Victoria Daily Photo

Beacon Hill Autumn

2009-11-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

Chinese Benevolent Associations

2009-11-07T20:56:00.001-08:00

I always enjoy looking at these two tall, thin buildings on Fisgard street in Victoria's Chinatown. On the left is the Shon Yee Benevolent Association Building and on the right is the Lee's Benevolent Association.

Autumn

2009-11-06T19:41:00.001-08:00

The Shutters

2009-11-05T11:14:00.001-08:00

Here's another shot of my favourite Songhees Condominium, The Shutters. I see from reading about this place on Google that condominiums here are much used as a time-share/vacation rentals. This explains to some extent the lack of life in the area since there may not be many permanent residents. In any case, I like the appearance of the several buildings that comprise this development.

Court House

2009-11-04T22:11:00.001-08:00

People tell me this used to be the Main Police Station for Victoria's City Police. Now, however, it is used as the court house. I don't know anything more about this building except that I like its unusual style. I'm hoping some of my more knowledgeable local readers can fill me in on a little of its history. It's on Fisgard Street, just across from the Chinese Public School.

Major blooper here: This building is NOT the court house. It houses the Capital Regional District Offices. Thanks to Victorian reader Corey Burger who pointed out my error.

Sunset on the Gorge

2009-11-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

The Gorge is a splendid feature of Victoria and is well used by residents who like to be on the water. This is a fairly typical scene in the late afternoon as rowers and boaters head for home under some very photogenic clouds. This photo was taken from Selkirk Trestle, looking towards the city. The island on the left, Halkett Island, was featured in an earlier post.

Sir John A. MacDonald

2009-11-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

We've seen the front entrance to Victoria's City Hall in an earlier post. The original building, however, proved too small for the modern city and there is a newer addition on the back with another entrance. Here visitors pass in and out under the benign scrutiny of this statue of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald. The statue was sculpted by John Dann in 1982.

Welcome to Victoria!

2009-11-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Downtown today my heart gave a leap when I saw this long line of revelers. My immediate thought was "Oh, it's the Olympic Torch Relay!" But looking more closely I found that none of them were carrying a torch. "Of course," I thought, "it's the line-up for the H1N1 vaccination!" But no, there's no clinic nearby. When I noticed the smiling faces and the multitude of cameras, however, I realized I was just suffering from media induced fantasies again. This is a tour group, of course, one of the last of the season no doubt, probably just fresh from passing through airport security by the look of them. Welcome to Victoria, happy travellers!

(I kept my distance, mind you. That little soccer zombie on the right looks like he has sharp teeth.)

Open for School Groups...heh, heh, heh....

2009-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

Though nobody lives in Craigdarroch Castle any more, piano music has been heard in the ballroom and the scent of candles lingers in the night air. On winter evenings, a woman in white is sometimes seen in an upper window.

Happy Halloween!

Chinese Public School

2009-10-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

I photograph this building often but who can resist? Here we are looking at it from one of the entrances to Centennial Square.

Bright Pearl

2009-10-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

In the top right of the above photo you can see a large silver globe with a map of the continents etched on it. It floats on some rollers and water and can be rotated in any direction, a favorite activity of passing school children. This is located at one entrance to Centennial Square, where it touches on Chinatown at the corner of Fisgard and Government Streets. The plaque at its base notes that, "the Bright Pearl honours the many people who immigrated here from the Pearl River Valley in China."

Urban Landscape

2009-10-28T12:27:00.001-07:00

On Fisgard Street.

Spinnakers

2009-10-27T10:44:00.001-07:00

Lots of blustery windy days lately which, while it makes for clear air, also yields photographs that often turn out a bit fuzzy because everything is moving around. Here's a photo taken on the Westsong Walkway of a pleasant place to stop if you're walking from downtown towards the Westbay Marina in Esquimalt and want to stop for something to eat and to warm up on these autumn days. The large building slightly left of centre in this photo is Spinnakers Brewpub. It describes itself as "Canada's oldest brewpub" but if you want to find out more I refer you to their website.

Dusk

2009-10-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

Dusk is one of my favourite times of day. After a day's activities everyone is heading home in the fading light. Above is a photo of Chinatown's Fisgard street at dusk. Below is another example of my fondness for things Chinese, the window through which I greet the day each morning.

Exotic Vegetables

2009-10-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

Another aspect of Chinatown that I like is the way that stores spread their wares out into the street, especially produce as pictured above. And in Chinatown there are always those mystery vegetables whose use and flavors are known only to Chinese cooks. There are a couple of other reasons why I often photograph Chinatown, besides its appealing colors and sights. First, I pass through it almost every day on my way through downtown. More importantly, I mentioned before that I have a special fondness for things Chinese so as an example, today I will post a photo of the top of my fridge where I have been putting the overflow of the kind of stuff I collect. See below. (OK, I know the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed a couple of pieces of Satsuma there but it's nice and the one on the left is fake Satsuma, made in China. [The one on the right is probably a mass-produced fake too but it's a better fake.])

Save On Foods Arena

2009-10-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

On the opposite side of Blanshard Street from the Jack Davis Building is the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, the arena where large sporting and entertainment events take place here. It seats about 7,000 people and was named after a local supermarket because they contributed a lot to its construction.

Jack Davis Building - Blanshard Street

2009-10-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is another downtown office building that I like. I realize when I look at the buildings I like I tend to prefer those that have some decorations or round corners or at least something a little more interesting than the all too common box shape. Anyway, this is the Jack Davis Building on Blanshard Street in downtown Victoria. Though it was built in 1992, as recently as 2005 it was still considered outstanding in energy-efficient design. This is a fitting legacy for the Canadian politician who was, "...the first Minister of the Environment in the English-speaking world..." in the government of Pierre Trudeau during the early 1970s. Click here to read the Wikipedia article about Jack Davis.

Jewels...

2009-10-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

...by Spider and Fog.

Morning Mist

2009-10-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

On the Westsong Walkway.

Fan Tan Alley

2009-10-20T07:06:00.001-07:00

Victoria's Chinatown has many echoes of the past. It contains within its small boundaries hidden inner areas behind the store fronts that face the streets. When this part of Victoria was being built in the nineteenth century the Chinese minority were still discriminated against. Like such minorities in other parts of the world, when they were mixing with the majority they had to behave in certain ways to avoid trouble. In the inner parts of Chinatown, however, they could, "...follow their customs, speak their dialects, and find pleasure, comfort, and companionship." These hidden inner areas, sometimes called Victoria's "Forbidden City," can now be freely accessed by anyone willing to venture down the two narrow alleys that lead within. The photo above is one of these alleys, called Fan Tan Alley. Fan Tan was a gambling game popular amongst Chinese immigrants and there were places where it could be played along this alley.

The quote above comes from "The Forbidden City within Victoria," by David Chuenyan Lai. There is an interesting brief history of Victoria's Chinatown on the BC Archives website.

Chinatown Window

2009-10-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

Although Victoria's Chinatown is the oldest in Canada it is very small. However, for me it is a favorite place to window-shop since there are always interesting things to look at and those hints of strange cultures and far-away places and times. I also confess to an ongoing interest in Chinese porcelain of all kinds. I like this picture because I am fond of Buddhas who look as happy as this one does and I also like the way that busy, neon-lit Fisgard Street is reflected around him.

Supermarket

2009-10-18T09:40:00.001-07:00

As often happens when doing this blog I realize how much of our daily lives we don't really bother to notice. Here's an aspect of life in North America and Europe that we seldom think about, the supermarket. As a single retired person I don't need to shop much but even then I probably spend five or six hours every week in this supermarket. It's called "Save-On-Foods" and it carries nearly everything I ever want to buy in the way of food items. It's always clean and the staff are friendly and helpful.

When I wrote the above I didn't mean to imply that only Europe and North America have supermarkets. I know they exist in Africa, Asia and South and Central America, not to speak of Australia and New Zealand. But what makes them a little different perhaps in North America is their ubiquity. I'd venture to guess that 90% of the people do 90% of their shopping in places like the supermarket pictured above. These vast stores are everywhere and even a small city like Victoria has many. During the summer months there are occasional small outdoor markets with many individual vendors such as are found in other parts of the world but these pretty much cease when winter comes and even in summer such markets do not come close to competing with the supermarket as the shopping venue of choice for most people.

Ross Bay Panorama 2

2009-10-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here's another panorama of Ross Bay that is more inclusive although it is smaller and less detailed. The previous Ross Bay Panorama was shot with a 90mm lens and is composed of about 8 or 10 separate photos. This panorama was shot with a wide angle lens at 10mm and is composed of 3 separate photos. I think I like it better since it encompasses all of Ross Bay with the tip of Clover point just visible to the far right.

Macaulay Point Autumn

2009-10-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry gang - I'm having a busy day again so here's a photo from a few weeks ago when I went out to Macaulay Point. I like the colors in this, the leaves, the grass and the bright red old military building, one of several on this old point of coastal defense.

Autumn Sunset

2009-10-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

Though it has yet to freeze here the nights are cold enough to turn the leaves on these trees on the banks of the Gorge. Here we are looking towards downtown from the vicinity of the Railyards in Vic West. The nearest bridge is the Bay Street (or Point Ellice) Bridge and just visible beneath it in the distance is the bright blue Johnson Street Bridge.