The Templeton Market is located on Templeton Drive North. Built in 1912, this was formerly the home of Bayly Bros. Grocery as well as an I.O.O.F. Hall.
Today I am going to continue my look at the 1920s in Vancouver and give you an update on an earlier story.
Local restaurant owner, Peter Pantages, was organizing the Polar Bear Swim Club. Pangtages, nephew of the Pantages of the Pantages Theatre fame, took a morning dip in the frigid waters of English Bay. After the swim, Peter and his friends would meet at Pantages Peter Pan Cafe on Granville.
The Polar Swim Club organized an annual winter swim for those who decided that once a year in the freezing water was enough. That event still happens every New Years Day. Not that I have ever participated or, at the moment, intend to get into that freezing water.
It was in 1928 that Vancouver's own Percy Williams became a national hero. It was at the Amsterdam Olympics that Williams took the world of track and field by storm, winning gold in both the 100 and 200 metre sprints.
In an earlier blog entry, I posted a photo of the home that Percy once lived in. When I wrote on the new BC Place, I showed photos of a statue of Williams outside the venue. It is obvious that Vancouver appreciates our hero.
I have written on The Waldorf and its history before. If you want to read what I said, go here.
Here is a photo of Percy Williams, thanks to the Vancouver Public Library. The Dominion Photo Co is credited with this May 8, 1928 picture.
I posted a link to an online petition a while ago to stop the destruction of a legendary live venue in town, the Waldorf. The developers have said that they are going to incorporate the building into the condominiums being built on that site.
Waldorf Productions though is not dead. The people involved in that have teamed with the Rickshaw owner David Duprey and his partner Rachel Zottenburg to run the Fox Cinema on Granville Street. A five-year lease has been signed with a five-year option to renew. However, it may be a while before the new venue opens since the Fox, a former porno theatre, is a disaster inside and needs a lot of work to clean it up.
To honor this event and in memory of what the Waldorf once was, I found some old photos of the interior from the Vancouver City archives. Enjoy.
Thanks goes to Aynsley Vogel and Dana Wyse for their book Vancouver, A History in Photographs where I got the information on the 1920s in Vancouver.
I hope you find the beauty around you.
Karen Magill, Vancouver, 1920, history, Vancouver, A History in Photographs, Aynsley Vogel British Columbia, Canada, Dana Wyse,Percy Williams, Waldorf
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