Vancouver night clubs from the 60's 70's and 80's

[blackhawk]

was Fast Eddies in N Van the one on 1st or was it the one on 15th & Lonsdale??

Hi, I think that Fast Eddies was on 3rd and Lonsdale.

This is a great thread, brought back loads of memories, places I had forgotten.

Did anyone follow Soul Unlimited? I think that they played at the Grooveyard a few times and up at the SFU dances and at UBC Dances.

What about going to UBC Cecil Green on Friday Nights?

Curious what school did you go to and what year did you graduate? I went to Burnaby North and graduated in 1969.

You are the same age as me. I went to Gladstone High (Happyrock lol) I grew up in E. Vanc. What was that place on Broadway and Commercial dr.? Lassetter's Den, I think? I think he was a B.C Lion also. That rustic neighborhood Pub in N. Burnaby on Hastings south side. The SFU crowd would drink there. Then there was the N. Burnaby Inn! lol

[blackhawk]

Grad from John Oliver in 73".

Did you know Orland Ricord? John Federal? There were a few others. They used to drink at the Ritz.

[blackhawk]

Here's a few more for ya....

Kit's Pub
Tommy Africa's
Diego's
Systems
Graceland
Vancouvers Tonight
The Side Door

I used to bounce at the Luv Affair...from about '89 to early '92. Met Brian Adams there (cool story), Depeche Mode, most of the 21 Jump Street cast, including Johnny Depp.

Prior to that, used to hang out 1st at the Body Shop, then Outlaws and Kits Pub.

Btw, anyone recall the club in New West during the 80's? It was upstairs, I recall that much.

Aah! Tommy Africas on Beach ave? What was that pub/restaurant called across from Kits Beach? My roomie was a drummer and he jammed with Colin James before he was famous. CJ was broke so I bought him a few beers! lol I had a few pints with Annie from Heart at the Pender Auditorium. I bounced there once.

[blackhawk]

Anyone remember Lasseter's Den on Broadway and Commercial? Another club that was owned by an ex BC Lion.

I posted before I read the whole thread, and I just mentioned Lassetters.
http://www.thehitmen.ca/hitmenbio.htm
Does anyone remember Louie and the Rockets? They played 50s rock and roll. They would change the lyrics to add some humor. One of their songs was titled Teenager In Jail. lol

[blackhawk]

Anyone remember Whispers in North Vancouver? 14th and Lonsdale...
Live Rock bands: Bryan Adams, Trooper, Red Rider, Streetheart, Harliquin, Doucette, Strange Advance... and regular bar bands, they all played there...

Also: Coconuts near 6200 block Kingsway (cross street Randolph)...

What was that club called on W. Georgia I think, on the south side close to Stanley Park. Some of those bands would play there.

[blackhawk]

Interesting subject; I worked in a lot of those clubs back in the day in Vancouver.

I personally knew Marvin Goldhar back when he had his after hours club on Davie and Burrard, called Marvin's. This was after Starvin Marvin's Bump City had burned to the ground. I worked there as the bouncer. What a weird place.
I worked at Oil Can Harry's back in the day too on and off.

And there was Misty's and Sugar Daddy's where Paul Snyder of Dorothy Stratton fame worked the door.

I knew Paul but not very well.

Of course there was Danceland too, on Robson and Burrard, but that was before my time. I saw it as a child but never went in.

Then there was Hilmar's The Body Shop followed by Outlaws on Georgia St. He got murdered by the Hell's Angels right in his own night club on an evening when they were going around to several clubs asserting their monopoly on the coke trade. He got slugged by an Angel weilding a loaded beer bottle and he fell back and hit his head on the ground, with blood from a ruptured artery gushing out of his mouth, eyes, nose and ears. Nobody saw nuttink...

And then there was The Point After, hidden away down in Gastown. That's where white women went to hook up with black guys. And Sneaky Pete's and Charlie Brown's on Hornby..er "Horny" St.


And then there was Pharaoh's Retreat down stairs at the entry to Gastown. It's still a nightclub under a different management today. I went there last year for old time's sake.

I knew a girl who was gorgeous that used to go to Annabelle's all the time. She's a crazy haggard old bag lady now.
And then there was Air Affair.



A lot of those disco types really didn't fare well. Steve Keza (Steve Keysa?) died of an overdose of pills just this month. He was this big bodybuilder who never came to terms with a more mature view of life.

Frankly I found that entire disco era to be really sleazy, crassly materialistic...unintelligent people dressing themselves up in cheap finery and snorting coke then strutting around fantasizing they were stars

Marvin got stabbed in the guts and died screaming across from Kits beach you know. He was collecting a late coke debt of $10,000.00. It was really weird when Jack Wasserman devoted the entire front page of the Vancouver Sun to his death and not a word was mentioned of why or where or how he died, or indeed who the hell was he and why should Vancouverites care?

haha...

Vancouver is a funny town.


And now of course everybody is old anyway.

hahah

Man, the 70's and 80's just sucks culturally.

I agree totally about the "Disco Scene" back then. I hated it. I had short hair back then, and my friends called me Nick the Narc!!! lol

[blackhawk]

If you went to Danceland then you're probably a bit older than me.

Yeah I have a pretty negative view of that period...bad music, bad clothes...(ugh), bad drugs, bad people. A big disappointment after all the promise of the sixties, particularly the early sixties.

I was going to university in the seventies and I was poor, so making a few extra bucks working at clubs and dealing with the *bleep* and jerks with chips on their shoulders wasn't going to make me particularly amenable to that scene.

I see the fifties and the sixties as a period of great promise, a period of real intellectual ferment.
I see the seventies and the eighties as a period of promise betrayed and thwarted, an anti intellectual period....the triumph of the goons.

John Travolta strutting his worthless stuff. I'm sure women found this to be sexy but...heh...

I remember the first time I went to Misty's and there were all these Greek guys I knew well enough to greet on the street and they all had these evil smirks on their faces...the Bruno Gerussi medallions on thier hairy chests and they were all bragging about what great liars they were. They lied about what they did, what they owned, who they were. The entire disco era was the era of the bullshitter, the liar. And the women loved it...lapped it up even when the jerks were laughing right in their faces. Disco women loved liars, despised honesty.

Bwahahahahahahahah! Good on ya bud! Too funny, and oh so true!!! It was such a flippin' PLASTIC/phoney,immoral, *bleep*, era. The love movement of the 60s was squashed by the CIA/Govt. who brought in all the heavy drugs to screw people's heads up, and squash the revolution.If any of you want to know the agenda of rock and roll, start by reading this link. Then Google MK Ultra mind control, and see why so many pop/rock stars "O.D.ed", or were suicided.
http://www.illuminati-news.com/art-and- ... piracy.htm

[blackhawk]

I remember the Easter Be ins at Stanley Park.
I remember when Heart was a Led Zep cover band with a young guy on guitar who did pretty good imitations of Jimmy Page. They dumped him when they stopped the Led Zep covers and went on to do their own materials. That was when they played the big back room at Oil Can Harry's. I went for lobster at the Keg that's there a couple weeks ago and the plaque on the pavement brought back some unpleasant memories.

Like the Tuesday night when the place was almost empty. There were these three people from Seattle in matching white cotton suits...a hippy guy, his sister and her friend and this long haired little guy in an early sixties striped sweater. (Remember those?) It was closing time and Steve the manager told me to ask everyone to leave. I went over and the little striped sweater guy who had joined the Seattle party said "*bleep* YOU" with this big bulb beer glass in his hand. I could see what was in his mind. I just said " drink up and leave" and walked away...and then I heard the glass break and the girls scream. The hippy guy had said to him "You can stop hustling my sister now" so the little jerk broke his glass on the table edge and slashed the hippy guy's eyeball open. Destroyed it for nothing. The hippy said; "What did you do that for?" I went over and stopped the little guy from leaving after he'd dropped his broken glass stub. I told him to sit down and wait. Steve came. I said; "let's take him outside and beat the crap out of him"

Steve: "nononono! We can't do that!
Me; Let's call the police then.
Steve: "nonononono! We can't do that!

Right Steve you slug, don't want any attention from the law for your coke and pot dealing eh?

Finally half an hour later the police arrived.

The final intolerable coup came when the little creep sidled up to the hippy's sister and said (he'd just met her that night) "Do you still love me?"

She replied "Oh boohoohoo...I like you but I don't want anybody to hurt my brother!"

That was enough.

I walked out to Grandville St to catch the last bus in front of the Crack a Joke shop and smoked a joint of Columbian. As I stood waiting this insanely angry disco boy walked by and tried to pick a quarrel with me. His eyes...jeez I don't want to know what kind of drugs HE was on. hahaha.

NObody ever went to court over that one.

In fact from 1975 to 1985 I knew 10 people that were murdered mostly over coke and nobody ever went to trial, jail or even got charged. Very odd.

Did you notice? It rained all summer every summer during the 70's. Genuinely crappy weather for a crappy decade.

LOL the Crack a Joke (plastic dog poop...lol) used to be DT Granville by the theaters, but I remember it up by Broadway by the Granville bus stop also! The Keg, and Puccinis were our 2 fav restaurants in town. Used to be cheap Caesars "Keg Size" there when it first opened. I loved the salad bar, and I have been vegetarian for 30 years (around 1980) I am 57 now, and in good shape b/c of my diet.

[averagejoe]

Grad from John Oliver in 73".

Did you know Orland Ricord? John Federal? There were a few others. They used to drink at the Ritz.

I knew John Ferderal! You went to Gladstone. I lived in Gladstone catchment area, but when to John Oliver for the Football program. Great area to grow up in. I lived where Sir Charles Tupper, Gladstone and John Oliver Borders all sort of came together. I played hockey at Grandview. Lots of time spent there.

[blackhawk]

Grad from John Oliver in 73".

Did you know Orland Ricord? John Federal? There were a few others. They used to drink at the Ritz.

I knew John Ferderal! You went to Gladstone. I lived in Gladstone catchment area, but when to John Oliver for the Football program. Great area to grow up in. I lived where Sir Charles Tupper, Gladstone and John Oliver Borders all sort of came together. I played hockey at Grandview. Lots of time spent there.

John Gamble was the other dude who hung out with Federal, and Kimmel. He was a boxer.I played up til midget rep team at Grandview. Did you know Ron Ranquist? Scott Ernewin? They were one year above me.Don, and Dave Stevenson played for the Steelers around then. Peter Kozak,also.His dad coached me one year. Grant Warwick from the World Champion team coached the team ahead of me.

[averagejoe]

I hung out abit with John's younger brother Paul. They lived on 41st Ave across from South Memorial Park. John won a Minto Cup with the Richmond Roadrunners. I knew of the Kozaks. I was coached by Ron Kolcheski in Midget Rep. I think you may have been just ahead of me. Good old days!

Grad from John Oliver in 73".

Did you know Orland Ricord? John Federal? There were a few others. They used to drink at the Ritz.

I knew John Ferderal! You went to Gladstone. I lived in Gladstone catchment area, but when to John Oliver for the Football program. Great area to grow up in. I lived where Sir Charles Tupper, Gladstone and John Oliver Borders all sort of came together. I played hockey at Grandview. Lots of time spent there.

John Gamble was the other dude who hung out with Federal, and Kimmel. He was a boxer.I played up til midget rep team at Grandview. Did you know Ron Ranquist? Scott Ernewin? They were one year above me.Don, and Dave Stevenson played for the Steelers around then. Peter Kozak,also.His dad coached me one year. Grant Warwick from the World Champion team coached the team ahead of me.

[blackhawk]

I hung out abit with John's younger brother Paul. They lived on 41st Ave across from South Memorial Park. John won a Minto Cup with the Richmond Roadrunners. I knew of the Kozaks. I was coached by Ron Kolcheski in Midget Rep. I think you may have been just ahead of me. Good old days!

Grad from John Oliver in 73".

Did you know Orland Ricord? John Federal? There were a few others. They used to drink at the Ritz.

I knew John Ferderal! You went to Gladstone. I lived in Gladstone catchment area, but when to John Oliver for the Football program. Great area to grow up in. I lived where Sir Charles Tupper, Gladstone and John Oliver Borders all sort of came together. I played hockey at Grandview. Lots of time spent there.

John Gamble was the other dude who hung out with Federal, and Kimmel. He was a boxer.I played up til midget rep team at Grandview. Did you know Ron Ranquist? Scott Ernewin? They were one year above me.Don, and Dave Stevenson played for the Steelers around then. Peter Kozak,also.His dad coached me one year. Grant Warwick from the World Champion team coached the team ahead of me.

Thats right Gamble played dor the RRs!!! Jeepers!!! Ha ha SMALL world!! I played only a little lacrosse, and gravitated towards hockey! (I did'nt like getting slashed in the face with a stick!!! lol) Kolcheski had the best sub-shot from the point in lacrosse at that time. That team was a POWERHOUSE for Jr.B They cleaned up all of the titles, and when they graduated to JR A they did same as Cablevision! Remember Doug Hayes? The guy was a monster! I was a bigger lacrosse fan than hockey, watching the local yokels kick azz back then. My neighbor who was a perimiter player Dan Sylvester played for Cablevision when they won the Championship. So who are you?

[averagejoe]

Hey Blackhawk, I PM'ed you.

[Fabrizio123]

The place to go after the disco closed whether it was The Body Shop or Misty's or Air Affair was Fresgo's on Davie and Thurlow, I think it was. *bleep* *bleep* mushroom burgers with a crappy bun and a bunch of *bleep* canned mushrooms dumped on top of it. 2 or 3 AM on a Saturday or Sunday morning and the place was packed. People were drunk and high and everyone was just sitting there in the brightly lit restaurant after being in the dark clubs with their eyes bugging out staring at each other. Or should I say staring at the hot women sitting with their boyfriends. It was the kind of atmosphere that could and would lead to some fights.

Or if you really wanted to be cheap you could roll over to West Broadway to Texan Burger for some 25 cent burgers.

[prairieflower]

Wow! Talk about trips down memory lane in this post. Being an Edmunds and Burnaby Central grad, my fave haunts were more local ones for the short time i was "legal" on the coast.

Chicago tonite
mugs n jugs (spent alot of time there) :130:
The good ole Lougheed Hotel :anonymous:
Coconuts on Kingsway


There was also a pub on Kingsway just down from Coconuts that was a restaurant and then a couple of pubs.. but can't remember the name.

Thanks for the memories all!