The Blue Eagle Cafe

A little bit of Vancouver's history was lost forever when the old Blue Eagle Cafe was torn down back in 2011. The cafe had a long run and had operated at 130 East Hastings street from 1944 until it was finally closed down by the City in 1999 for drug infractions. Being right in the Downtown Eastside and just a stones throw from Main and Hastings the Blue Eagle was in a bit of a rough stretch of town. But this is nothing new as the neighbourhood has always had its problems going back many decades. Another classic Vancouver cafe the Only Seafoods just down the street would later suffer the same fate in 2009.

The building was of course very old and had three distinct storefronts. These were home to a revolving door of businesses and eateries over the years. Back in 1916 the space at 130 had once been home to the White Lunch which went on to have a few locations around town as well as some great neon signage. A few doors East at 134 was The Golden Gate Cafe which once sported a tall neon sign with a coffee cup at the top. Years later just next door to that at 138 was the infamous Kit Kat Klub. Before the Blue Eagle arrived on the scene this part of Hastings Street was Vancouver's downtown and cafe's were literally everywhere along the street. Today the only one left is the Ovaltine Cafe just East of Main Street. You can see what the street looked like back in 1973 in this great photo by Vancouver photographer Greg Girard.

Sadly the old building that housed the Blue Eagle was neglected for years like many in the Downtown Eastside. For just over a decade the Blue Eagle's classic neon sign sat abandoned with the eagle keeping watch over the sidewalk on Hastings Street. It wasn't until 2010 that the sign was finally acquired by the Museum of Vancouver.

The sign at its new home in 2011

It's really too bad the Blue Eagle is gone as it makes me think the old place could have lived again if it had been renovated in time. Upscale restaurants are now making inroads into the Downtown Eastside and especially into Chinatown. Of course many are calling this gentrification but it's nice to see empty storefronts coming back to life. The Blue Eagle's interior was pretty spiffy and the floor was covered in amazing mosaic tile work. Done up right it would still look fabulous today!

The Western wall was also covered in beautiful tiles no doubt from its days as The White Lunch.

But in Vancouver nothing lasts forever and the deal was finally sealed for the Blue Eagle when the Pantages Theatre up the block at 150 East Hastings was condemned after suffering years of water damage. At one time there were serious plans to restore the theatre to its former glory. But by 2010 all those plans had gone seriously off the rails and all the old buildings had an appointment with the demolition man. As artist Keith McKellar wrote in his 1999 book Neon Eulogy "Everybody knows the room with a mischevious soul. The Blue Eagle Cafe". At least we have the old neon sign to remember the place by!

March 2021 - Just a quick update as I recently discovered an old photo from the 1920's in the VPL's collection on Flickr. The photo is by Stuart Thomson and shows 130 East Hastings when it was the White Lunch. A few doors East at 134 was the Golden Gate Cafe with its big electric sign!

The Lido

If you're new to Vancouver or the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood you might know The Lido as a local drinking hole and performance venue. But prior to it opening back in 2014 the original Lido building was one of Vancouver's most mysterious places. The building at 518 East Broadway dates from 1911 and a big improvement year was 1940. The Lido with its black and green vitrolite tile is first listed in the city directory back in 1942. After doing some initial searching I found a common thread. Many people in Vancouver seem to remember the store, but many couldn't remember when it had actually been open. Here's a photo of the old storefront in 2012.

The Lido had been around for decades but I really hadn't paid much attention to it before. When I first joined Flickr back in 2005 I remember seeing some else's photos of "the store that's never open". So with a new 5 megapixel camera in hand I went over to investigate it myself. Looking through the windows you could see an almost empty store. The shelves were filled with faded yellow "no name" cans and packages that had obviously been there for many years. The middle part of the store had a few empty deli coolers and display cases. There was also a hand written price list of "Lido Specials" taped in the front window. I also noticed an up to date calendar on the wall! During the winter months when I'd been by I had also noticed that there were lights on during the evenings. So despite the store not being open for decades someone was obviously keeping an eye on the place. Here are couple of photos from  back in 2005.

I remember in 2006 the local paper the Vancouver Courier did a story on The Lido and actually named the family that owned it. I guess someone didn't like the publicity because the windows of the store were soon covered over in newspapers! So the days of looking through the windows at The Lido were suddenly over. Sadly the Courier piece has disappeared from their website. So not everything on the internet lasts forever!

It wasn't until a few years later in 2008 when the Vancouver Sun ran a story about The Lido that some of the store's mysteries were finally revealed. Apparently the building's long time owner a Mrs. Rothweiler had passed away and the store had finally been cleaned out. What they found inside was truly amazing! There were 15 cubic yards of rusted salmon and tuna cans. Plus it took 10 truckloads to empty all the junk out of the building. But under a rug someone $950.00 in vintage 50 and 100 dollar bills. Some of the cleanup crew thought they were fake. But the caretaker made the biggest discovery of a bag containing $400,000.00 in 1930's currency stashed in a bedroom closet. In the house next door a suitcase containing old German passports dating from the 1940's and 1950's was also found. Very mysterious indeed! Here's another old photo from 2005.

After doing a bit more searching I found that the Rothweilers would buy up expired cheeses and other canned and packaged goods and then sell them at discounted prices in The Lido. In the early days it looks like they must have had some kind of passport operation going as well. After Mr. Rothweiler passed away it looks like his wife kept the place basically unchanged for many decades until her eventual passing. After the store was finally cleaned out there were a few different shops that opened in the space. I think there was an art gallery and maybe a clothing boutique. Neither lasted very long and I guess the building and house next door sold sometime after 2012. In 2013 the store went through an extensive renovation and opened as The Lido bar that's there today. During the reno the new Lido lost much of it's original charm but they did keep the name and sign! Here's a Street View link of the building today.

ABC Jewellery & Loan

When I first arrived in Vancouver in the late 1980's it seemed like Pawn Shops were everywhere in the city. Granville Street and East Hastings Street seemed to have most of them. But times have changed and today there are probably only about a dozen or so left scattered around town. That's why I figured I'd better get a shot of ABC Jewelllery & Loan at 937 Davie Street when I was downtown back in 2014. I think this is the only pawn shop on Davie Street.

The building located near Burrard Street is quite old and dates from 1925. Over the years it has been home to numerous businesses none of them very notable. For many years during the 1930's there was a listing for a FJ Auterson. In 1940 it was home to The Sample Hat Shop and in 1955 there was a Mrs. GA Brambley Dressmaker.

But there were some interesting places close by! During the 1940's and 1950's a building across the street was home to Paramount Film Services at 960 Davie. Next door at 970 was Warner Brothers Pictures Distributors. But a directory listing for 1940 has an S Thomson Photographer at 916 Davie just down the street. This of course could only be THE Stuart Thomson who was an early professional photographer who captured the city in it's developing years. Thanks to him we have thousands and thousands of images of a Vancouver that largely doesn't exist anymore. You can see more of Thomson's images and find out more about him at his page on the Vancouver Archives website.

Today the block of old buildings at Burrard and Davie are probably living on borrowed time. Most of the block is actually made up of a parking lot. So With the crazy price of real estate in Vancouver these days that simply won't do! I'm sure developers somewhere are planning a much larger building for the corner. This Street View from 2016 confirms the lot has indeed sold but it could be a few more years before the old buildings finally come down making the old pawn shop just another memory.

New York Novelties

New York Novelties is another funky bit of the old Mount Pleasant neighbourhood that's disappeared recently. For many years I used to walk by this store at 2429 Main Street close to Broadway on my way uptown. It was one of those rare places in East Vancouver that didn't have bars in the windows. It was great to look at all the masks and wigs in the window display especially at dusk. Then around 2012 I realized I better start taking some photos of this place!

I'm glad I took some pictures when I did as a "For Lease" sign went up in the window in late 2014. By the spring of 2015 the store was empty and New York Novelties was gone. But it turns out they hadn't gone far as they'd only moved a few blocks away down East Broadway across from the Kingsgate Mall. The new location was probably cheaper rent wise but the window display wasn't nearly as wonderful.

The Main Street store next to the Lee Building is fairly old and got it's start as the People's Fruit Market back in the 1940's. During the 50's times had changed and the space became Finn's Ladies and Men's Wear with Hilker's Dry Goods right next door at 2425. Today the store is home to Our Community Bikes who were forced out of their old space further up Main Street in 2015. If you look outside the store today you can see the name Christie Grants in the tile work. This store must have been there in the 1960's and it looks like it took up both spaces.

Sadly it looks like New York Novelties is no more as they closed up their store on East Broadway at the end of May. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe the new location wasn't so good or they were done in by people shopping online? Whatever the case the way the city is changing it's better to take pictures now and ask questions later as it could all be gone tomorrow!

Reno's Restaurant

Reno's Restaurant at 151 East Broadway on the ground floor of the 1912 Lee Building was a classic piece of the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. It seemed like Reno's had been around for just ages. I'm sure it was already there when I first came to Vancouver in the late 1980's . The decor was a bit dated but when you charge $3.99 for breakfast that's served all day who's to complain. Reno's was a greasy spoon but it was the kind of place where everyone was welcome. If some cheap eats and a bit of people watching were up your alley then Reno's was the place to go. But in November of 2015 Reno's suddenly closed their doors. From what I understand their lease was not renewed so that was the end of another neighbourhood institution.

Being that the Lee Building at Main and Broadway dates from 1912 there were no doubt a few different eateries in the space before it became Reno's. After reading Keith McKellar's book Neon Eulogy I discovered that it had been part of the popular Aristocratic chain starting in 1953. Before that it was Hux Lunch during the 1940's and back in the 1920's it was Purity Lunch which dated as  far back as 1915 in the same location. Incidentally the last Aristocratic restaurant was at Granville and Broadway and closed down in the mid 1990's when the present Chapters bookstore was built.

In the spring of 2016 Fable Diner opened it's doors at 151 East Broadway. The space was totally renovated and it looks bright and modern now. The menu is of course totally up to date and caters to a hipper crowd. But there's even a Reno's Burger on the menu which is a nice touch. I'm sure Fable is doing well with the influx of tech companies coming into Mount Pleasant. It's probably an in demand place for lunch. But it's not quite the same walking along Broadway and not seeing the old Reno's neon sign in the window!

John's Jukes

John's Jukes at 2343 Main Street was one of those shops that gave the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood its funky vibe. They'd been in Mount Pleasant for 35 years and have a great business restoring juke boxes, pinball machines, and various arcade style machines. But back in early February big "For Lease" signs went up in the window foreshadowing more changes coming to the neighbourhood. Now in late May the shop has closed and moved to a new location in Burnaby. To me John's Jukes was one of those interesting stores that was always just there. Every day someone would dutifully bring out an old Wurlitzer juke box for display on Main Street.

I actually didn't have many exterior shots of the store. I was always more interested in capturing some of the colourful juke boxes in the front window that were lit up at night. This is an old shot from back in  2013.

And a look through the front door back in 2015

With skyrocketing real estate prices in Mount Pleasant I guess it's only inevitable more old school businesses will be leaving the area. Since the beginning of the year this will be the 8th shop to have either closed or moved out of the heart of Mount Pleasant. I'm sad to see John's Jukes go but glad they moved on to bigger and better things. Either way it won't be the same walking up Main Street without seeing the old Wurlitzer out front!

Kinetic Electronics

Kinetic Electronics is a quirky little storefront I've had my eye on for some time now. It's located between Glen Drive and Vernon Drive at 1139 East Hastings. It's also been notoriously difficult to photograph as there's always been a car parked out front whenever I've been by. It's taken a few years but I finally got my shot. At first glance the place really doesn't look like much. But it's one of those rare stores with a hidden house in the rear of the property. The house dates from 1905 and 1920 was a big improvement year so that could be when the storefront was built.

Although the front of the store looks a bit dishevelled and there are actually some old dot matrix printer boxes by the window reviews of the place are actually very good! So don't let the funky looks deceive you. The house at the back of the property has obviously seen better days and the front of the roof is now covered up with a tarp. This alley view was taken back in 2012.

This part of Hastings Street is very old but there's not too much left in the area today. But there are still a few old gems to be found. Vancouver also has quite a collection of sidewalk stamps. That is dates and names put into the concrete when the sidewalk was put in. Just down the block at the North East side of Hastings at Vernon is one the oldest ones in the city dating from 1906! You can read more about sidewalk stamps in this piece from Miss604.