Sunset at Alexandra Park is indeed beautiful. Located along Beach Ave. at Bidwell St. across from Vancouver’s English Bay, this charming little park has been part of Vancouver’s history since the early 1900’s. The sun is shining through the Hayward Bandstand, built in 1914 and celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Concerts at Hayward Bandstand stem from the days before radio broadcasts and provided a pleasant way for the public to enjoy music. On Sundays, in the early 1900’s, only religious or military music could be played as was dictated by the Vancouver Moral Reform Association.
On July 13, 2014, to celebrate the bandstand’s centennial, you could hear what was probably played on days other than Sundays: marches, ragtime, polkas, waltzes and opera favourites popular in the 1900’s.
Bandstands were prevalent in parks in those days, and constructed with very flat ceilings to project the sound out. Today, Hayward Bandstand is the last of its kind in Vancouver.
Alexandra Park also has a strong connection with Seraphim Joe Fortes. Joe was a Black man born in Trinidad. Named Seraphim for the highest rank of angel, Joe lived up to his birth name and was named Citizen of the Century by the Vancouver Historical Society in 1986. He became a Vancouver legend known to all strata of society. He was Vancouver’s first official lifeguard, swimming instructor and special constable to keep law and order at English Bay. He taught 3 generations of Vancouver children how to swim and is credited with saving at least 26 people from drowning. He died on February 4, 1922; 3 days later, 10,0000 people lined Dunsmuir, Granville, Hastings and Main Streets for his funeral procession and schools all over Vancouver observed a 5-minute silence.
A water fountain was erected in Alexandra Park on the beach side, straight down from the Hayward Bandstand, to commemorate Joe. It was designed by sculptor Charles Marega, who sculpted the Lions at the entrance to the Lions Gate Bridge. It’s a low fountain designed for children with the inscription: “Little Children Loved Him.” For years Joe lived in a simple wooden framed house on the beach side of English Bay. As houses were being cleared from the beach, the city saved Joe’s house and moved it to the east side of Alexandra Park at the foot of Bidwell St. where he was allowed to live for the remainder of his life. The house is no longer standing.
Finally, at the corner of Bidwell St. and Beach Ave. in Alexandra Park is a spectacular red oak tree, estimated to be 100 to 110 years old. It’s just opposite from where Joe’s house used to be. Last year on September 21, 2013, it was inaugurated as Vancouver’s PoetTree by Canada’s Poet Laureate Fred Wah. This was part of an event sponsored by TreeKeepers, a Vancouver Greenest City 2020 program encouraging residents and businesses in Vancouver to plant trees to help grow the urban forest and improve the environment.
The concept of the PoetTree is to combine cultural expression and environmental appreciation. During its inauguration, a rope holding poems was tied to the tree in a fashion that would not injure the tree in the slightest way. It’s a style used in Japanese temples and shrines to honour particularly old and venerable trees.
It is a place where one could be inspired to write poetry looking at the spectacular red oak tree and out to English Bay. It could be an appropriate place to write a poem about the Hayward Bandstand or certainly Joe Fortes.
A rare picture of Joe’s beachside house with him on the porch: www.flickr.com/photos/heritagevancouver/8568816275/in/photostream/
