Original post published in 2015
![CVA 1184-3450 - [Crowds at Georgia and Burrard Streets] 1940-48 Jack Lindsay photo](https://vanasitwas.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/cva-1184-3450-crowds-at-georgia-and-burrard-streets-1940-48-jack-lindsay-photo.jpg)
These crowds were dispersing up Georgia Street from watching the parade for Vancouver’s 60th Anniversary of civic incorporation (our Diamond Jubilee, 1886-1946). Thanks are due to JMV for the detailed comment and links below.
As to landmarks, there is a Standard Oil service station on the NW corner of Georgia at Burrard – just a slice of it is visible on right, on the lot where the Glencoe Lodge/Hotel Belfred once was. On the SW corner, to the left, you can just make out the Palomar Supper Club, on the lot where the Wesley Methodist Church once was. The Ritz Apt/Hotel is visible about a half-block down Georgia from the Palomar.
Vancouver As It Was: A Photo-Historical Journey 
That’s a great crowd shot of Georgia and Burrard, and I hadn’t spotted it before.
What was it celebrating? The answer: it was Vancouver’s 60th birthday party, the 1946 Diamond Jubilee Parade! The 1936 Golden Jubilee took place during the height of the depression, and with the end of WWII, I think they tried to surpass that celebration in every way. However, I just read a Billboard Magazine article that stated the 1936 celebrations went on for 6 weeks, and the 1946 celebration was cut short 2 weeks due to the housing shortage.
You can spot the decorative totem poles wrapping around the lamp standards, and these totems appear in other photos from the parade. I had seen those totem poles once before, I don’t know where, so that was the immediate giveaway for me.
See also:
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/ukrainian-canadian-city-of-roses-float-in-diamond-jubilee-parade
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/veterans-of-boer-war-no-1-legion-african-campaigners-in-diamond-jubilee-parade
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/view-looking-east-along-georgia-street-near-burrard-street-of-crowds-dispersing-after-diamond-jubilee-parade
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/crowds-line-street-for-diamond-jubilee-parade
And there’s even colour film of the event!
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/jubilee-parade
I sure wish I could have gone to both Jubilee Parades!
Thanks very much for sharing this. I suspected that the crowds were connected to some sort of parade; but the diamond jubilee celebration hadn’t occurred to me!