Vancouver: A Visual History.
Bruce Macdonald. Talonbooks,
$45.00

_. Heritage Walks Around Van-
couver. Michael Kluckner &
John Atkin. Whitecap Books.
$14.95 ,

PICTURE may be
worth a thousand
words, but a good

map speaks volumes. For
the early sailors and explor-
ers, narrative and descrip-
tive accounts of travels were
addenda — mere commen-
tary, useful only with the
“key”: the map.
_ Nothing short of a computer

_ program delivers so:much prac-
tical information with such visual
and conceptual impact as a good
chart or map. Maps are like
lingerie: they wutline without
revealing, describe without show-
ing. They seduce the imagination,
. Bruce Macdonald’s Vancouver:

-A Visual History, whose slimness
belies a wealth of research, is
worth any number of ponderous
municipal histories. In a series of
chronological demngraphic maps,
it demonstrates, rather ih2n tells
about, the patterns of human life .
on these familiar shores from the

First Nations to the present day.

Like a time-lapse filin of cell- .

BOOK REVIEW

divison, the early settlements of
Granville, Hastings Mill and
Moodyville subdivide and grow on
successive pages until they meet,
merge and transform themselves
into the complex metropolitan or-
ganism we call Greater Van-
couver, *.

If this sounds a trifle like the plot
of the sci-fi thriller, The Blob, the
subtext is inescapable as you
watch the yellow and red densities
drive the green to the margins and
the notations of orca and bear
sightings (a nice touch) steadily
decline.

Still, it’s our city, we made it,
and this is the most concise, in-
formative and user-friendly ac-
count of how it came to be you're
likely to see without a VDT.

Snippets of time-capsule history
and old photos catch the mood of
most decades, but the large format
maps are the starts here. What is
surprising is the extent to which

you can flesh out sorne of these
maps with nothing more than a
good pair of walking shoes and a
copy of Kluckner & Atkin’s
Heritage Waiks Around Van-
couver,

Kluckner’s name should be
well-known to local heritage
building buffs from his instant cof-
fee-table classic, Vancouver The
Way tt Was (Whitecap Books,
1984). Relax, this one will fit in the
pocket of your windbreaker as you
stroll sidestreets and back lanes,
amazed at how much ald Van-
couver survives in the lengthening
shadow of the concrete and
smoke-glass skyline.

This is what you miss, kidding
yourself that you can “beat traf. -
fic’ and find a parking space. So
lace up fora serendipitous tour of
eight neighborhoods, including
“Coffee shops of the Downtown
Eastside’ and, of particular focal
interest, ‘North Vancouver Ci-
ty." :

1 ower Lonsdale will never be
the same after you've taken this
trip. | mean, who'd have thought
the vanished Olympic Hotel, site
of my first under-age itiegalpublic .
beer, had more than a sentimental
history?

Packed with historical and archi-
tectural detail, this book never
loses its cosy, intimate tone.
Kluckner and Atkin make you feel
like part of the neighborhood as it
was and, here and there, stillis. .

Playhouse chooses new artistic director

NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED direc-
tor Sue Cox will take over as ar-
tistic director of. the Vancouver
* «Playhouse Theatre Company,
replacing. Deep Cove resident
" Larry Lill, or ;
«Selected from 40 candidates,
* Cox. was the unamimous choice of
the Vancouver theatre company’s
search. committee. She assumes
her new position on July 1. .
“Susan Cox.is one of the best

stage directors in the country,”

said Vancouver playwright John’
the search

Gray, who chaired
committee.

Lillo, who retires after five years
at the “helm of. the. Playhouse
due’ to ill health, said: he was
delighted with Cox's appointment.

A native of Liverpool, England,
Cox has had a distinguished career
as an actor for the stage, film, TV
and radio. | .

She has worked in all the major. '
British

reperatory theatres, and
had a regular part in the popular

TV. series, Coronation Street, be-’
fore coming to Canada 20 years.

ago.

She directed the Playhouse’s

"4992 production of Fallen Angels

and won a Dora Mavor Moore
Award for het one-woman
musical, Valentine Browne: Live.

30 to take on foles of the Pea-

Wednesday, January 13, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 24

1

WV musical holds auditions

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Theatre is
holding auditions for its up-
coming production of the
Broadway musical, You're a
Good Man Charlic Brown, this
Friday at the Deep Cove Shaw
Theatre at 7 p.m,

Director Warde Ashlie is
looking for six iactors aged 15-

“nuts gang. Interested perfar-
mers should come with ja
prepared monologue and shart
song appropriate to the charac-
ter they are hoping to portray.
A current resume and photo
are also required.

The play. will run’ March 31-
Apr.t0. Phone 929-9456 for
details. oe