Heritage Hour | Fall 2026
Heritage Hour | Fall 2026
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VHF’s Heritage Hour (formerly Evening Lectures) are a series of talks focused on local heritage. Join us at University Women's Club at Hycroft this fall from 7 pm to 8:30 pm to enjoy fascinating pieces of Vancouver’s history with a selection of local speakers.
Ticket sales for each event close the day prior to the event at 5pm.
Chad Townsend is a Director, Co-Producer who is a experienced visual storyteller, researcher and project manager. He is passionate about corrective/untold human stories throughout history and respectfully shares these often-overlooked narratives. He studied at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and produced a short film that premiered at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. He then found film success directing the Internment impact awareness film Nomoto - a BC Tragedy. The film was selected for numerous festivals and Community events and is now streaming on Knowledge Network.
Tuesday, October 20th | The Vancouver Special and the Cosmopolitan City
In the early 1960s, Vancouver’s city planners became concerned with housing affordability and the need to create new housing forms to ensure that people would remain in the city rather than be enticed to move to the growing, more affordable, surrounding suburbs. In their opinion, these new housing options needed to project the image of a thriving cosmopolitan city. Many architects posed a range of designs to the city planners, from tall apartment towers, to townhouses, and narrow single family dwellings. These new designs challenged the existing neighbourhood aesthetics with their use of land and ideas of urban domesticity. Furthermore, the provincial government’s approval of strata ownership became a new way to own property that shared garden space and other amenities as a way to increase affordability. Yet, despite a range of styles and designs as solutions to housing affordability, the Vancouver Special became the most popular design during the 1960s and 1970s. Join interdisciplinary scholar, Dr Jennifer Chutter, as she discusses the long-standing cultural narratives people held about housing and home ownership and why people were drawn to the Vancouver Special over other designs. It explores what the Vancouver Special offered home owners as an affordable option for living in the city, and the ways it helped Vancouver become more cosmopolitan.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Jennifer Chutter is an interdisciplinary scholar who conducts her research on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. Her research explores how post-war home-making, domesticity, urban planning, and domestic architecture are shaped by the legacy of colonial ideas of land use and belonging. She has presented her research internationally at numerous conferences. Her PhD research explored the importance of the Strathcona Property Owners and Tenants Association (SPOTA) preserving their neighbourhood as a site of belonging and connection to each other, the land, and their personal histories. Her MA research discussed the significance of the Vancouver Special as a localized design that changed the residential landscape of the city.
Tuesday, November 24th | 'Real Enough: the Unlikely Story of Doug and the Slugs'" A Night with Aaron Chapman and Simon Kendall
In celebration of their new book, “Real Enough: The Unlikely Story of Doug and The Slugs”, join one of the bands founding members Simon Kendall and historian Aaron Chapman in an entertaining discussion of Doug and the Slugs' career over the past 5 decades featuring readings from the book, music, mirth and much besides…
About the Speakers:
Simon Kendall has spent over 45 years composing, performing and producing an eclectic array of music for concert performance, theatre, television, radio, cinema, and dance. A founding member of ‘Doug And The Slugs’ since 1978, he’s spent 15 years as the band’s music director and goofy gargantuan keyboardist. They released 4 gold albums and performed from New York to the North Pole as one of the decade’s premier Canadian touring acts.
Simon has spent time in film and theatre, music-directing plays and composing for film and TV, and since 1994 he has enjoyed a freelance career performing and recording with numerous artists. He’s played on over 100 albums and currently divides his time between producing, recording, performing and composing.
Aaron Chapman is a writer, historian, and musician with a special interest in Vancouver's entertainment history and crime history. His books include Vancouver after Dark: The Wild History of a City's Nightlife, and Live at the Commodore, a history of the Commodore Ballroom, both of which have won the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award. He was also one of the co-writers of Vancouver Confidential (Anvil Press). In 2020, he was elected as a member of the Royal Historical Society. He lives in Vancouver, where he has been a Doug & the Slugs fan since he was a Slugling.
For in-person events, we are unable to provide refunds or credits for cancellations received less than four (4) weeks prior to the event. For additional information on VHF's policies, please visit our Policies page prior to registering.
If you would like to make a donation in addition to your registration, the amount will be tax deductible and you will receive an official tax receipt for donations of $20 or more. Our Registered Charity number is 891765968.
GST# 89176 5968 RT0001
Location
University Women’s Club at Hycroft