Vancouver is a city of beaches.
Each shore seems to have its own history, often stretching back millennia as sites of local First Nations villages.
One of these beaches is Jericho. Located in the Kitsilano/Point Grey border zone, it's one of three in a stretch that heads west with Locarno and Spanish Banks following. It's a good stretch of shore.
All this you probably know.
You also probably know it's got a colony of cute, but invasive rabbits: don't feed them. While the rabbits are part of the beach's recent history, let's take a look a little further back.
1. It was the site of a Musqueam village
Called Ee’yullmough (or Iy̓ál̓mexw according to the Squamish atlas), the village stood at the site that's now known as Jericho Beach long before any settlers set up in the area, and the land would have looked significantly different at the time.
Recently Ee’yullmough has come up again as part of the Jericho Lands development discussion.
2. The name has nothing to do with Jericho, the city
It's not exactly clear where the name came from, but the name Jericho Beach definitely originates with Jeremiah 'Jerry' Rogers.
A logger, Rogers ran his operations from the shore at the beach. The company was known as Jerry & Co. and the area may have been known as Jerry's Cove. It's believed the Jericho comes from one of those two names getting run together.
3. It was the site of one of the first golf courses in Western North America
The first golf club in Canada was founded in 1873, and it became popular in eastern Canada before arriving out west.
In 1892, though, three Vancouver businessmen decided it was time Vancouver had a club and course, and founded the Jericho Golf Club. It was a nine-hole course and soon saw overcrowding, and may have been the first organized golf club west of the Mississippi.
4. There was a military airbase there
For decades Jericho Beach wasn't a place to sunbathe, but rather to pull a seaplane ashore.
Originally founded as a government flying boat station, the military ran RCAF Station Jericho Beach there from the 1920s through WW2. It expanded during the war (including taking over the golf course) and the army took much of the land over. The air base on the shore was shut down and the hangars were left behind by the air force.
While most of the site is devoid of the base that once was, the Jericho Arts Centre is still there; the building used to be the RCAF rec hall, and hosted dances for pilots and locals.
5. Hippies took it over, and the police and army forced them out
Former Vancouver Mayor Tom Campbell famously didn't care for the hippy movement, so when up to 400 hippies moved into the leftover barracks from the airbase and called it Cool-Aid, he decided something had to be done.
On Oct. 2, 1970 the site was ordered evacuated. On Oct. 15 police officers and soldiers were called in. It took them more than three hours to push them out.
And that's how the hostel at Jericho Beach was founded.
Bonus
This isn't an amazing fact, but if you saw Deadpool 2, did you notice where Cable arrived when he made it to the current time?
