www.vancouver21.com

It’s 1889, the year that this Shand Mason Horse-Drawn Steam Fire Engine was made. More relevant, it is just four years earlier in 1885 that the transcontinental railway that united Canada as a nation was finished and soon after that, Vancouver was incorporated as a city.

These dates are important to the movie: Life For Mile. It is in the same period. And as I watched the steam fire engine at work as the pistons pumped up and down, I couldn’t help but let my imagination runs wild. I thought about the life of the Chinese railroad workers back then. They had no means of going back home as the Canadian government (and railroad company) conveniently forgot to pay their return boat fare that was promised when the Chinese were hired. Some of the Chinese died and were buried in Boston Bar, the city of Kamloops and other places along the Fraser Canyon where the transcontinental railroad was built. The infamous Head-Tax was legislated into laws that kept more Chinese from coming into Canada amidst waves after waves of anti-Chinese sentiments among a largely European population which went on for decades.

Life For Mile is a Historic Drama/Action/Kung Fu/Mystery/Romance/Comedy feature film based on true events about the Chinese and Indian (First Nations) laborers in the construction of the transcontinental railway that united Canada as a nation in the 1880s. It has been said that for every mile that the Canadian Pacific railroad was laid, one Chinese life had been sacrificed, hence the title of the movie) but it is rarely ever mentioned about the native Indian’s contribution. Those two compelling historical facts and unique Canadian heritage have also rarely been put in the entertainment media in the past until now.

Life For Mile is executive produced by Stephen Chang, a Kung Fu Grandmaster and Hollywood actor (VC Commander in First Blood ” Rambo “) and produced by Ray Van Eng with a script written by Ray Van Eng based on a treatment by Stephen Chang. Mr. Chang also acted in such movies as Double Happiness (1994 – 2 Genies), International Rescue (1990 Hit) Icarus (2010) and TV series such as The X-Files, Twilight Zone, Kung Fu – TLC (1996 Warner Bros.) Psych (2011), The Evidence (2006) and dozens of other productions. Mr. Chang has spent the last 35+ years in conceiving this movie after he met the real-life character, a Chinese railroad worker named Ming, in the early 1970s who told Chang the true-life story that is now being produced as a feature film planned for a world-wide theatrical release on the big screen.

For the latest updates and info, please visit the – Life For Mile Facebook page

Stephen Chang, Actor/Executive Producer IMDB Page
Ray Van Eng, Producer/Writer – Vancouver21

2 Water Street, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

On June 12, 2011, the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and Mayor Gregor Robertson celebrated 125th anniversary (1886-2011) and commemorated the Great Fire of 1886 that raged across the entire city just two months after its incorporation. Squamish Nation Chief Gibby Jacob and Deputy Chief Nick Delmonico gave speeches amidst a First Nations song and dance and Chinese Lions Dance dedication. The event took place in Gastown where Gassy Jack Deighton had the city’s first saloon. A working 1889 model of Shand Mason Horse-Drawn Steam Fire Engine on loan from the Victoria Fire Department was brought out for service.

VIDEO – Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services Celebrates 125th Anniversary

2 Water Street, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

As part of the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the International Women’s Day in 2011, the Utopia Festival at Storyeum in Vancouver’s Gastown featured an evening program of female media artists on March 05, 2011.

The evening started with a First Nations dedication, then it’s onto the main show which featured performers such as DJs, media artists and author/orators: Peaches, Isis Salam, B-Traits, Betti Forde, Librarian, Lynx, Zenobia, She, Blondtron, DJ Veronica, Lady Lane etc.

There are aboriginal artists as well like Nunavut throat-singer Tanya Tagaq, cellist Cris Derksen and Musqueam MC Christie Lee Charles who raps in English and also her native Halkomelem language. After consulting with her elders, Christie Lee Charles was permitted to use the ancient dialect in her rap performance ’in this modern way and follow the protocol.’

Cris Derksen on the other hand is a half-Cree classically trained cellist who often uses loop station and effects pedals to create a new form of musical expression that blends hip hop, folk, rock and aboriginal rhythms.

VIDEO – Cris Derksen and Christie Lee Charles in Vancouver

142 Water Street, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

A motorcyclist is seriously injured in an accident, lying on the street but still wanting to fasten the helmet back and carry on with his journey. But will he make it? A couple on their final night together having a last supper but yet passion overcomes them. A man on the balcony tries to escape the party that rages on besides him. Another man thinks he is falling for the girl he meets at the bookstore. Three strangers linger in a bar while the waitress clings on to a letter from a soldier. An insomniac tosses and turns. While waiting for her ex-boyfriend to call, she reminisce happier times. All these mise-en-scene of life’s little dramas are played out on storefronts, pavement and side-walk bars and have subtitles flashing overhead on big TV screens or projected onto the street that tell the back stories to the audience who watch the everyday anecdotes unfolding in front of their eyes. Many may just find resonance that touches them on a deep personal level.

The motorcyclist scenario makes you think of a character in Jack Kerouac’s novel On The Road at the end of the journey with the mind wanting to go on but the body may not allow. Meanwhile, life not only goes on but teaming with love and romance. Those with broken dreams are at least perplexed for the moment and saddened by the loss and the what-could-have-beens. The scenes may be a dramatization of life but the feelings are real and heart-felt.

The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is the work of Mariano Pensotti, an Argentinean-born writer and theatre director. This free outdoor street performance series takes place from January 18-22, 2011, 7PM-9PM right in the heart of Vancouver’s historic Gastown district of Water Street from Carrall to Abbott street.

The festival is also a fine tribute to the city that is celebrating a 125 years anniversary.

Happy 125, Vancouver!

VIDEO – Push Festival 2011 La Marea at Gastown Vancouver
[Video producer: Ray Van Eng. Vancouver21.com / V21 Media. Music soundtrack by Kevin MacLeod/Incompetech.com. Video shot with Sony VG10, the world's first interchangeable lens HD Handycam.]

50 Water Street, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

Many long time Vancouver residents have fond memories of the old downtown Woodward’s store. It was a place where they came to shop and socialize and during Christmas time, posed with Santa inside the department store too.

Ask Lynda Luxton and she will tell you all about it. On December 16, 2010 she returned to the newly-renovated original 1903 building that now housed the TD Bank and reunited with Santa for old time’s sake. She got to relive that treasured feeling of posing with the jolly old fellow with a white beard way back in the 1950s when she was just a little girl. Luxton also brought along a well-preserved sepia-toned photo taken in 1957 depicting herself and her sister Carole and brother Ronnie sitting on Santa’s lap serving as a testament of the times throughout all these years.

The rejuvenated Downtown Woodward’s is now a mixed-use building complex which contains SFU Woodwards with The Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, commercial retail spaces, a community arts centre, upscale apartment units and non-market social housing. In January of 2010, the famed ‘W’ sign that was a famous Vancouver landmark for so many years had also been reinstated to its original rightful place atop the newly-redeveloped Woodward’s building on Hastings and Abbott street.










Woodward’s Building, Hastings and Abbott street

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

The band’s name maybe Snowy Owl, but this group of all female First Nations drummers and singers lead by singer/poet/drummer Dalannah Gail Bowen can warm your heart as they did during the Heart of The City Festival on October 31, 2010. Music In The Street is a program made up of three musical groups: Snowy Owl Drummers, Deet Streets, a new upbeat six-piecve street band lead by trombonist Brad Muirhead and singer Beverly Dorrinsky conducting the Carnegie Village Choir. These musicians are dedicated members of a musical movement committed to training, mentoring and performing with local residents to serve the Downtown East Side (DTES) communities of Victory Square, Gastown, Chinatown, Oppenheimer Park and Strathcona. The Snowy Owl, Deet Street and Carnegie Village Choir can be seen and heard performing daily during the festival along Hastings, Main and Carrall street in the heart of the city of Vancouver.













Pigeon Park, 1 Hastings Street West, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

Bernadine Fox is an artist/painter/writer/teacher whose life-long work is for women and about the female gender living in a modern world. Though she sometimes paints flowers and other still life but life is not a bed of roses for her. Her work ‘Not My Love[r]’ on display at the Inter-Urban Gallery from Oct 26 to Nov 13, 2010 explores the broken heart and the sadness and painfulness of having to walk away from love. In many ways, Bernadine Fox’s work reflects the harsh reality facing the single woman living in the Downtown East Side. That makes her the perfect artist in residence that spring out of community with hope, renewal and what it means to be alive.



Inter-Urban Gallery, 1 Hastings Street East, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

The 7th Annual Heart of The City Festival celebrates Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DTES) with a whole series of programs to promote, present and facilitate the development of artists, art forms, cultural traditions, history, activism and to tell the great stories of this particular area.

The Downtown East Side consists of a network of diverse communities. Area landmarks include the Carnegie Community Centre, historic Vancouver Chinatown, Dr. Sun Yet-San Classical Chinese Garden, Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society, W2 Storyeum in the heart of Gastown, Oppenheimer Park, Firehall Arts Theatre, Ukrainian Hall, St. James Anglican Church, Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall, Eastside Murals, First United Church, Vancouver Police Museum etc.

The opening ceremony will be held at the Carnegie Theatre on October 27 at 2 PM. As often the case with many cultural festivals in Vancouver these days, there will be a First Nations song and dance celebration at the theatre stage at night from 7:30-9:30 PM with The Git Hayetsk Dancers performing.

The organizers of the event include the Vancouver Moving Theatre, Carnegie Community Centre, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and other community partners. There will be over 80 events at 25 venues. Please visit 2010 Heart of The City Festival (October 27 to November 07, 2010) for programs and details.

VIDEO – Git Hayetsk Dancers performance at Klahowya Village

Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main Street, Vancouver

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

Tour de Gastown (Photo by Ray Van Eng)


[This article contains EXCLUSIVE INFO!]

Vancouver is being selected among other metropolises around the world including Portland, Melbourne and a number of European cities to host the 2012 Velo-City Global conference, a bi-yearly international cyclist convention. This will also be the first time since 1996 that Velo-City will be held outside Europe.

[In fact, Vancouver may well be the first North American city to host Velo-City based on information listed at the European Cyclist Federation (ECF), the organizer of the event. Outside of Europe, only Australia has ever hosted the event - Perth in 1996.]

“Velo-city will bring together hundreds of planners, transportation experts and cycling specialists from around the world to discuss the fast-growing role of cycling in urban transportation,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson on October 19, 2010 when he and ECF President Manfred Neun joined announced the city’s winning bid at City Hall.

In odd-numbered years, Velo-City is mainly a European program or one that targets a specific region. For example, Velo-city 2009 Brussels and Velo-city 2011 Sevilla. In June this year, the event was global in scope and held in Copenhagen which marked the 30th anniversary of the convention that started in Bremen, Germany, in 1980.

Cyclist on Dunsmuir dedicated bike lane (Photo by Ray Van Eng)


It is estimated that 1,000 delegates and their guests will come to Vancouver in 2012 for the event which will be held in June. The exactly location of the Velo-City 2010 conference has not been decided yet. Neither is the budget which will likely be shared by the City of Vancouver, TransLink, Tourism Vancouver and corporate sponsorships. Unlike the 2010 Olympics, however, the cost is expected to be quite minor. The Province had reported on Oct 19, 2010 that City Councilor Geoff Meggs indicated the city’s cost “would be closer to $10,000 than $100,000.”

Rick Antonson, president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver is excited about the prospect of Velo-City 2012. “Not only will Velo-City generate business for the local tourism industry, it reinforces Vancouver’s reputation as a clean and green travel destination with exceptional offerings for cyclists”, he said.

Vancouver City Hall 453 West 12th Ave., Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery

The Gastown Motorcycle Show n’ Shine took place on Aug 15, 2010 along Vancouver’s Water Street between Richards and Carall. There were cruisers, sport bikes, fat boys, customs, choppers, softtails, vintage, Euro, Japanese, Americans, rat bikes, tour bikes, sidecars, drag bikes, electric scooters for a sustainable future and more. For $20 or less, you could bring your bike to the show and have judges looked it over to see if yours deserved the first prize. Several manufacturers had their display on site and they made sure that you know who they are and where they come from. Same with some in the crowd. Quite a few wore colors on their vest as well. The Hells Angels, bike enthusiast and causal onlookers rub shoulder with each other and ogled the same thing – motorcycles. Thousands jammed the Gastown streets to enjoy this free event organized by the B.C. Coalition of Motorcyclists that is the biggest annual bike show in town. The only thing you won’t find was the revving noise of the bike engines. This section of Gastown that was once Gassy Jack Deighton’s old haunts was blocked off to traffic completely to facilitate the bike show and to provide limited parking for bikers who drove their motorcycles to the show.

1947 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead

One-off Custom 2010 Glasgow Kiss (Jims 120″ B Engine)

2010 Harley-Davidson Street Glide CVO

1999 Kawasaki ‘Indian’ Drifter

Vintage 1936 BMW R12

1947 Custom Indian Chief

2002 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy

1971 Honda Carriage Bike, CB-175 Engine

1996 Harley-Davidson Custom

Hollywood movie star Mae West on bike

2009 Honda CRR600RR

2008 Softail Screamin Eagle

1985 Yamaha RZ500

2007 Victory Jackpot, 100c.i. VTwin Engine

2006 Hayabusa motorcycle

1984 Harley-Davidson FLHT

2005 Honda VTX

Harley-Davidson Road King Custom

1996 Harley-Davidson Sportster

2010 Dragon Electric Scooters

Bike show fills up Vancouver’s Water Street historic Gastown

[Photos by Ray Van Eng ] www.vancouver21.com
More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayvaneng/sets/72157624628945975/

100 Water Street, Gastown, Vancouver BC

View Larger Map

• Photostream

Next Page ›

‹ Previous Page

Powered by Flickr Gallery