G&P Auto Parts

G&P Auto Parts is one of those funny little buildings that has somehow survived at its home at 160 East 2nd Avenue since 1911. It's since been turned into a fancy car wash - auto detailing shop called Ultra Shine. Probably about 10 years ago when the 2010 Winter Olympics were announced I figured the shop had little chance of surviving. But it's still around today and escaped the building of Maple Leaf Storage next door back around 2008. This photo is from early 2012 after the shop had closed.





























Back in the mid 2000's the shop looked pretty unique with its turquoise coloured blocks tacked onto the stucco facade. There were also various car parts on display in the window. A City Directory listing from 1940 has three businesses sharing the address, Triploil Co, Scotty's Electric, and Horie Electrical Equipment. This next photo is from 2006.
















But of course the real gem of the place was the old relic of a sign. It even had the old style phone number which dates from before the 1960's. The TR stood for TRinity which covered the Central Vancouver area. I found a great blog entry that details Vancouver telephone exchanges here. This is a closer shot of the sign from late 2011. The car wash took down the sign sometime in 2012 when they took over the building.