A photo tour through New Westminster, BC - Royal City - 49°12′25″N 122°54′40″W

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Totem

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A small totem I stumbled upon one day in Queen's Park. Many local parks have totem poles in them, ranging from the height of an average person to, well, tall!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Read with Pride

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New Westminster is gearing up for Diversity Week, a variety of Pride-related activities. The library has caught the Pride spirit - this is the display inside the New West library door.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Crossed wires

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A meeting of various wires outside several homes and apartment buildings.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Slope

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New Westminster sharply slopes towards the Fraser River, starting at Royal Avenue. Many buildings, such as this one, are at ground level at the front yet 2nd floor by the time you get to the back. This is the former Federal Fisheries and Indian Affairs building from 1906.

Monday, July 26, 2010

2010

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This sign sits just inside the main entrance to Queen's Park. Last year it was planted with "150" (as it was the 150th anniversary of New Westminster's incorporation as a city). This year it has this large sign to represent the Year of Biodiversity.

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Saintly Sunday

25 July 2010

Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Parish church.

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Front door detail

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Play ball!

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Opening ceremony for a Little League tournament in Moody Park. This was being covered by one of the local tv stations, which was very interesting to see!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Patchwork Road

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Interesting road construction near the intersection of 4th and Agnes. As far as I know, this is the only street with these bricks on it.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Condo Life

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This is part of the residential community lining the New Westminster Quay, filling up the space between the river and the railroad tracks.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Standin' Around

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A few of the people painted on the wall outside of the Lafflines comedy club.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Stately Manor

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One of New Westminster's beautiful houses. This one was built in the 1930s. Many historical homes in town have a plaque indicating the year they were built, and who lived in them at the time.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Des Fleurs

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Bouquet display outside of one of my favourite dollar stores.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

View from Above

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To get to the New Westminster Quay, people climb a set of stairs to an overpass that takes them over the railway tracks. This photo was taken from the top of the stairs. It is overlooking the Fraser River, the Quay where the outdoor stage and food booths are set up for Fraser Fest (buffalo burgers! salmon barbeque! ice cream!), as well as the Fraser River Discovery Centre building to the left.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Wooden Toy

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Fraser Fest was on today down at New West Quay. Up and down the boardwalk were kids pulling behind them these little wooden boats they had made at one of the craft booths.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Old & New

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Further documentation of the changes around the old Salvation Army building. If the facade is being kept, I wonder if that includes this beautiful rounded corner.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

River Music

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I went for a walk along the Quay this evening, and ran into the Royal City Concert Band playing a concert at the river's edge.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Mercy

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I'm really happy I took this photo as some more local history has bit the dust. This mural is now sitting in pieces at the base of the former Salvation Army store building. I spoke recently with someone working for the architecture company creating the complex at this location, and only the facade is being kept. This mural was on the back wall, facing the SkyTrain station (from where I took this picture).

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fiery

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A couple more cars from the Show & Shine (perhaps I'll move on tomorrow; however, I love all of these cars!). The paint jobs on these two were stellar, and I love the happy face balloon just hanging out there. Seeing these two little cars with their fiery flame paint job sure made me smile!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Woodie

12 July 2010

Early in the morning well be startin' out
Some honeys will be coming along
Were loading up our woody
With our boards inside
And headin' out singing our song
-Beach Boys, "Surfin' Safari"

Another great car from the Show & Shine show yesterday. The sign in the front window says, "Look and Touch. I don't give a S**t", a nice change from many of the other cars with their "Do Not Touch" signs on them.

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Crayola Cars

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The annual Show & Shine was held today. Columbia Street was shut down to moving traffic, and filled with stationary classic and collector cars from way back when until less way back when. Last night was the temporary drive in - an inflatable screen was installed in the parking lot on the quay, and showed, naturally, "American Graffiti".

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Haus

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I have always loved this trompe-l'oeil on the side of this restaurant. Someday I will have to dine here and find out if the food is just as charming.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Succulent

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According to the New Westminster Parks & Rec website, in 1956 a sunken rose garden was planted in Queen's Park. The garden follows the formal pattern of a Shakespearean garden, and contains 1100 hybrid and floribunda roses. In 1981, the garden was dedicated to Mr Herb House, a prominent New Westminster resident who served the community in many ways for over 50 years.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Lacey

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According to the New West Parks & Rec website, Irving House (built at the time by Captain William Irving, a shipping magnate) was once described like this in the "British Columbian" newspaper, April 1865:

"…the handsomest, the best and most home-like house of which British Columbia can yet boast..."

It's now a museum showing off what was once the best in Victorian and colonial British architecture of that era.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Ta!

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There's a great shop called Sherlock's Cafe that sells all sorts of British food products, everything from packaged sweets to drinks (Irn-Bru! Ribena!) to fresh meat pies and tea (in the cafe). This is where soccer (football) fans can get their Chelsea mugs or Arsenal school rulers and pencils.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Kaboom

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This one of three cannons guarding this area of town. Watch for the others in a future post!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Regiment-ed

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The Royal Westminster Regiment Historical Society and Museum on Queens Avenue near City Hall. The Royal Westminster Regiment is an active Army Reserve battalion, with units currently stationed in Afghanistan.

This is the regiment after whose mid-19th century soldiers the world's largest tin soldier at the New Westminster Quay was designed.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Got keys?

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Detail of the old lock on the gate to Queen's Park at 1st and Vancouver streets.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Bridges

3 July 2010

View of the SkyTrain suspension bridge, the Patullo Bridge, and the railway bridge (which opens to let boats through). The road running parallel to the Fraser River is Front Street. Just beyond the bridge is the confluence of the Fraser and Brunette rivers.

Friday, July 2, 2010