Tag Archives: Curt Lang

The Bookstore

Posted by Claudia on November 23, 2012 1 comments

You will find my description of Curt’s life as a bookseller in the chapter entitled, The Vault.  (To read the interesting story about why it has that name, you’ll have to read the book!)  When Curt started the store at 350 West Pender Street, he quickly discovered that that being a bookseller was not for him. The enterprise floundered and Don MacLeod bought it for a song–well, $200.  He kept the stock and the same location, although he renamed the shop, “MacLeod’s Books.”  Don took out a loan from a credit union to make the purchase and was able to pay it off after his first day in business.  Here’s a picture of Don’s store in 1981. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that MacLeod’s Books, currently at 455 West Pender, on the north side of the street, still sports a remarkably similar sign. Don Stewart is the current owner.

Vancouver City Archives, CVA 779-E11.27

 

Curt Lang’s Vancouver: 1937-1998

Posted by Claudia on March 5, 2011 16 comments

Will the real Curt Lang please stand up?

Curt was a beatnik poet, painter, photographer, beachcomber, boat builder, fisherman, and software entrepreneur. He was born in Vancouver in 1937 and died there in 1998. He and Freddy Douglas were known as the two hippest guys in Vancouver during the late fifties and sixties. This book is my portrayal of Curt and the wild and crazy scene that swirled around him.  It will be published by Mother Tongue Publishing in the fall of 2011.

I remember  hiking in a forest with Gordon and my two children.  He was telling them a story about a Druid wizard called Clang. “Clang” was part of Curt’s email address and the wizard bore some resemblance to Curt. We were climbing higher and higher between the Douglas Firs. A mist hung between the trees. I think the story revolved around a major construction project that the wizard was mounting. There were obstacles, delays, frustration. And then I remember that Gordon was overcome by sadness. He couldn’t continue. “It’s too close to the bone,” he said.

There was something wizard-like about Curt. I think that in an earlier and less sophisticated time, a person like him might very well have been so regarded. A shape-shifter he was. Not only did he transform himself several times during his lifetime, but the people around him saw him in such radically different–wildly different–ways. Read more »