The Cellar

This is another older picture that was taken back in the summer of 2010. The abandoned building at 222 East Broadway was the only survivor of a mysterious fire that broke out early on Christmas morning back in 2009. Sadly the rest of the buildings at the corner of Kingsway were all destroyed. There were many artist's studios on the upper floors and many lost everything in the blaze. This little building sat empty until the spring of 2014 when it was finally demolished to make way for a controversial condo development.

Years ago I remember hearing that there had once been a club in the building. After doing some searching I found out that this had once been the home of the The Cellar Club. The entrance was at the back on Watson Street with the club being down in the basement. During the late 1950's and early 1960's it was the place for jazz in Vancouver. Many great musicians played there including Ornette Coleman. A few people have blogged about the club and there is a very good link with lots of info here. Back in 2014 just as the building was being torn down I ended up chatting with another photographer who was also getting some last shots of the place. It turns out his name is Chris Wong and he's working on a book about jazz history in Vancouver. He actually managed to get permission from the developer and got some interior shots of the Cellar before the building finally came down!

Back around 2010 CBC Vancouver posted a web gallery of old still images of sets at their studios as well as some old photos of Vancouver that were used as backdrops for their shows. Some of the images were of the Cellar Club. They were taken by Franz Lindner on March 21st 1961 when the CBC did a live broadcast from the club. It's great that CBC has these photos as the Cellar is just a memory now.