Vancouver House Historian James Johnstone on CBC Radio One - Jan 15 - Celebrating a Jazz Anniversary

Did you know that jazz great Jelly Roll Morton once lived and played at the Patricia Hotel in Vancouver? CBC Radio One's 'On The Coast' will be broadcasting from the hotel on January 15th, 2010 from 3 to 6 pm to commemorate the 90th anniversary of one of his shows. There's a concert in the evening too.

Vancouver's House Historian, James Johnstone, will be on this special edition of 'On The Coast' talking about the history of the city's East End. He's been researching the East End for years, but wanted to learn more about the Patricia Hotel before the show and now has a very useful, well illustrated post on his blog, When An Old House Whispers..., about the hotel, illustrating, in effect, how to start researching a Vancouver building.

There's a nice comment there about his use of the British Columbia Genealogical Society's book - Vancouver Voters, 1886: A Biographical Dictionary. This was the culmination of the Society's Vancouver Centennial project; society members researched everyone named on the first City of Vancouver Voter's List. It's a massive book, 892 pages of genealogical and historical information. If you're interested in the early history of Vancouver, or of the Lower Mainland, you should have a copy at hand. If you'd like to purchase one, please contact me or see the BCGS website: www.bcgs.ca as there are a limited number of copies still available.