This Week in History, 1920: Teddy Lyons delights kids from the B.C. Electric observation car

Sept. 18, 1950. Parting was sad for Teddy Lyons (left) when the skipper of Vancouver's famed B.C. Electric observation car took it for its last run. Since 1909, the red, open-air car has been familiar to the city every summer and in its 40 years carried 1.5 million people. On the last ride were, beside Teddy, Alderman Alex Fisher, Alderman Archie Proctor, and B.C. Electric president, A.E. 'Dal' Grauer. Province photo files Photo by Province photo files

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When streetcars plied Vancouver streets, one of the most popular tourist attractions was the B.C. Electric observation car.

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From late May until the end of September, people would clamber aboard the open-air streetcar, which had no roof.

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You often see panorama photos of people riding in the observation car. The conductors had a deal with photographer Harry Bullens: Early in the ride the observation car would stop in front of his studio, the conductors would point out some feature on a building, they would look up, and Bullens would take their photo.

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Some stories say the passengers didn’t know their photo was being taken. But they may have — many are smiling toward the camera. By the time they finished their two-hour tour, Bullens had printed photos that were sold as souvenirs.

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There were two conductors on the service, Dick Gardner and Teddy Lyons. Lyons was the famous one, telling jokes and stories about the city through a bullhorn.

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He interacted with people on the street, and was a huge favourite with Vancouver’s children.

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On Sept. 12, 1920, The Vancouver Sun published a story by a tourist who took the observation car. They didn’t write about the sights they saw touring the city, they wrote about an “unknown conductor” (Lyons) and how he interacted with the kids along the route.

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B.C. Electric Rly. Co. observation car with Teddy Lyons as conductor, June 18, 1940. Harry Bullens Vancouver Archives

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One particular trip began at 7:30 p.m. It started off in the downtown business district, but Lyons told the passengers it would pick up when the observation car rolled into “where the Japanese and Chinese live.”

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“I have quite a number of friends among the children,” said Lyons. “Look at that little girl to the left. Isn’t she a picture for you?”

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The girl was three or four, and “kept jumping up and down waving her hands above her head.”

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“Yes, I see you, you little jumping jack!” said Lyons.

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“Hello! Hello!” she responded.

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“They watch for us every night,” said Lyons. “In the third house to the right in the next block is a little girl who will come out on the second storey porch. She looks like a fairy and dances like one.”

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The motorman on the car honked the horn, “and a little Japanese girl in white came running through the doorway of the house” exclaiming hello and “waving her hand above her head, her face radiant.”

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Her porch became a stage and the streetcar passengers her audience as “she began a gliding dance.”

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The streetcar moved on and Lyons told passengers to look to their right.

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“‘Behold Bill Hart in all his glory,’” he said. “He waits on the steps every evening.” And there sat a seven-year-old boy, togged out in cowboy attire, armed with a toy gun.

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“‘Don’t hold us up, Bill,’ cried the conductor, and the boy forgot his shyness and left the step to run along the sidewalk, ‘laughing and shouting.'”

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Teddy Lyons.

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The passengers loved it.