Vancouver Gay Walking Tour

0: 01: Hotel Vancouver - 900 W Georgia St

At first glance, it may seem strange to start a historical gay walking tour at one of the biggest, straightest hotels in town, but don't be fooled. Like many of the venues you're about to visit, beneath its swanky exterior beats the heart of historical gay Vancouver.

"Thank god for the Hotel Vancouver! It had a beer parlour in the basement with two sections: ladies and escorts, and men. The men's side was strictly gay," Terry Wallace told gay historians Robert Rothon and Myron Plett five years ago.

"It was small," Wallace continued. "I forget what the seating capacity of it was, it couldn't be much more than 50 or 60. If you weren't in by six on Friday, or Saturday particularly, you just didn't get a seat."

Wallace was just 21 years old in the late 1940s, post-war Vancouver. Though he would go on to manage many of this city's early gay bars, not to mention play a key part in its growing Pride celebrations, he had few gay spaces to choose from in the '40s and '50s.

1: 02: Vancouver Art Gallery - Robson St

From the Hotel Vancouver, walk south on Hornby St (away from the mountains of North Vancouver) to the corner of Robson St. Turn left onto Robson and stop at the steps of what is now the Vancouver Art Gallery.

It was here, 35 years ago, that Vancouver gays and lesbians held their first demonstration on Aug 28, 1971. On that grey summer day, 20 brave homosexuals stepped forward to publicly declare their sexuality and demand an end to state discrimination.

Number one on their list of demands for the federal government: remove the terms "gross indecency" and "indecent act" from the Criminal Code, terms traditionally used to target gay men.

Other demands included establishing a uniform age of consent for homo and hetero sex acts (something we're still fighting for today); removing all references to homosexuality from the Immigration Act; extending equal legal rights to all homosexuals, and guaranteeing equal employment opportunities at all levels of government.

2: 03: The Castle - 750 Granville St

Continue east down Robson St towards Granville St. Turn left on Granville, cross the street and stop in front of what used to be 750 Granville St, now a nondescript black door next to the Salad Loop.

In the 1960s, the Castle Pub was an important gathering place for gay men seeking community. "But the owners had no tolerance for visible homosexuality," remembers Don Hann. "I was thrown out of it one Saturday afternoon in 1975 for kissing a gay man in the bar."

Throughout the '60s and '70s, the Castle struggled with its predominantly gay clientele, at times welcoming it, at times reviling it. In 1971, the Gay Liberation Front held a kiss-in in front of the pub; a year later, the Gay Alliance Toward Equality boycotted it. But the gay community always returned to claim its space, its members eager to meet other homos and make new friends.

In 1978, the Castle finally stopped fighting its destiny and hired Terry Wallace to manage the pub and embrace its gay clientele once and for all. For the next decade, the pub became an openly friendly, supportive gay space.

When the Castle finally closed in 1990, its gay patrons lovingly carried their portrait of the Queen in a now-famous procession three blocks south to 1025 Granville St. There, the Royal picked up where the Castle left off — until the gay community gradually drifted away to other bars and the Royal went straight in 2001.

3: 04: Faces - 795 Seymour St

From the old Castle site, return to Robson St, turn left and walk one block east to Seymour. Here, on the corner where Rogers now sits at the base of another glass tower, was the home of one of Vancouver's first gay-owned and operated bars, Twiggy's. Phillip Haines opened the bar as a private gay club in 1967. In the 1970s, it changed its name to Faces.

In those days, liquor licences were hard to come by for all bars, so Faces operated as a bottle club, where patrons brought their own booze and checked it at the bar. The bartender would tag each person's liquor and serve it back to them on request. Faces eventually got a special liquor licence in the mid-1970s.

The club remained popular with gays and lesbians until its building was closed for demolition in 1985.

4: 05: The 616 Club - 616 Robson St

Across the street from Faces sat The 616 on Robson St, another gay and lesbian bar in the early 1970s. Terry Wallace managed this club too, and once referred to it as Vancouver's first gay disco. Police would come and shine their flashlights into the patrons' eyes but they never shut the place down, he told Q Magazine in 1987.

The Damron guide listed the same address as Billie's Disco and Show Lounge in 1976.

5: 06: The Ambassador - 773 Seymour St

From Faces, walk a few steps north on Seymour to the Ambassador Pub's old site at 773 Seymour. Like the Castle, this straight-owned hotel pub also had a sizable gay clientele dating back decades. By the 1970s, many gay men and the occasional lesbian would spend an afternoon moving between the Castle and the Ambassador, separated as they were by a mere alley.

(James Loewen photo)

6: 07: The Corral Club - 887 Seymour St

Retrace your steps to Robson St, cross Robson and continue south a few steps to 887 Seymour. Now the lobby of the Orpheum, this was a gay male club called the Bullring from 1970-73. It then became the Corral Club, before gradually shifting to a straight clientele in the late 1970s.

7: 08: The Playpen Central - 856 Seymour St

Cross the street and stand in front of the old Playpen Central, whose building hasn't changed a bit, says Don Hann. The bar was upstairs on the second floor, he says, pointing to the window that's still there. This was a busy place on Saturday nights, he recalls.

Back in the 1970s, you could do "the bar tour," he continues, referring to the Playpen, the nearby Castle and the Ambassador, all within just a few blocks of each other.

Before it became the Playpen, the building housed a gay bar in the early 1970s called the Thunderbird.

8: 09: The Shaggy Horse - 818 Richards St

Cut across the parking lot next to the Playpen and emerge onto Richards St, facing the site of the old Shaggy Horse. It, too, is now a parking lot. But in its day, it was a very popular leather and levis/Western bar. It was also home to the Zodiacs Fraternal Society.

"I spent a lot of time at the Shaggy Horse," says Don Hann. "And it actually was a shaggy horse — it had shag carpets on the walls!"

Before it became the Shaggy Horse in 1972, it was a gay and lesbian club called the August Club, which opened in 1968.

9: 10: The Women's Centre - 804 Richards St

Next door to the parking lot that once held the Shaggy Horse, stands a brand new glass building. But the site used to house a funky old wooden building, remembers Pat Hogan. It was the Women's Centre's first home in Vancouver, which opened in 1974 and burned down six years later. In subsequent years, the centre would move around a lot, but from 1974 to 1980 it lived on Richards St, where it maintained a bookstore, hosted a lesbian drop-in night (Wednesdays at 8 pm in 1979), and housed the Lesbian Information Line (LIL). It was an important place to come for information and to socialize, says Hogan.

10: 11: The Quadra - 1055 Homer St

From the Women's Centre, walk past the old Shaggy Horse site and south on Richards two blocks to Nelson St. Cross Nelson, turn left and walk one block east to Homer St. Turn right on Homer St and walk south about half a block to 1055 Homer, now a chichi new apartment/townhouse development.

On Jul 6, 1979, the Quadra opened on this spot, Vancouver's first — and to this day only — completely lesbian-owned and lesbian-oriented club.

Owned by Suzan Krieger and Heather Farquahar, the Quadra (re-named Lucy's by its regulars in its latter days) was extremely popular in the 18 months that it was open. From its pre-drag king acts to its after-hours action in the parking lot next door, the Quadra, perched atop a postal sorting station, left an indelible mark on Vancouver's gay and lesbian history.

(Photo courtesy of Suzan Krieger)

11: 12: The Dufferin - 900 Seymour St

From the Quadra, backtrack to Nelson St, then turn left on Nelson and walk west two blocks back to Seymour St. At the southeast corner, you'll find the Dufferin Pub, still serving the gay community today, even as its new owners aim for a wealthier, tapas-consuming clientele.

The Duff has been serving the gay and lesbian community since the early 1980s, though back then its pub was called Streets. "People still rave" about Streets, says manager Cary Grant. "It was a pretty nice bar." Walking into the pub was like walking down an actual street with fake storefronts and lighting and everything, he recalls. The dance floor was flanked by two stone lions about three feet tall, he adds, noting those lions now sit outside The Red Lion Inn in Victoria.

12: 13: Hampton Court Club - 1066 Seymour St

From the Dufferin, walk south down Seymour St to what used to be 1066 Seymour, briefly home to the Hampton Court Club before police raided it on Jun 30, 1973. Archival reports say officers smashed down the door and photographed all the customers inside. The club closed shortly thereafter.

The space remained gay, however, and soon became home to the lesbian-frequented Mrs Goguen's Pool Parlour and its neighbour, the gay-frequented Music Room, both of which survived until 1975, writes historian and environmental planner Gordon Brent Ingram in his 1998 book Vancouver (as queer)scape.

Today, 1066 Seymour no longer exists, apparently squeezed out by the new townhouses on either side at 1060 and 1068 Seymour St.

13: 14: Gay Alliance Toward Equality - 1131 Richards St

Continue south down Seymour St to the corner of Helmcken, then turn left and walk a block east to Richards St. The Gay Alliance Toward Equality's (GATE) first office opened here, on the southwest corner of Richards and Helmcken, in June 1971.

GATE was part of an "international, militant civil rights movement, organizing gays to come out and fight back," says former member Don Hann. Throughout the 1970s, GATE organized protest after protest, pulling gays and lesbians into the streets to not only protest state harassment and discrimination, but to build a sense of community identity in the process. It also published its own newspaper, GayTide. The group disbanded in June 1980.

14: 15: Richards St Service Club - 1169 Richards St

Continue a few steps south on Richards then pause for a rest in Emery Barnes Park. There is no trace of the old buildings that once stood on this spot, but a piece of gay bathhouse history was torn down to make way for this patch of green space among the townhouses four years ago. The Richards St Service Club had been a fixture at 1169 Richards St since 1960.

"Thousands of gay men must have passed through there over its history," says Don Hann. "It was a vitally important space."

15: 16: Champagne Charlie's - 612 Davie St

When you're ready to continue, proceed south on Richards St until Davie, cross Davie, then turn right and walk a block west on Davie to Seymour St. Cross Seymour so you're standing on the southwest corner, in front of what is now the Atlantic Trap & Gill restaurant. This was the home of Champagne Charlie's, a lesbian and gay bar in the 1960s and early 1970s.

"It was such a great place," says Suzan Krieger. She remembers Charlie, who ran the bar, as a "tough, very large butch woman" with slicked back hair and boots. The bar, which was located down a flight of inside stairs, was popular with lesbians and drag queens, Krieger says.

Upstairs saw a couple of establishments come and go over the years, she adds, referring first to Chez Victor, then to the Canvas Company, then to Sisters.

16: 17: The Centre - 1244 Seymour St

From Champagne Charlie's, continue south on Seymour St half a block, cross to the east side of the street and stop in front of the swanky townhouse that now sits at 1244 Seymour St.

After several years of planning, envisioning and fundraising, Vancouver's gay community opened its own community centre on this site in August 1981. The organizing committee had been seeking feedback since 1979. A blurb in a 1980 community guide says: "Our own Gay Community Centre can be what we in the community feel it should be, providing a flexible range of services and functions. Basic services such as counselling, legal advice, medical information, and a crisis intervention line can be supplemented by meeting rooms and facilities for coming out groups, sexuality workshops, film nights, religious groups, gay alcoholics anonymous, gay youth, gay seniors, gay parents, and anything else for which interest is expressed."

The Centre shared its new Seymour St digs with the Society for Education, Action, Research and Counselling on Homosexuality (SEARCH), the Metropolitan Community Church and, on the ground floor, Top Man Leather.

In 1984, the Centre moved to 1340 Burrard St and a year later it moved to its current site at 1170 Bute St.

17: 18: Luv-A-Fair - 1275 Seymour St

Across the street from the Centre's first site, the Luv-A-Fair was a gay and lesbian disco in the mid-1970s until it turned straight (yet alternative) in 1979. The site is now under construction, and will soon be home to another new condo development.

(James Loewen photo)

18: 19: Playpen South - 1369 Richards St

Walk to the corner of Seymour and Drake St, turn left on Drake and walk one block east to Richards St, turn right and proceed to what was 1369 Richards. Though the address no longer exists (squeezed out once again by another new condo development), it once housed the very popular Playpen South.

"It was a fuck and suck bar," says Don Hann. "Everybody went there for backroom sex."

Hann remembers going to the after-hours Playpen (which only served soft drinks and snacks) after the nearby Gandydancer closed at 2 am. The Playpen South "was a sex bar," he says, reminiscing about the days when he'd find about 50 guys in the backroom at a time — "everybody doing everybody else."

Before it became the Playpen South, this space housed another gay club called Betwixt and Between from the 1960s to 1972, writes historian and environmental planner Gordon Brent Ingram in his 1998 book Vancouver (as queer)scape.

19: 20: The Gandydancer - 1222 Hamilton St

Retrace your steps to Drake St, turn right and walk east down Drake to Hamilton St, then turn left and walk north to what is now Bar None in the heart of trendy Yaletown. In the 1970s and '80s, the Gandydancer stood here, a gay oasis in the middle of a barren stretch of parking lots and empty warehouses.

Advertised as "a men's bar and disco" in one gay guide from 1980, the Gandy was in many ways a typical '80s bar, with its ever-puffing smoke machine and brass and wood motif. Home to a preppy, alligator-shirt crowd, it had a spacious dance floor surrounded by mirrors in front and seating in back. In the early '80s, the Gandy struggled with the question of whether to admit lesbians.

20: 21: Queenie's Truck Stop - 1135 Howe St

From the old Gandydancer, proceed north to Davie St, turn left and walk up five blocks to Howe St, then turn right. The popular women's club Queenie's Truck Stop lived above a strip bar at 1135 Howe St around 1975. It was "fantastic," says Suzan Krieger. "Oh my god, it was packed all the time!"

Today, a brick underground parking lot stands approximately on the spot where Queenie's once thrived.

21: 22: The Garden Baths - 1233 Hornby St

Retrace your steps to Davie St, cross Davie and stop at the southwest corner of Davie and Howe to note the Odyssey (in the old house adjacent to the building with the billboard). This popular gay club has been going strong at 1251 Howe St since 1987.

Proceed west one block up Davie St to Hornby St and turn left. Partway down the block, hidden behind a plain, white wooden enclosure, is an empty lot that once housed another early gay bathhouse. The Garden Baths stood here at 1233 Hornby St throughout the 1970s and '80s, until it burned down around 1990.

In its earlier incarnation, it was known as the El Toro Bath, or the Taurus Baths, depending who you ask. A 1978 gay guide described the El Toro Bath as "Vancouver's largest and most complete bath facilities."

22: 23: Buddies - 1018 Burnaby St

Again retrace your steps to Davie St, then turn left and continue up Davie to Burrard, cross Burrard and turn left again. Walk south one block to Burnaby St and cross to the southwest corner. Before you, looms yet another condo tower, this one called the Ellington. But this spot once housed Buddies, a popular gay lounge in the 1980s.

Many people have fond memories of Buddies; some say it was the last 1970s-style denim cruising bar in Vancouver. Its two-storey building was torn down to make way for the Ellington in 1991. To this day, many Buddies regulars have bittersweet memories of the bar's farewell party.

Before it became Buddies in 1981, the site housed another gay space called the Boom Boom Room.

23: 24: Little Sister's first site - 1221 Thurlow St

Return to Davie St, turn left and enter the heart of what is today Vancouver's gay village.

Walk under the rainbows one block west to Thurlow St, pausing to note Celebrities on your left at 1022 Davie St, which has been around since the mid-1980s, despite a five-year hiatus for renovations from 1999 to 2004. When Celebrities first opened, it allegedly attracted part of the crowd from the popular gay bar Neighbours, several blocks off this map at 1337 Robson St, between Jervis and Broughton.

Just a few doors past Celebrities, at 1042 Davie St, you'll also find Numbers, the granddaddy of Davie Village gay bars, which opened its doors Jan 29, 1980.

Once at Thurlow St, cross Davie, turn left and stop in front of what is now a computer shop above a Korean restaurant. This is 1221 Thurlow St, the first home of Little Sister's, Vancouver's famous, Customs-battling bookstore. Little Sister's opened its doors here on Apr 28, 1983. Canada Customs started seizing its book shipments three years later.

With the help of the BC Civil Liberties Association, Little Sister's filed its first legal complaint against Canada's border guards in May 1987. The battle over what counts as obscenity, and how much authority border guards should have to determine that, continues to this day.

In December 1987, someone threw a bomb into the empty staircase leading up to the bookstore's second-floor space. No one was hurt. Two months later, someone bombed the building again. Again, no one was hurt. A third bomb shook the building and blew the stairs apart in January 1992. The bookstore held its ground. No one was ever arrested.

Little Sister's moved to its present location, a few blocks west at 1238 Davie St, on Jul 6, 1996. It had run out of space at its Thurlow St location and needed to expand.

24: Suggested walking tour