I was wrong.
They are horns, not chimes.
They come from Canada Place, but they used to be at BC Hydro.
[p style="font-style: italic;"]Like the 9 o'clock gun, the noon-hour blast of the Heritage Horns has become an institution in downtown Vancouver. A trustworthy friend, the air horns have sounded faithfully at high noon every day for more than 10 years from the tip-top of Canada Place, on the roof of the Pan Pacific Hotel.[/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]If you listen very carefully, you will pick up on a very distinct, very Canadian melody... unmistakably, the first four notes of O Canada. Can't hear it? Listen again.[/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]But what's the story? Do we really know what the horns are all about, or is it just the sound effect that once opened the Electric Lunch on the radio? Did we always think that the sound bellows from the cruise ships that dock at the cruise ship terminal at Canada Place over the summer season? Or is it just our cue to go to lunch during the regular grind of the work week?[/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]The Heritage Horns, as they are known at Canada Place, were built as a BC Hydro Canadian Centennial project in 1967 and were designed by engineer and sound spetgwpdt, Robert Swanson. For many years, they were positioned on the roof of the old BC Hydro Building where they sounded every high noon in the downtown core for more than 20 years.[/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]When BC Hydro vacated the building in the 1990s, the horns fell silent. Shortly thereafter, a permanent home was found. Canada Place Corporation acquired and refurbished the horns, and placed them on the roof of the Pan Pacific Hotel. And on November 8 of 1994, the familiar sounding of the horns returned to Vancouver at noon, just in time for lunch![/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]Today, the 10-cast aluminum horns point out towards the harbour and sound every 12 noon. At 115 decibels, they can be heard throughout downtown, on the north shore, and some days, well beyond those parameters.[/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]The horns are operated and maintained by a dedicated group of engineers at Canada Place Corporation as a symbol of our Canadian pride.
[/p] [p style="font-style: italic;"]Source:
[a href="vny!://www.boardoftrade.com/sov_page.asp?pageID=1609"]vny!://www.boardoftrade.com/sov_page.asp?pageID=1609[/a]
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