A Vancouver time travelogue brought to you by Past Tense.
Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh is most well known for his many iconic portraits of world leaders and celebrities. But in 1952 he spent 18 days taking photos in Vancouver as part of an assignment for Maclean’s Magazine to profile Canadian cities. Vancouverite Pierre Berton briefed Karsh on the city, pointing out features such as the gaudy neon-lit streets downtown, Stanley Park, the waterfront, and HR MacMillan lording over his commercial empire from the top of the Marine Building.
As with his portraits, Karsh didn’t leave much to chance in his Vancouver photographs. The top photo was taken atop a hydraulic lift that he commandeered from BCER and car headlights substituted for studio lights in the foggy Stanley Park image.
Karsh claimed that he didn’t find any slums in Vancouver. Instead, he was intrigued by the houseboat squatter colonies that lined the city’s shores.
Unfortunately the other photos aren’t yet available online, but they include ballerinas at the Hollow Tree, the new Lumberman’s Arch, Sikh sawmill workers, and a rainy street scene with “Singing in the Rain” on the marquis of a Granville theatre.
Sources: karsh.org; Maclean’s Magazine 15 November 1952; Portrait in Light and Shadow: The Life of Yousuf Karsh by Maria Tippett (Anansi Press, 2007)
