Vancouver / Names / K / Kotani

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Kotanis

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Kotani at three addresses in 1940, all on Abbott Street. No first name or initials tie one address to another: we can't tell if they're one family.

Reserve this family's book, freeThe name in every directory we hold from 1901 to 1945, at every address, each line with its page, to read here or save as a PDF. About $29 when orders open.

Where the Kotanis lived

Each pin is on its own block, numbered as the households below. Today's land, parks, main roads and local areas: City of Vancouver Open Data (Open Government Licence – Vancouver).
  1. 1

    201 Abbott Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Toshio Kotani, proprietor of Belmont Cleaners & Dyers 1940

    Next door in 1940: K Sawada at 205. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    210 Abbott Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • T Kotani 1940

    Next door in 1940: First United Ch (Welfare Industries) at 214. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    306 Abbott Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • K Kotani, proprietor of the Devon Rooms 1940

    Next door in 1940: W C Dawson at 320. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a proprietor (2).

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown (3). Each neighbourhood's page shows its trades, its people and every street in it, the way the directory printed them.

The story, address by address

The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Toshio Kotani at 201 Abbott Street as the householder, proprietor of Belmont Cleaners & Dyers. T Kotani is listed at 210 Abbott Street in 1940. In 1940 the directory lists K Kotani at 306 Abbott Street. The 1940 name section lists Komatoro Kotani there as the householder, proprietor of the Devon Rooms.

Today

210 Abbott and 306 Abbott still have their buildings from before 1946, both on the Vancouver Heritage Register; the City no longer lists 201 Abbott, so that building is probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 4 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, name section, where each person's work is printed

The book of the Kotanis

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Kotani name in each Vancouver directory we hold from 1901 to 1945: everyone printed under it at every address, their work from the name sections, who lived next door, and the page behind every line, to read here or save as a PDF to print or give.

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Another name, or a house

Sources

Henderson's and successor city directories for Vancouver, read by us line by line: the street sections for 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1940 and 1945, and the name section for 1930 and 1940 where we've read it (Vancouver Public Library, BC City Directories). Names are shown through 1945, as printed. Close spellings are grouped, as on the house pages, since a family's name was often spelled differently from one year to the next; one name can still be several families, and we join lines only where the first names or initials agree. Many Chinese, Japanese and other residents weren't named by the canvassers, so they can't be listed by name: their houses' pages say where. More family names under K. Want a name removed? Tell us.