Exhibitions

Old Town, New Approach

Third Floor
Wide shot of the Old Town, New Approach gallery. On either side are recreations of the facades of old buildings spanning two stories. In the background is a painted sign advertising a paint and oil company and an old-fashioned horse-drawn cart. A free-standing orange and green informational sign sits in the middle of the shiny black cobblestone floor.

Step back in time—but through a new lens. Old Town, New Approach, reopened in 2023, brings back one of the museum’s most beloved spaces, refreshed with updated context and new community partnerships. 

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  • Included with Admission
  • Free for Members
  • Core

Stroll past shopfronts, peek into a rowdy saloon, and smell apple pie baking in the Grand Hotel kitchen. Catch a show at the Majestic Theatre or watch passengers come and go from the Port Moody train station. 

But this isn’t just a nostalgic walk through the past. The exhibits here are changing—bringing in new voices and histories that haven’t always been included. 

Learn about BC’s Black sleeping car porters in a display developed with the BC Black History Awareness Society. Step into the Hayashi Photography Studio to discover stories of Japanese Canadian resilience, created in partnership with the Cumberland Museum and Archives, the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, and Landscapes of Injustice. 

The Chinese Canadian Nurses display—the latest addition to Old Town—shares the difficult realities of racism in the early 1900s and celebrates the courage of women who broke barriers in the medical field. 

This is just the beginning. Old Town will keep evolving as more communities help shape what’s here. 

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