Helen 'The Swinging Girl' Neon Sign
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Description
- Commercial building.
- Associated Dates
- 1956
- Formal Recognition
- Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
- Other Names
- Helen's Childrens Wear Sign
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
- Repository
- Burnaby Heritage Planning
- Other Names
- Helen's Childrens Wear Sign
- Geographic Access
- Hastings Street
- Associated Dates
- 1956
- Formal Recognition
- Heritage Designation, Community Heritage Register
- Enactment Type
- Bylaw No. 12771
- Enactment Date
- 19/04/2010
- Description
- Commercial building.
- Heritage Value
- While the building here is of some importance as the former North Burnaby municipal office, its primary importance is its delightful neon sign that has become a North Burnaby landmark. Helen Arnold opened Helen’s Childrens Wear shop in the building next door to the old Municipal offices in 1948. In 1955, when North Burnaby moved out, she moved into the vacated building. As part of the renovations, Helen enlisted the assistance of her good friend Jimmy Wallace, owner of Vancouver’s Wallace Neon Company, to create a new sign for her expanded business. One of the company’s designers, Reeve Lehman, created the swinging neon girl that was installed in 1956. Designed in two parts, one section of the sign is cloud shaped and reads ‘Helen’s’ while the other section is a moving representation of a little girl on a swing. The sign is nine feet six inches high and nine feet wide, and the lower section is animated with an internal motor and gears. It immediately became a landmark on Hastings Street, and recently the sign’s design fame has spread far and wide as one of the best surviving examples of kinetic neon art in North America.
- Locality
- Vancouver Heights
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Willingdon Heights Area
- Community
- Burnaby
- Names
- Helen's Childrens Wear
- Subjects
- Buildings - Commercial - Stores
- Advertising Medium - Signs and Signboards
- Street Address
- 4142 Hastings Street
- Street View URL
- Google Maps Street View
Less detail
123 Cinema sign
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- November 15, 1979
- Collection/Fonds
- Columbian Newspaper collection
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 24 x 9.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the 123 Cinema sign at Lougheed Mall which reads; "VOTE NOV 17 / DAVE MERCIER BVA / MAYOR".
5486 Dominion Street
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1971
- Collection/Fonds
- Small family fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 9 cm x 9 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the Small family's house at 5486 Dominion Street with a "For Sale" sign on the lawn. The house was put up for sale by Lauretta Small after she inherited the Roberts' house at 5538 Dominion Street in 1969. Lauretta, by then a widow, relocated back into the Roberts' house which was th…
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1971
- Collection/Fonds
- Small family fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 9 cm x 9 cm
- Description Level
- Item
- Record No.
- 620-052
- Access Restriction
- No restrictions
- Reproduction Restriction
- No reproduction permitted
- Accession Number
- 2017-01
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the Small family's house at 5486 Dominion Street with a "For Sale" sign on the lawn. The house was put up for sale by Lauretta Small after she inherited the Roberts' house at 5538 Dominion Street in 1969. Lauretta, by then a widow, relocated back into the Roberts' house which was the house she grew up in as a child.
- Subjects
- Buildings - Residential - Houses
- Advertising Medium - Signs and Signboards
- Media Type
- Photograph
- Notes
- Transcribed title
- Title transcribed from donor's notes
- Note in blue ink on verso of photograph reads: "P.14"
- Note in blue ink on verso of photograph reads: "5486 Dominion St / Burnaby, B.C. / Fall '71"
- 5486 Dominion Street later subdivided into two lots: 5480 and 5488 Dominion Street
- Street Address
- 5486 Dominion Street
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Ardingley-Sprott Area
Less detail
Admiral Hotel
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- November 13, 1977
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Public Library Contemporary Visual Archive Project
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the front exterior of the Admiral Hotel, located on the 4100 block of Hastings Street. The photograph is taken from across the street, facing northwest, and shows the mural on the front of the hotel and the hotel's sign.
Advertising adjacent Jan's Grocery Store
Advertising Medium - Signs and Signboards Circus Posters
Alfred Hickman
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [195-] (date of original), copied 1986
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 7.5 x 11 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of two men standing outside Hickman's Grocery on Patterson Avenue near the railroad tracks. One of the men is Alfred Hickman, the store's owner. Signs on the store read, "Hickmans / Groceries / Produce" and "Groceries / Hickmans / Meats." Signs in the window advertise wieners and "Mea…
A. Matheson and Sons Market
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1957
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 8.9 x 9.0 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the A. Matheson & Sons store building located at 3576 Kingsway (later renumbered 4920 Kingsway) and Nelson Avenue. Signs on the store read, "A. Matheson & Sons Market / Fresh Meats - Groceries / Quality and Service / Dexter 1372, 1373 / Free Delivery." Additional signs and billboard…
Apartment at Albert and Ingleton
Astor Hotel
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.6 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the Astor Hotel at 4561 Kingsway and McKay Avenue. A hotel sign reads, "Welcome HRH Princess Margaret to Burnaby." The Astor Coffee Shop is to the right of the hotel.
BCGEU Protestors
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- October 14, 1976
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Public Library Contemporary Visual Archive Project
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
- Scope and Content
- Photograph shows two members of the BC Government Employees Union, holding a large sign protesting wage and price controls outside the gates of the Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre at 5700 Royal Oak Avenue (later 5220 Oakmount Crescent).
BC Hydro Railway Crossing
Billboard
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- October 20, 1976
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Public Library Contemporary Visual Archive Project
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
- Scope and Content
- Photograph shows a large billboard advertising the 1977 Thunderbird car. The sign is attached to the side of a building in a parking lot on Edmonds Street near Kingsway.
Billboards at Hastings and Boundary