He owned The Cave from 1952 to 1959, and then, in 1959, opened what would be his signature venue: Isy’s Supper Club at Georgia and Thurlow. At age 14, he ran away to join a travelling carnival (Levette, Brown and Huggins Shows, Inc., derisively referred to by him and his peers as “Lousy, Broke, and Hungry”), and after a lucrative but unsatisfying stint in the scrap metal business during the Second World War, he returned to entertainment in the 1950s, running such venues as the Mandarin Gardens and Victoria’s Sirocco Club (which featured singing waiters). He spent much of his life in show business, starting when he was eight years old selling popcorn at The Empress Theatre on Hastings and Gore. Born Isadore Waltuck in Odessa, Ukraine (which at that time, was Russia), Isy moved to North America with his parents at age two. Isy’s Supper Club: 1958 to 1981įor a solid portion of the 1950s and ’60s, Isy Walters was one of Vancouver’s entertainment giants. They really had something they caught a vibe that people in Vancouver haven’t forgotten.” Detailed below are three such venues from Vancouver’s past (some recent, some distant, all of them departed). “But there just so many, from The Cave, to Richard’s on Richards, to the Town Pump and the Starfish Room, to Luv Affair-and a hell of a lot of others-that have disappeared. “Some are still there, and there are lots of new places,” Chapman notes via phone. In that vein, Chapman’s 2019 book Vancouver After Dark (Arsenal Pulp Press) takes a detailed look at the city’s nightlife in years gone by-with a particular emphasis on the dozens of clubs that have disappeared. In fact, if I sat down with my doctor, he’d probably tell me I’ve had far too much fun in the last 20 years.” “I was born and raised in Vancouver, and there’s always been something going on. “I feel like the No Fun City label has always been a great falsehood,” says local historian Aaron Chapman, who has authored three books on the city’s nightlife. With names like The Egress, The Retinal Circus, and Oil Can Harry’s, these establishments were plentiful-live music was everywhere, and the weekend’s happenings were vividly detailed by saloon columnists like Jack Wasserman and Denny Boyd. In this story from our archives, Chapman pays tribute to three memorable venues.Ī far cry from the scornful No Fun City label of today, mid-century Vancouver was a parade of colourful proprietors, wild stunts, and now-vanished venues. In his 2019 book Vancouver After Dark, author and local historian Aaron Chapman chronicled the city’s once-vibrant nightlife and lamented the dozens of clubs that have disappeared. It may seem hard to believe today (pandemic notwithstanding), but Vancouver was once a hotbed of happening clubs.
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