reeks in Vancouver

A Fraser delta fisherman known as “Johnny the Greek” was one of the few Greeks to settle in Greater Vancouver before 1900. A small number of Greek pioneers also worked in the province’s sawmills, mines and railroads. But perhaps the best known of Vancouver’s first Greek immigrants was Peter Pantages. A member of the Royal Life Saving Society, Peter founded the Polar Bear Club in 1921 and started what has since become an annual event: the New Year’s Day swim in English Bay. The Pantages name, however, was first introduced to Vancouver by Peter’s uncle, Alexander. The owner of a Seattle-based chain of highly successful vaudeville houses, Alexander built a theatre on Hastings Street.