The stories collected in Squatters on the Waterfront were initiated by a photography exhibit at North Vancouver’s Presentation House Gallery in the summer of 2014 which featured images taken by Bruce Stewart during the Dollarton Pleasure Faire in 1972. The Pleasure Faire was held on an intertidal zone in Burrard Inlet known as the Maplewood Mudflats and was put on by a loose collective of artisans who lived as squatters in the area. Some of the group called themselves DeLuxe Carpenters and worked on renovation jobs around the Lower Mainland bringing back teardown materials to build their own houses on the waterfront: nsnews.com/entertainment/squatters-recycled-utopian-dreams-1.2226735.
Dollarton Days examines the historical context of squatters in the area in a discussion with Malcolm Lowry biographer Sheryl Salloum: http://www.nsnews.com/entertainment/dossier/dollarton-days-malcolm-lowry-made-himself-at-home-on-the-waterfront-1.1303428
The third story in the series, Boot and Fog, developed out of interviews with the DeLuxe crew members regarding their involvement in the making of Robert Altman’s film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. They essentially translated the Maplewood Mudflats ethos into cinematic form while building the sets for Altman’s alternative Western made in the wilds of West Vancouver: http://www.nsnews.com/entertainment/film/boot-and-fog-robert-altman-kept-his-distance-from-old-hollywood-1.1528580
