THE KÜTNE READER

One of the more venerable Boundary commercial institutions was Grand Forks Furniture & Hardware at 358 Market Ave. The business has been gone for almost 25 years but the building still bears its very faded signage on two sides. The photos seen here were taken in 2007. The store’s manager for decades was Joseph T. Simmons, who was born in England in 1883 and immigrated to Canada around 1899. The Grand Forks Gazette reported in 1913 that Simmons “recently arriving from Alberta

We recently looked at faux phantom signs in Greenwood left over from filming Snow Falling on Cedars . But there are a few other real signs, including those on the side of the Copper Eagle Cappucino and Bakery. The building’s south side has four signs: two contemporary ones for the Copper Eagle, plus four old ones: 76 Gasoline, Greenwood Grocery, Use Royal City Canned Foods, and Smoke Totem Tobacco/Fine Cut/Coarse Cut/Save the Wrapper They Have a Cash Value. A business called

Lauriente’s was synonymous with business in the Gulch in Trail from the early 1900s until the men’s wear store by that name at 730 Rossland Avenue finally closed in 1996. But the tile in front remains. The building became an ill-fated youth centre, then was sold to a car restorer, and is now the Salvation Army Community Services centre. In addition to the clothing store, the Laurientes ran a grocery one block over. Two generations were involved in their operation. In 2008, I

Snow Falling on Cedars , the movie filmed partly in Greenwood in 1998, left a legacy of faux phantom signs, which helped transform the Boundary mining town into the Puget Sound fishing village of Amity Harbor. Those signs are themselves starting to fade and decay, and a few have been removed. The following photos were taken in 2000 and 2018. The Hyde Block (also known as Brown’s Store) has three different signs. The “San Juan Islands Choice Quality Salmon” sign painted on the

Many’s the time I’ve come across something historically interesting in a newspaper only to: a) Fail to fully appreciate its significance...

Go for a walk on Beatty Avenue in Nelson, down by the waterfront next to the RCMP station, and you will come across this curious building. From 1948 to 1952, Colin Baker ran a confectionery at the corner of Baker and Railway streets. On Dec. 1, 1952 he opened a new store on Beatty Avenue, next to his house along the waterfront. Nelson Daily News, Nov. 14, 1952 The store was listed in the 1954 directory as Baker’s Grocery & Confectionery, 1026 Beatty Ave., but it only lasted

This business at 323 Vernon Street in Nelson only existed from about 1969-71. Winslow Sommerfeldt (1923-2016) was president and his son Will Sommerfelt was vice-president. The sign is on the east side of the retaining wall below the Terrace Apartments. According to Winslow’s obituary , “In 1969, they [Winslow and wife Reita] moved the family to Nelson and operated a GM dealership there called Winslow Motors. After a few years there, they moved to Lethbridge before returning t

Hand-painted signs on the north and south sides of the Grand Forks Gazette building at 7330 2nd St. advertise both its current and former use. Erected in 1903 as the Club Saloon, the building later became a garage. A badly faded sign on the south side says “City Garage/Premier Gasoline.” (The garage’s bay doors were where the glass tiles are now on the front of the building.) The newspaper moved into the building in 1931. The yellow and black sign on the north side reads “Th

Sometime after the Silver King Hotel in Nelson was demolished in 1947, a sign (seen below, circa 1960s) was painted on the side of KWC block advertising “Hume Hotel — 1 block to fine food and accommodation.” (Ellis Anderson photo) It became a phantom sign of sorts in 1980, when the Hume Hotel was renamed the Heritage Inn. New proprietors Dave and Sheila Martin were trying to escape the stigma attached to the old name due to the dodgy reputation of previous owners. This photo

Second in a series on signs that outlived the businesses they advertised. This one is on the back of the building at 607 Front St. in Nelson and is visible from Lakeside Ave. According to BC Assessment, the building was put up in 1910. J.Y. Griffin & Co. Ltd. of Winnipeg operated a meat packing business there. W.M. McGillis was listed in the civic directory as the local manager. In 1914, the directory shows that Swift Canadian Co. was now at that location, with T.E. Lavasseur

This is the first in a series looking at phantom signs of West Kootenay/Boundary. I thought I would start with a Nelson building that has two of them: 524 Vernon Street, now home to Jackson’s Hole restaurant. The more obvious sign, which was touched up perhaps 20 years ago, is for Algernon Sidney Horswill, who operated his wholesale business here from the 1910s until 1929 in what was previously known as the McDonald block. (Prior to that Horswill was at 420 Baker St.) Horswil