Inside Vancouver

Explore Vancouver’s Neon Past with new “augmented reality” app

by Remy Scalza in Town on April 20, 2013

Photo credit: Ken Oakes, Vancouver Sun, 1960

During the 1950s and 1960s, Vancouver was home to some 19,000 neon signs. At night, the Chinatown and Granville Street neighbourhoods glowed with garish turquoise, pink and red marquees, advertising everything from cabarets to drug stores and even funeral homes.

By-laws enacted in the 1970s resulted in a crackdown on the city’s neon signage. But it’s now possible to relive Vancouver’s neon heyday with a new app from the Museum of Vancouver.

The Visible City app, available for iPhone and Android on April 30, takes users on interactive walking tours of bygone neon landmarks in Chinatown and along Granville Street. Thanks to new augmented reality technology, when you hold your camera up to current-day scenes, the app shows how the same location looked in all its former neon glory.

The app was developed by the Museum of Vancouver, which says it is the first cultural institution in North America to make use of augmented reality. It’s accompanied by an online exhibition, as well as the extremely popular Neon Vancouver, Ugly Vancouver exhibit, a permanent installation of 22 salvaged signs that debuted in the museum in 2011.

Vancouverites weren’t always so nostalgic about their neon, however.

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Explore Vancouver’s Neon Past with new “augmented reality” app

Sex Talk in the City at the Museum of Vancouver

by eliannalev in Events on February 13, 2013

If you’re looking to discover Vancouver in a new light, the Museum of Vancouver’s latest exhibit, Sex Talk in the City, will give you the opportunity to do just that. While having the word “sex” in the title may give the impression that it’s going to be racy, think again. The operative word is actually “talk”, as the curators hope to encourage dialogue on Vancouver’s relationship with sexuality.

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Sex Talk in the City at the Museum of Vancouver

Winter Wander in Vanier Park – Saturday, January 26

by eliannalev in Family Friendly on January 24, 2013

Vanier Park is known for being more than a park. It’s the home of the Museum of Vancouver, Maritime Museum, Vancouver Academy of Music and the city’s archives. It’s also a prime spot to fly a kite, go for a serene walk or take in a Shakespearean play at Bard on the Beach. This Saturday, for just $5, everyone is welcome to take in all the attractions and become more familiar with this scenic and culture-crammed gem. (Added bonus: students with Vancouver Academy of Music will be performing at each of the venues. ) To help you get a head start, we’ve rounded up a few nuggets of information about the spots that make Vanier Park a haven of activity.

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Winter Wander in Vanier Park – Saturday, January 26

Vancouver I Love You But…January 25 at the Museum of Vancouver

by eliannalev in Events on January 21, 2013

Scottish performance artist Adrian Howells will act as the evening’s “urban relationship therapist”.

My connection to Vancouver is the closest things I have to a serious, long-term relationship. When I came over for the first time from Victoria on a weekend visit in 1999, I stepped off the bus at Granville and Broadway, took one look at the mountains and felt something rare and special: Love at first sight. I knew in that instant that this had to be my home. A few years later, it was. I have never felt as passionate for anywhere else, as I do for my adopted home. Like any relationship, romantic or otherwise, there are good days, bad days and lots of hard work. Every few years I find myself having to think of new and exciting ways to fall in love again, a challenge I force myself to take on with fervor. It seems that I’m not alone, if the upcoming event, Vancouver I Love You But…, at the Museum of Vancouver is any indication.

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Vancouver I Love You But…January 25 at the Museum of Vancouver

Love You Forever

by eliannalev in Events on December 4, 2012

Photo of Tobias Wong tattoo by Dean Kaufman

On Saturday, one of Vancouver most respected and in-demand tattoo artists will be showcasing his talents to a unique audience – attendees of the Museum of Vancouver. In what is being considered to be a first for this city, the MOV and Chad Woodley of Electric Sanitary Tattoo Company (and my tattoo artist) are staging a pop-up tattoo parlour. The event was inspired by the spirit of the late Vancouver designer and artist Tobias Wong, who was famous for appropriating other people’s work.

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Love You Forever