vancouver in the early 90's

[SpongeG]

all taken around 1991 - 1995 ish

various coal harbour shots



















various downtown

no wall centre!





from BC place towards the north...





from QE park just before the trees covered the view





that building under construction...



main street station looking south



looking north



and from the ground...



the airport



coquitlam



waterfront - notice the canucks ad

[Distill3d]

nice...but no pics of the old Virgin Mega Store on Robson??

[204]

Originally Posted by Distill3d

nice...but no pics of the old Virgin Mega Store on Robson??

Planet Hollywood... forgot there was one of those!

[Distill3d]

speaking of Planet Hollywood, where was the Hard Rock Cafe?

[officedweller]

On Hastings just east of Birks - the space was subsequently subdivided - the Hard Rock was two levels including a soaring seceond level - not sure what went in there, and the lower level became a nightclub called "Luce". Not sure what is in there now.

[Cypherus]

What was with the Safeway truck-trailer storage on prime coal-harbour land?

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by officedweller

On Hastings just east of Birks - the space was subsequently subdivided - the Hard Rock was two levels including a soaring seceond level - not sure what went in there, and the lower level became a nightclub called "Luce". Not sure what is in there now.

The lower level is still a nightclub while the upper level has been turned into an office that houses a call center. Some of the decor from the Hard Rock can still be found on the second floor as the operators of the building were reluctant to get rid of them because the Hard Rock spend so much money on decorating the place. The site was split in the first place because the owners of "Luce" didn't want the heavy rent burden (was just a shade under $30,000) so they worked out a deal to cover up the staircase leading upstairs at their own cost to get just the lower floor at a much more workable rate._

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by Cypherus

What was with the Safeway truck-trailer storage on prime coal-harbour land?

i recall visiting in 1987/88 and it was brutal how that coal harbour was.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Cypherus

What was with the Safeway truck-trailer storage on prime coal-harbour land?

there was some kind of ferry service that docked there i think - i recall seeing trucks being loaded onto it before

the area was just sitting there for so long - it had railway tracks, a service road etc.

I remember a prop from the mr magoo movie sat there for quite a few years too

EDIT: in this pic you can see the ferry that was used for the trucks

[Distill3d]

isn't Coal Harbour where the Super Cat Ferry took off from?

[Phil McAvity]

Sponge, thanks so much for these pictures, they brought back some nostalgic feelings i have about the "The Big V" since i lived there right around the time these pictures were taken (1992-1993). When i lived there, the main branch of the library was on it's last legs at Robson and Burrard just before they put in the Virgin megastore and the Planet Hollywood.

The building under construction in this picture (that you refer to as "that building"!)

is the Terminal City Club, and the reason i know that is because i worked there just before they tore it down and rebuilt it with this 30 story tower.

And yes, Coal Harbour was a bit of a mess back then. It is now designed to actually accomodate people rather than just big rigs. A phenomenal improvement.

[Mike K.]

Just a reminder that we require all photographs not taken by the poster to include a reference from where they were borrowed, or linked from, and/or the photographer of the photos. Please read full the rules and regs here. Due to legal issues in the past, we must enforce these rules to keep ourselves out of trouble.

SpongeG, would you happen to have that info available for the photos you posted?

Thanks

[1ajs]

looking at the links they apear to be his...

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

there was some kind of ferry service that docked there i think - i recall seeing trucks being loaded onto it before

The CP passenger ferry used to run out of Coal Harbour to downtown Nanaimo (to a dock near Cameron Isladn next to the Gabriola Ferry dock). Can't recall exactly, but for the lower deck with cars and trucks, you would load at the rear only and drive a big U to get out (I suppose like the former Sonia/Northern Adventure). For the upper car deck, the ramp was at the middle of one side of the boat and there was basically a big oval inside the ferry that you would drive around.
The rail ferries also ran out of the same dock. The service has since been taken over by Seaspan and runs from Tilbury Island in Delta. i.e. industrial uses fleeing to the suburbs.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Mike K.

Just a reminder that we require all photographs not taken by the poster to include a reference from where they were borrowed, or linked from, and/or the photographer of the photos. Please read full the rules and regs here. Due to legal issues in the past, we must enforce these rules to keep ourselves out of trouble.

SpongeG, would you happen to have that info available for the photos you posted?

Thanks

sorry - i took them all myself

[Pinion]

edit: nm

[SpongeG]

i scanned in some more... all taken by me I have a lot more to come but photobucket is really friggin slow whenever they got i will add them &^&**(^%%

[SpongeG]

the last few (the ones with the tall ships are more recent)






coquitlam - condos are now all over the right/nroth side of this road

[Locked In]

Cool thread! I didn't know this one existed. Is there any chance the Vogue sign will be restored to retro pink? That's wild!

Someone in my family took this pic a few years earlier.

[zivan56]

Nice! Thanks...keep them coming!