Joe's Cafe

On Commercial Drive there is a coffee shop right on a corner of Commercial Drive and one of the side streets. This cafe isn't like the large coffee shops where the interior is always changing, trying to appease the tastes of an evolving clientele. No, Joe's has linoleum floors, formica tables and cafeteria style lighting this place isn't designed to impress. But there are always people hanging around, either inside or at tables on the sidewalk so something good is there.

From 1989 to 1995 a show called Neon Rider was filmed in the lower mainland. It starred Winston Rekert as Dr. Michael Terry - a psychiatrist with an alcohol problem who bought a ranch for troubled teens. Each episode would focus on Terry's struggles to get through to these kids and break the cycle of crime they were in.

I was watching a rerun of the opening show not long after I had moved into this area seven years ago. Suddenly I sat up straight. Dr. Terry ran from a house in this area:

and was chasing a character who emerged from a pool hall here:

(In 1974 this was a small corner shop known as Continental Billiards. It later evolved into Joe's Cafe) Then Dr. Terry and this other character ran into the park here:

The funny thing is that the area hasn't changed much in twenty one years either!

Doing research on Joe's Cafe was really quite interesting. To read about the people who have been there, how Joe is still there (I think I talked with him today) and to realize what those walls must have seen or heard. That is what makes Vancouver and Commercial Drive so unique. So special.

Here's to finding the beauty and uniqueness around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, Commercial Drive,
Joe's Cafe,Winston Rekert,Neon Rider,Walk,Continental Billiards,