her the Maui Lu, later sail her to Hawaii.

The last working sailing ship in BC waters, the Pamir, was towed out of Vancouver harbour this year with a load of coal for Australia. There is a book by Richard E. Wells, The Vancouver Voyages of the Barque Pamir, published by Sono Nis Press. The publisher’s web site says, in part, “One of the few sailing ships to survive in ocean trade into the first decades of the twentieth century, the barque Pamir was the last of a once great fleet of German square riggers. After an extensive refit, the Pamir was operated by the Union Steamship company of New Zealand; it appeared in Vancouver in June 1945 with a cargo of tallow in exchange for wheat. The story of the ship’s three Vancouver voyages will appeal to all those interested in maritime history, seamanship and the breathtaking grandeur of the square riggers, graceful ghosts of the high seas.”

Capilano Stadium was built. The 6,500-seat facility was built by Emil Sick, a Seattle brewer, who donated it to the City. It has since been renamed to honour the late Nat Bailey, founder of the White Spot restaurant chain.

The Registered Nurses Association of B.C. (RNABC) obtained its first certification at St. Paul’s Hospital in 1946.

The first female physician was appointed at Essondale Mental Hospital.

Native Voice, a bi-monthly publication from the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia , began publishing.

The famous 2400 Motel on Kingsway opened.

This was a year of shortages everywhere. In Cloverdale and White Rock (still a part of Surrey) 264 people were waiting for telephones.

Troll’s restaurant opened in Horseshoe Bay. (A new building would be erected in 1963.)

The number of visitors to Bowen Island reached an all-time high of 101,000 this year.

With $800 in his pocket, Joseph Segal founded Field’s Stores.

Departures

Charles Cotterrell died in Vancouver February 14, aged 68. He had retired from the CPR—where he had been assistant general manager—in December, 1945 as a result of illness. He was with the railway for 47 years, had lived in Vancouver for the last 25 years. He was the immediate past president of the Vancouver Board of Trade, elected January 1945.

On April 14 “Mr. Good Evening” died. That’s how Earle Kelly was known to thousands of radio listeners in BC from 1929 to 1946. Gord Lansdell, who created the Vancouver Broadcasters web site, has written a fine tribute to him. An excerpt: “Earle Kelly was widely known as ‘Canada’s first personality broadcaster.’ Born in Australia to Irish parents, he had been a Major in the Intelligence Corps of the Australian Army, and prior to coming to Canada had worked as a journalist in several Commonwealth countries. On his way to an eastern Canadian newspaper in 1925, he stopped in Vancouver, where he joined the Daily Province, later progressing to the position of night editor. Starting in 1929, Kelly’s ‘Good evening” on the Province’s own station CKCD distinctively boomed forth in what was to become a 17-year tradition of nightly newscasts, seven days a week in British Columbia. . . .”

***

Chuck Davis is a Vancouver writer who has written, co-written, or edited 15 books. Most of them are on local history, and he describes his next book, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, as the capstone of his career.