The Day in History: New nightclub opens at Vancouver’s Spanish Banks

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Spanish Banks was pretty much out in the boonies in 1928. But Bert Love thought it would be a great place to open a spiffy new restaurant and nightclub.

So on May 29, 1928, he opened Love’s Seaside Gardens, “an ideal place to spend the day or evening.”

“A wonderful dance floor and a snappy orchestra after 9 p.m.,” boasted an opening day advertisement in The Vancouver Sun. “Lots of parking space. Cool, shady garden retreats. Lovely sandy beach and special accommodations for bathers.”

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There were so few buildings along NW Marine Drive at the time that the Seaside Gardens didn’t even list an address — it was just “situated at Marine Drive at Spanish Banks.”

In case patrons had never been out that far, the ad noted it was only a “20 minute drive from town.”

Love hired one of Vancouver’s top musical combos for entertainment, Len Chamberlain and his orchestra. During the day the restaurant served “light refreshments, fountain specials and afternoon tea,” at night it served a “special chicken dinner and an a la carte menu.”

Alas, no photographs of Love’s Seaside Gardens are to be found in the Vancouver Archives or Vancouver Public Library collections.

There is an illustration in an ad, though, which shows two well-dressed couples dining at a table beside a giant arched window, the kind of thing you used to find in the big hotels downtown.

But there’s nothing to tell you what the Seaside Gardens actually looked like, or whether it was on the waterfront or the south side of the street. There were houses on the north side until the 1950s, so it was probably in a big house on the water, which would be park today.

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Perhaps Love thought it would turn into a popular “roadhouse” like The Narrows in North Vancouver, which Vancouver’s elite used to frequent in the mid-’20s.

The Narrows had been busted in 1926 because it was a not-so-secret gambling joint, with drinking and dancing upstairs and a roulette wheel, black-jack table and craps table downstairs.

Point Grey was a separate municipality in 1928, and had a notorious police force. There were only 10 houses listed in the 4600-block of NW Marine Drive, so there weren’t many neighbours to complain.

But the Seaside Gardens was a bust, only lasting one year. Love then went back to running Love’s Cafe on Granville Street.

The cafe had opened in February 1922 at 925 Granville St. Its motto was “the best for my guests,” followed by “our prices will please your purse.”

“Bert Love knows the kind of meals folks enjoy,” said the opening day ad. “He has had a long and successful career as a restauranteur.”

It flourished and on June 12, 1924 ,Love opened an annex with an extra 75 seats in the same building. The ads for the 1922 opening had been tiny; in 1924 there was a whole page of ads by Love’s and its suppliers in The Sun.

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In 1925 Love partnered with a chef named Jim Dwyer in the New Orpheum Cafe at 762 Granville St. Dwyer had operated an Orpheum Cafe, so when they teamed up they added “New.”

Oddly the cafe had nothing to do with the Orpheum Theatre, which opened a block away in 1927 at 884 Granville St., and was also called the New Orpheum.

Love’s Cafe moved to a new location at 823 Granville St. on June 20, 1930.

An ad claimed it would be “one of the most finest and most modernly equipped restaurants in Vancouver, embodying within its walls many conveniences entirely new to the American continent.”

One of the modern touches was an indirect lighting system “imported direct from Berlin.” There were 40 “private booths” on the main floor, seating for 18 at the counter, and “six private dining rooms for banquets and diners on the upper floor.” The basement had a banquet hall for 125.

But opening a big restaurant in the Depression didn’t work out. Love Cafe’s went under in 1934, and the space was taken over by Purdy’s Cafe.

The Love family quickly rebounded, however, opening Mrs. Love’s Cafe at 779 Granville St., next to the old Hotel Vancouver.

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Son Herbert opened his own restaurant, the Skillet Cafe, at 938 Granville St. in 1951. He ran it until 1976, when the Love family’s 54-year run on Granville finally came to an end.

jmackie@postmedia.com

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