Vancouver / Names / R / Rainbow

A family name in Vancouver's city directories

The Rainbows

In the city directories 1940 · three people at three addresses

The directories print three people named Rainbow at three addresses in 1940 in two of the city's neighbourhoods. 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 Rainbows 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

    715 Helmcken Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Cabs Rainbow 1940

    Next door in 1940: Standard Transf & Stge at 733. The block, door by door

  2. 2

    915 Hornby Street

    Downtown, 1940

    • Gordon C Rainbow, a driver at Sawdust Service (Vancouver) 1940

    Next door in 1940: G W Moreland at 901 and W R Nimmons at 917. The block, door by door

  3. 3

    1050 Robson Street

    West End, 1940

    • Produce (M Kas) Rainbow, in butter cheese and eggs 1940

    Next door in 1940: Norwich Apts at 1048 and Ann Joyce Cake & Candy at 1052. The block, door by door

What they did

The name section prints a trade for two of the three: a butter cheese and eggs and a driver.

Their neighbourhoods

The addresses are in Downtown (2) and West End. 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

In 1940 the directory lists Cabs Rainbow at 715 Helmcken Street. The 1940 name section, where each person's work is printed, lists Gordon C Rainbow at 915 Hornby Street, a driver at Sawdust Service (Vancouver). The 1940 name section lists Produce (M Kas) Rainbow at 1050 Robson Street, in butter cheese and eggs.

Today

The City no longer lists 715 Helmcken, 915 Hornby and 1050 Robson, so those buildings are probably gone (inferred).

Every line as printed

All 3 lines printed under the name through 1945, each with its page at the Vancouver Public Library.
1940

British Columbia and Yukon Directory, street section

The book of the Rainbows

Every directory, as one book

The family book reads the Rainbow 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 R. Want a name removed? Tell us.