Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Old school Christmas shopping downtown

One of the offspring of this historical Vancouver photo writes: "This picture is of our mom and dad Christmas shopping in Vancouver. Dad wrote on the back 'No, I didn't let Gladys carry the load, only for the picture' Mom says, "That's not true.

One of the offspring of this historical Vancouver photo writes:

"This picture is of our mom and dad Christmas shopping in Vancouver. Dad wrote on the back 'No, I didn't let Gladys carry the load, only for the picture' Mom says, "That's not true." It was always a joke for the family. We grew up with Foncie's photos all around. Every sister and brother in our family had a Foncie's photo in their home."

vancouver-christmas-shopping

The story behind the man who captured this photo? Well, from 1934 to 1979, street photographer Foncie Pulice set up his camera on Vancouver city sidewalks and snapped candid shots of people strolling by. For almost half a century, he took thousands of photos, unwittingly capturing moments in time, the history of a city, and the lives of British Columbians. Photo negatives of Foncie’s images do not exist. He destroyed most of them when he retired. Until recently there was no central archive or collection.

Documentary filmmaker Melanie Wood and British Columbia’s Knowledge Network changed that by bringing these photographs together – collecting them from albums around the province and giving them a public home online and in the film Foncie's Corner. The photos continue to stream in and Melanie shares them with us regularly so we can share them here on our blog.

This is a story about Vancouver, about British Columbia, and about it’s people... so they need your help. Visit Knowledge.ca/FonciesCorner to add your photos and stories to the collection.