Vancouver History

[maxx]

Originally Posted by azndude69

I remember downloading mp3s at 56K and when getting Cable modem was like HOLY FUCK!!!!. . . .

I remember getting the Internet was like HOLY FUCK!!!!!

[MG1]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

I remember the really old buses with the swing doors at the top of the rear steps so that you couldn't go down the steps to the rear door.

Holy cow....... I forgot about those swingbars.

Eaton's warehouse was on Renfrew and Broadway. Chong Lee on Rupert and 22nd used to be Stong's.

[Durrann1984]

thats interesting

[MG1]

Originally Posted by achiam

To add to this thread, one of my best friend's dads was the first Chinese kid to go to St. George's school back in the 50's; his roommates at the dorm back then were the Roger's kids (Roger's Sugar) and the Brown kids (Brown Brother's Ford).
His father came here from China as a dentist but wasn't allowed to practice and so worked as a stable boy at the PNE racetrack.
Their family eventually ran a large food wholesale business that still supplies many restaurants and businesses in Vancouver today.
He always tells us about how in those days, the West Side was exclusively old money white people, and when their family bought a home at Dunbar (which they still own today), Caucasians would yell at him "Chink what are ya doing here?"

Strangely enough, that kind of shit makes you want to succeed even more. It's like being cheered on. Back then, it was a huge climb to make it in a white man's world. Kudos to your friend's dad.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by achiam

No its not about anyone being jealous, its about hard work and struggling to make it against huge barriers. Race is not the issue as I'm sure there must be groups of European caucasians that may be racially discriminated against by other groups.

Very true. Times were different back then. It was the norm and you did whatever it took to make it. Italian, German, Jewish, whathaveyou immigrants all had to struggle.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic

Holy cow....... I forgot about those swingbars.

Eaton's warehouse was on Renfrew and Broadway. Chong Lee on Rupert and 22nd used to be Stong's.

Stong's! I grew up 3 blocks away from that location!

Aside from Woodwards and Eaton's, anyone else remember prominent businesses that went belly-up over the years? One store I remember for its Boxing Day sales was Stereo Pacific. They'd let in like two people in line to buy $59 turntables.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

One store I remember for its Boxing Day sales was Stereo Pacific. They'd let in like two people in line to buy $59 turntables.

Vancouver Brake and Wheel. Jim Robson commercials and the mascot, Beep Beep. They were at the Vancouver C's games handing out frisbies and other freebies. They had two locations. The Kingsway one and the one on Hastings.

[MG1]

Anyone remember the Phoenix Restaurant on Hastings? A few doors down from Ovaltine Cafe. Phoenix had the best chow fun (noodle dish) this side of the Rockies. Greasy as hell, but full of awesomeness.

Is The Only Seafood restaurant down and out? I saw that it was closed when I drove by a few weeks ago. I'm hoping it was just the health inspector shutting it down. That place is the place to go for great clam chowder.

Marine View Cafe. The best place for fish and chips. It was on the top floor of the building that existed at the foot of Campbell Avenue. It was the most scenic restaurant in Vancouver. There were dozens of small fish processing plants on the docks. Fishermen would dock their boats and unload fresh shrimp, crabs, grond fish, etc. The view of the North Shore Mountains was incredible. One side of the restaurant, the side facing the pier, was all glass. It was like straight out of the movies. Campbell Avenue dock is no more. Completely torn down. Balyntine Pier on the left and the old sugar refinery on the right is all that is left.

Again, there are probably no pictures of the place. If I could only describe it to an artist as I remember it and have them paint it. I remember every inch of that place, as I worked there for many summers.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic

Holy cow....... I forgot about those swingbars.

Eaton's warehouse was on Renfrew and Broadway. Chong Lee on Rupert and 22nd used to be Stong's.

I remember when that restaurant on Renfrew and Grandview had part of that old bus as the window display. Now that corner is the adult section of Tom's video.

I remember that episode of X-files where they were in the old bus graveyard in Surrey/Delta. Not sure which one it was. Always wanted to go there and check out those old buses like what Hondracer did.

The Eaton's warehouse is still there, not part of Eaton's of course. Chong Lee's new warehouse is right beside the old Eaton's warehouse. I remember going to the old Eaton's outlet store upstairs from the warehouse. Beside the Eatons outlet store use to be a small bus loop for the Broadway bus to turn around, when it didn't have to go all the way down to Boundry rd. Now it has been replaced with that technical center on Broadway.

The corner of Rupert and Broadway use to be an old MacMillan Bloedel office, until they went belly up and Public storage came in and turned it into what it is today.

Behind the PNE, where New Brighton Park is, on the west side, there use to be some old metal building. The first time I saw it, I must have been around 7ish. That metal building is no longer there, and there are no signs of it ever being there. Well, maybe except for a few pieces of broken concrete with heavy rust stains, assuming those are still there.

The condo building on the north east corner of Victoria and Broadway use to be a shady mini mall with a vietnamese restaurant named May May. They had limo tinted windows and I've heard it was full of bad people. Before that, it was a Gulf gas station. I think I still have an car window ice scraper that was from that Gulf station. And accross the street use to be a shell station.

I do remember the chong Lee being a Stongs way back in the day.

The BJ BMW dealership use to be a some bakery warehouse. My mind is telling me it was the brand with the little girl on it. Was it Weston bakeries?
The Fitness Depot on Lougheed hwy use to be another bakery warehouse.

And the Circuit Circus that use to be in the same mall as the Boston Pizza and Cactus Club use to be on the second floor upstairs in the back of Brentwood Mall.

Oh yeah, and the first building as you enter the PNE from Hastings and Renfrew, use to be an ice rink where Hastings minor hockey played. Instead of glass, they had the metal fence on top of the boards.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

Oh yeah, and the first building as you enter the PNE from Hastings and Renfrew, use to be an ice rink where Hastings minor hockey played. Instead of glass, they had the metal fence on top of the boards.

It used to be one of three buildings there. That's when the PNE was huge. BC sports Hall of Fame..... is it and the huge ass BC Relief Map still around somewhere?

That map was the work of one man who, piece by piece, put that map together. It was massive. They had this moving walkway that held 50 or so people up high that swept across the map.

[MG1]

Oh, speaking of Bakeries. Pacific Bakeries on Powell Street had the most delicious cream puff buns. Cindy's and other goodies were equaly good.

That 300 block of Powell Street was bustling with action. Rooming houses upstairs and retail shops downstairs. One of my best friend's family owned Eng's Cafe. It catered to the single men who lived in the rooming houses. There were quite a few Japanese shops there. All on the south side of Powwell......Shimizu Shoten, Mori Shoten, Aki Restaurant, Evergreen Japanese pottery store, Mihamaya, KC Barber Shop, just to name a few. Kay's Seafood is still there, but it isn't owned by the original Japanese owners anymore. They still make fish cakes using the old recipe, but for some reson, it ain't the same.

[GoateeMe]

i remeber the sizzler

[dachinesedude]

the oldest memory i have is around the early 90's when no.5 rd in Richmond consisted of ditches and farms

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by achiam

To add to this thread, one of my best friend's dads was the first Chinese kid to go to St. George's school back in the 50's; his roommates at the dorm back then were the Roger's kids (Roger's Sugar) and the Brown kids (Brown Brother's Ford).
His father came here from China as a dentist but wasn't allowed to practice and so worked as a stable boy at the PNE racetrack.
Their family eventually ran a large food wholesale business that still supplies many restaurants and businesses in Vancouver today.
He always tells us about how in those days, the West Side was exclusively old money white people, and when their family bought a home at Dunbar (which they still own today), Caucasians would yell at him "Chink what are ya doing here?"

He also tells repeatedly of how their family business and another Chinese grocer family (very well known today), pushed out other grocery businesses. He always told us at dinners how the farmers from the Valley and Okanogan would arrive early in the morning in Chinatown around 5AM, and that while the other western run grocers would show up around 7AM, the Chinese would get there at 4AM to ensure they could buy up the freshest produce available. Over 10 years, his family had a monopoly on the fresh produce delivery business servicing Shaughnessy and Dunbar.

Being another UBC alumni, he also jokes about how there were only 5 chinese people at UBC when he was there, and he could list them all as children from the other large grocery family or his own cousins!

Are you talking about the Louies?

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/...7-dcea8d886439

H.Y. Louie

The multi-billion dollar H.Y. Louie Co. Ltd. had the humblest of beginnings in 1903 when an immigrant peasant named Hok Yat Louie opened a general store in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Today, 105 years later, the small store has not only thrived, it has flowered into an energetic family business - B.C.'s second largest after the Jim Pattison empire.

At the time Hok Yat Louie arrived in Canada in 1896, Vancouver was a hostile city for Asian immigrants. He initially worked as a farm labourer, saving money until he could fulfill his dream of opening a store. He endured his share of prejudice as he built a business that, in 1934, he left to his sons. He also left a series of letters advising them on how to conduct their affairs - from setting their goals on the business's profitability to following the laws of Heaven and being charitable.

The Louie brothers followed their patriarch's advice and today, grandson Brandt Louie, 64, heads a $4-billion empire, employing 8,000 people in four different businesses: food wholesaling, the IGA food chain, London Drugs and an import-export division.

Brandt Louie is the 39th wealthiest person in Canada with a personal net worth of $1.29 billion, according Canadian Business magazine. He is president, chief executive officer and a director of both H.Y. Louie and London Drugs as well as vice-chairman and a director of IGA Canada. He is also firmly rooted in the nation's establishment. In 2005, Simon Fraser University awarded him an honourary doctor of laws degree and named him chancellor. He is a director of the Royal Bank and governor of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

The business his grandfather founded 105 years ago still follows the principals Hok Yat Louie laid down to his sons: serve your customers, be fair in your business dealings, honour your parents.

Louie's sons, Tong and Tim, expanded the family business from a retail store into a food wholesale powerhouse in Western Canada, earning the family a place in Vancouver's business elite that their father could only dream of.

When Tong Louie died in 1998, 2,000 people filled a Vancouver church for his funeral to celebrate the life of the son of a pioneer, renowned for his business triumphs and charitable giving.

Under Tong Louie's direction, the company acquired the B.C. franchise of IGA grocery and the London Drugs chain. At London Drugs, Tong Louie pioneered marketing concepts such as selling cosmetics, computers and kitchenware under one roof.

Tong Louie's son Brandt Louie, a graduate of the UBC's commerce program, continues the philanthropy urged by his grandfather so many years ago. A Maclean's magazine article, in which Brandt Louie gave a rare interview, states the family and a corporate foundation give an estimated $700,000 annually to charities, in addition to initiatives at individual stores.

"It's always nice to give money away," Brandt Louie said in the interview.

[JSALES]

Originally Posted by 7seven

Panoramic photos showing the changes in the Vancouver skyline
http://vancouver.ca/COMMSVCS/fade/fade.htm

holy shit, vancouver changed so much

[ajax]

Wow I feel super young in this thread. A verbal thanks for 89blkcivic and this awesome thread.

[maxx]

any1 remember Playdium at Metrotown?

even though at that time i didnt know where burnaby was, my friends and I always used to hang out there, that was before all the teenage filth carried nines

[skyxx]

I remember the time when there was a "Fields" on Hastings. It's a Vancity now along with a coffee shop and other misc stores/housing. Oh and the Mcdonalds beside London drugs used to be a Chinese restaurant. Many have opened and closed over the years till the day that Mcdonalds opened. Another was the Shell on Hastings/Renfrew across from Petro Canada. It's now a Holiday inn.

[mrclean604]

Originally Posted by maxx

any1 remember Playdium at Metrotown?

even though at that time i didnt know where burnaby was, my friends and I always used to hang out there, that was before all the teenage filth carried nines

haha how could i forget.

my dad took me there almost every weekend, and i remember playing ddr with all the 'pros' back then i was like 10. i remember playing am3p on expert so much that i memorized it haha.

and the birthday parties that i went to at playdium.. man those were fun times.

weren't they supposed to build another playdium in richmond in that huge plot of land on garden city and alderbridge/westminster?

[skyxx]

^ That land is apparently owned by some first nations....

[JSALES]

another addition to the history would be the canada line now.. haha

[PiuYi]

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic

What's so strange? I was told 99.997% of Revscene memers were Asian. I'm just complying with the stats.

i think the master roshi avatar throws us off

...even though technically he's asian... he looks kinda white

[thumper]

Originally Posted by dachinesedude

the oldest memory i have is around the early 90's when no.5 rd in Richmond consisted of ditches and farms

do you remember no.3 rd? it was nothing like now... no canada line, no parker place/aberdeen, etc... just landsdowne and richmond centre and a small bunch of strip malls. richmond motorsports used to be out there too. everything else was just warehouses... i used to come off westminster hwy on my bike and just open it up all the way to bridgeport on no.3 because there was zero traffic and almost no traffic lights (and what little there was is usually green)...

[murd0c]

I grew up in newton before everything basicly got devolped. I remember late 80's playing in farmers fields
Hideing in the tall grass and exploring old barns and houses that have been abbanded. It used to be
Great back in the day building forts and being outside all summer having fun. Nowthose areas have 100's
Of houses and kids stay inside andit in front of the tv or computer all day long. I don't even remember the
Last time I saw someone play street hockey. Its kinda sad seeing how the new generation is dependent
On this technology and seems to be loseing there imagination.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by thumper

do you remember no.3 rd? it was nothing like now... no canada line, no parker place/aberdeen, etc... just landsdowne and richmond centre and a small bunch of strip malls. richmond motorsports used to be out there too. everything else was just warehouses... i used to come off westminster hwy on my bike and just open it up all the way to bridgeport on no.3 because there was zero traffic and almost no traffic lights (and what little there was is usually green)...

My recollection of Richmond was limited to strawberry fields. 5 am pickup in front of Jong Wah in Chinatown. We rode on the back of a two ton flat bed truck that had sides and roof made out of plywood. No windows, except two small openings at the front for ventilation and a opening up high at the back. We sat on wooden benches. I remember standing up on the back bench, hanging on to the door at the back and seeing what was out there. Richmond was like nothing. Nothing but open land. I remember going over the bridge. It wasn't Knight Street Bridge, 'cause I don't think it was built yet. I believe it was the Fraser Street Bridge, which no longer exists.

We knew we were getting close to the fields when we saw the red radio towers - at least that was what we thought they were. We got to the farm at around 6 am and stayed there till about 5 pm. The ride back was not so good. The smell of perspiration mixed with rotting strawberry was not cool. The sounds........... not good. Those Chinese ladies were so loud - they kept getting louder to overcome each others' yelling The truck itself was extremely loud and the old man who drove it couldn't shift. He was careful when he went around corners, but there were some really scary moments when he braked all of a sudden. People would go flying.

We got home at around 6:00 pm. Walking home after a long hot day was enjoyable, especially after getting off that horrible truck.

When strawberry season ended, bean season started. Sometimes we worked on the cucumber fields and even potatoes. The worst job, by far, was weeding. I sucked at picking strawberries. I was damn slow at it and didn't make half as much as my sister, who was one of the fastest there. I was fast when it came to beans. I could yank a whole bunch in my hands and I was so quick at finding them. I do remember getting into trouble because I ended up tearing the plants to shreds going so fast.

Even though it was so shitty to work in the blazing heat, in a perverse way, I miss it. If I did anything like that today, they would have to send me to hospital. It's amazing. We never had UV ratings, sun blockers, and shit like that back then. We just turned a dark brown in the summer, LOL. I looked like a bloody Mexican, so I was told.

The place we went to was owned by a German family and the farm was on No. 1 Road. I know exactly where it is today. It's all condos now.