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
Municipal Council
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1956
- Collection/Fonds
- Charles MacSorley fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the 1956 Burnaby Municipal Council in Council Chambers at Burnaby Municipal Hall. Identified in the photograph are (starting at centre, forefront and moving clockwise): Gerald Charlton, Fred Philps, Wesley Morrison, Arnold Hean, Ted Ward (Deputy Municipal Clerk), John Shaw (Municipal…
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1956
- Collection/Fonds
- Charles MacSorley fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.5 cm
- Description Level
- Item
- Record No.
- 486-025
- Access Restriction
- No restrictions
- Reproduction Restriction
- Reproduce for fair dealing purposes only
- Accession Number
- 2005-14
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the 1956 Burnaby Municipal Council in Council Chambers at Burnaby Municipal Hall. Identified in the photograph are (starting at centre, forefront and moving clockwise): Gerald Charlton, Fred Philps, Wesley Morrison, Arnold Hean, Ted Ward (Deputy Municipal Clerk), John Shaw (Municipal Clerk), Reeve Charles MacSorley (in the back), two unkown members of staff, Samuel Hughes, William Philps and Doug Drummond.
- Subjects
- Officials - Alderman and Councillors
- Officials - Mayors and Reeves
- Buildings - Civic - City Halls
- Occupations - City Clerks
- Occupations - Civic Workers
- Names
- Charlton, Gerald
- Philps, Fred
- Morrison, Wesley
- Hean, Arnold F.C.
- Ward, Ted
- Shaw, John Horace "Jack"
- MacSorley, Charles W.
- Hughes, Samuel E.
- Philps, William P.
- Drummond, John D. "Doug"
- Media Type
- Photograph
- Photographer
- Cunningham, W.
- Notes
- Title based on contents of photograph
- Photographer's stamp on verso
- Notes on verso identify the people in the photograph
- Geographic Access
- Canada Way
- Street Address
- 4949 Canada Way
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Douglas-Gilpin Area
Less detail
Burnaby's new fleet of fire trucks
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1956 or 1957]
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 18.5 x 23.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the new fleet of Burnaby's 1956 American LaFrance pumper fire trucks lined in a row in front of the Municipal Hall. The fifth truck has its ladder extended. Reeve Charles MacSorley, Fire Chief William Menzies, and Councillor Fred Philps are standing in front of the second truck. There…
New Municipal Hall construction
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1955]
- Collection/Fonds
- Charles MacSorley fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Burnaby Reeve Charles MacSorley standing outside the new Municipal Hall building which is under construction.
Reeve MacSorley at the new Municipal Hall site
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1955]
- Collection/Fonds
- Charles MacSorley fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Reeve Charles MacSorley standing near the new municipal hall building which is under construction.
Reeve MacSorley at the new Municipal Hall site
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1955]
- Collection/Fonds
- Charles MacSorley fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Reeve Charles MacSorley standing near the site of the new municipal hall building.
Reeve MacSorley at the new Municipal Hall site
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1955]
- Collection/Fonds
- Charles MacSorley fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of Burnaby Reeve Charles MacSorley at the construction site of the new municipal hall.
Interior of the Burnaby Municipal Hall
Over-crowded general office
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the "OVER-CROWDED GENERAL OFFICE" inside the second Burnaby Municipal Hall.
Over-crowded police quarters
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the "OVER-CROWDED POLICE QUARTERS" inside the second Burnaby Municipal Hall.
Plan filing room. Fire hazard???
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 17.5 x 12.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the "PLAN FILING ROOM [believed to be a] FIRE HAZZARD [sic]???" inside the second Burnaby Municipal Hall.
Staff using Council Chamber
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of "STAFF USING COUNCIL CHAMBER" at the second Burnaby Municipal Hall.
Bob Hutton at Municipal Hall
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 9 x 9 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of a man identified as Bob Hutton outside Burnaby Municipal Hall. Two other men are visible in the picture, but neither is identified.
Bob Hutton, outside Burnaby Municipal Hall
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 9.5 x 14.5 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of two men and one woman standing outside Burnaby Municipal Hall reading from a proclamation and addressing a fourth man who is seen to the far right holding a microphone. The microphone bears the call letters CKNW and the man holding it has been identified as Bob Hutton.
Burnaby's Third Municipal Hall - Canada Way
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1958
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 13 x 17.7 cm
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the exterior of Burnaby's third Municipal Hall. This hall was opened in 1956 on Grandview Highway (later, Canada Way) and it replaced the old hall at Kingsway and Edmonds Street.
Exterior back of the Burnaby Municipal Hall
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the exterior side and back of the Burnaby Municipal Hall. Parked cars are visible in the parking lot at the back of the Hall, and piles of large pipes are visible along the side. This was the second Municipal Hall built.
Exterior of the Burnaby Municipal Hall
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the exterior side and back of the Burnaby Municipal Hall. Parked cars are visible in the parking lot at the back of the Hall, and piles of large pipes and wooden 2" x 4"s are both visible along the side. This was the second Municipal Hall built.
Exterior of the Burnaby Municipal Hall
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1952
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Description Level
- Item
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph : b&w ; 12.5 x 17.5 cm print
- Scope and Content
- Photograph of the exterior side and back of the Burnaby Municipal Hall. Parked cars are visible in the parking lot at the back of the Hall, and piles of large pipes and wooden 2" x 4"s are both visible along the side. This was the second Municipal Hall built.