50 Fun Facts About Vancouver

What was the first name of the Royal Navy captain who explored Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave the city its name?

George Vancouver had sailed as a midshipman on Cook's second voyage; the island and a city in Washington state share his name.

The settlement that became Vancouver grew around a tavern opened on 1 July 1867 by whom?

The Yorkshire seaman's saloon gave the district its name, Gastown; the steam clock marks the spot and his statue was toppled in 2022.

Before it was renamed Vancouver in 1886, the townsite was officially called what?

It honoured the British colonial secretary; the rename came through a deal with the transcontinental railway.

Which company chose Vancouver as its western terminus in 1884, giving the city its name and its boom?

Port Moody, New Westminster and Victoria all lost out; the first transcontinental train arrived in 1887.

The Great Vancouver Fire that razed the whole city struck on 13 June of which year?

The city had been incorporated only two months earlier, on 6 April; 600 to 1,000 buildings burned.

Which three Coast Salish peoples had villages on the site of present-day Vancouver?

K'emk'emelay, 'place of many maple trees', was a Squamish village where the first sawmill was built.

Vancouver ranks fourth in North America for population density, behind which three cities?

More than 5,700 people per square kilometre live in the city proper of 662,000.

What is 'Vancouverism'?

Dense residential towers on podiums with parks and waterfront made the city a global model for liveable density.

Vancouver stood at number one on the Global Liveability Ranking for several years until which year?

It has since been called one of the world's most unaffordable cities; in 2012 Demographia ranked it second worst.

Stanley Park, opened in 1888, covers roughly how much land?

It is named for Lord Stanley, the Governor General also behind hockey's Stanley Cup; the seawall around it draws thousands.

Stanley Park is named after Lord Stanley, who held which office?

He opened the park in his own name in September 1888; residents were forcibly removed to build the road around it.

Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge, opened in 1938, was financed largely by which famous brewing dynasty?

They had bought land on the North Shore; the bridge takes its name from twin peaks called the Lions.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge hangs how high above the river?

It is 140 metres long and was first built in 1889 by Scottish engineer G. G. Mackay.

The Grouse Grind hiking trail, 'Mother Nature's Stairmaster', has how many steps?

It climbs 853 m in 2.9 km at an average grade of 17 degrees.

Gastown's famous clock on Water Street was built in 1977 partly for what purpose?

It uses whistles rather than bells for its Westminster chime, and is nowhere near the district's oldest landmark.

Which world's fair, marking Vancouver's centennial, drew 22 million visitors in 1986?

Its theme was transportation and communication; SkyTrain and Canada Place were built for it.

With the 2016 Evergreen Extension, SkyTrain became the world's longest what?

Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Riyadh have since passed it; the Canada Line to the airport opened in 2009.

Vancouver's foot-passenger ferry across Burrard Inlet is called what?

TransLink also runs SkyTrain, RapidBus and the West Coast Express commuter trains.

Canada set a record at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics by winning how many gold medals?

That beat the 13 of the Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002; alpine events were held at Whistler.

Hours before the 2010 opening ceremony, a luger from which country was killed in a training run?

Nodar Kumaritashvili's death forced changes to the sliding track at Whistler.

Which environmental organisation was founded in Vancouver in 1969-71?

Its first campaign sailed to protest a US nuclear test at Amchitka, Alaska; the first office was in Kitsilano.

The Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL in 1970 alongside which other expansion team?

The two are the oldest NHL teams never to have won the Stanley Cup; the Canucks lost finals in 1982, 1994 and 2011.

Riots broke out in Vancouver after Stanley Cup final defeats in 1994 and which other year?

The 1994 riot injured as many as 200 people; both losses came in Game 7.

What covered BC Place when it opened in 1983?

It was replaced after the 2010 Olympics with a cable-supported retractable roof, also the largest of its type.

The BC Lions, founded in 1954, are what?

They have won six Grey Cups from ten appearances, the latest in 2011 on home turf.

The Vancouver Whitecaps entered Major League Soccer in which year?

They are the third team to use the name, which dates to a 1974 NASL club.

Vancouver shares the nickname 'Hollywood North' with which city?

It hosts about 65 films and 55 TV series a year and is North America's third-largest production centre.

The Port of Vancouver ranks how among ports in the Americas by tonnage?

It is Canada's busiest and most diversified port, trading with over 160 economies.

Which athletic-wear brand is among the lifestyle companies founded and headquartered in Vancouver?

Arc'teryx, Herschel, Aritzia and Mountain Equipment Co-op are also from the city.

Vancouver's Chinese quarter, with the Dr Sun Yat-Sen garden, is described as what?

It was targeted by the Asiatic Exclusion League's 1907 riot.

The Museum of Anthropology at UBC occupies a 1976 building by which Canadian architect?

It was inspired by Northwest Coast post-and-beam houses and holds Bill Reid's sculpture The Raven and the First Men.

The False Creek island with the famous public market was formerly what?

The island began as a sandbar and is now run by a federal housing agency, oddly enough.

Vancouver International Airport sits on Sea Island in which neighbouring city?

YVR is Canada's second-busiest airport and a major west-coast gateway from Asia.

Annual rainfall at Vancouver's airport averages 1,189 mm; roughly how much falls in North Vancouver?

Downtown gets about 1,588 mm; the mountains squeeze the moisture out as clouds move inland.

Vancouver's climate is one of Canada's mildest; which three nearby cities have milder winters?

All three are on Vancouver Island; the city also has the coolest summer highs of any major Canadian metro.

The three North Shore Mountains ski areas near downtown are Cypress, Seymour and which?

Cypress hosted freestyle skiing and snowboarding at the 2010 Games; Whistler is two hours up the Sea to Sky Highway.

Vancouver's tallest building, Living Shangri-La, stands how tall?

It has 62 storeys and is the second tallest in the province; the Art Deco Marine Building was once the British Empire's tallest commercial building.

The city reached its final boundaries in 1929 by amalgamating with which two municipalities?

The enlarged city had 228,193 people and became Canada's third-largest metropolis.

Which explorer and fur trader led the first known Europeans onto the site of Vancouver in 1808?

He came down the river that bears his name; the Spaniard Narvaez had charted the coast in 1791.

What share of Vancouver's population were immigrants at the 2021 census?

By 2016 visible minorities made up 52 percent of the city, up from 24 percent in 1981.

Metro Vancouver had a population of about 2.6 million in 2021, making it Canada's what?

Two eastern cities are bigger; the Lower Mainland including the Fraser Valley tops three million.

The Squamish name K'emk'emelay, used for Vancouver on Sea to Sky Highway signs, means what?

It was the village where Edward Stamp built the sawmill that started the settlement.

The Great Vancouver Fire of 1886 killed at least how many people?

The rebuilt city got its first police force, brick buildings and a fire engine borrowed from New Westminster.

Vancouver's population grew from 1,000 in 1881 to how many by 1911?

It had passed 20,000 by 1900; the CPR was the city's main landowner and housing developer.

The Vancouver Aquarium was the first to employ what kind of staff full-time in its galleries?

They interpret animal behaviour for visitors; the idea has spread to aquariums worldwide.

The family name of the city's namesake explorer derives from which Dutch town?

His ancestors came to England 'from Coevorden', and 'van Coevorden' gradually became Vancouver.

Which Spanish navigator explored the Point Grey coast and parts of Burrard Inlet in 1791?

One author argues Francis Drake may have reached the area even earlier, in 1579.

The Vancouver Art Gallery occupies a 1906 former courthouse designed by which architect?

He also designed Victoria's Parliament Buildings and Empress Hotel and the second Hotel Vancouver.

Which Art Deco landmark with brass-gilt doors became the British Empire's tallest commercial tower in the 1920s?

Its ornate interiors make it a favourite film location, while Living Shangri-La is now the city's tallest tower.

Vancouver's streetcar system began running in which year?

Less than a year later Canada's first interurban line linked Vancouver with New Westminster.