The Mauve House

^{Busy Denman Street in the fog, somewhere in 1997.}

For one reason or the other, I found myself searching for a house where I lived my last period in Vancouver. It was an old house of the beginning of Vancouver in the 1880's.
Back a few years ago, searching for it I found an aerial view of the street corner where it is located but I could not see it in the fog and darkness (in the photograph that is).
Looking more closely at that photograph of 1997 I could finally see it. It was to me a very astonishing discovery, for when one knows how the West End of Vancouver had been ripped apart by real estate for the last 50 years, it was amazing to see this very building still standing.

^{A revealing close-up}
I was not sure about the address anymore. I lived there from november 1981 to May 1982 and then in the spring of 1983. I finally found a great site put up by a West End photographer Maurice Jussak, worth checking out. He took pictures of all old buildings in the West End before they all disappear. A great idea. That is how I found the Mauve House, at 1762 Pendrell Avenue, where I used to live. I was thrilled. More than any other places I ever lived this place is foreever treasured in my heart and mind.

^{Obviously the last one to have painted the house was my roomate in 1982... The two houses are side by side. The concrete entrance is the same on both pics. Only the angle is different.}
It is somehow the basis for all my believes in a sense of conviviality that is to be reclaimed from this beheaded society. As much as Jim Morisson tombstones is a shrine for musical fans, this place is my own shrine for the joy of living. When I came back in March 1983, it became a very surprising place where around 100 different people came by to talk to exchange thoughts mostly around a coffee pot, sometimes beer or wine. It was a very intense moment that acts as a beacon to any disire to reclaim the pleasure to be with people in a simple manner. That is where I had great fun with my daughter's mom who is still a genuine friend of mine and long in the same way as I do for that great moment in our lives.
Alas, as I just found out, it's been finally sold as well as the house next to it for a mere 2M $. There were three houses altogether. My neighbours were good people of all walks of life with whom I had great conversation.

^{From the house (red dot) to the park view, 100 feet}
Located in the lane of Denman and Davie, the backyard was 100 feet from the English Bay park with that fantastic view. The location was incredible and the price very low compared to the hefty fines that were the rents all over.
My intention is to replicate my appartement in that house into my home project. I sincerely believe the configuration of the apartment played a major role in the connection I had with people. Not only its location next to the sea. It is out of reach now for me to even remotely think I could go back out there and carrying on, for it won't be possible, would it be for only one reason: it is in the past. Times have changed.
Yet it is through that channel that I glowed most, hence my intention in reclaiming my own space in this ever crunching world. It is not nostalgia. I am struggling to maintain a lifestyle that is closer to my heart and that place triggered in me a vibration strong enough to say: "This is IT".
That being said (written in fact) I do not think everyone feels the same way about it, furthermore, that it will be again possible to renew this in my future place. I simply do not see how at this point. I was in a city which is not the case anymore.

^{A bit of the view when crossing the street. Click on the pic for more of the view.
Credit: Photograph by Trail Canada www.trailcanada.com}