Kerry Gold
Sun
CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun Jeff Herrera (left) has a drink with his friend Needle Kineval while hanging out in the Tokyo Lounge on Alberni street. The concert promoter says this is his favourite ‘alternative’ watering hole because of its ’80s kitsch and sparse lighting. Vancouver has plenty of options for people trying to avoid crowded and noisy trendy clubs.
If your idea of a night out does not involve a jam-packed space with sweaty bodies and thumping sound system, you might be the sort who takes pride in discovering mellow, out-of-the-way spots where the idea of checking your coat is as absurd as a fake set of boobies.
Vancouver‘s less-commercial alter-ego is where alternative music lovers tend to congregate. Every city has its alternative hot spots, the kind of places where, if there is a cover charge it’s usually cheap, in keeping with the low-rent ambiance of a typical indie pubhouse or coffeehouse scene. Ours is mostly scattered, with the exception of the long string of bistros and cafes along Main Street between Broadway and 29th Avenue.
With the Sugar Refinery now two years gone, the live indie music scene downtown has taken a heavy hit, and it wasn’t the only blow.
The Cobalt hasn’t had gigs in months. Ms. T’s Cabaret, the tiny, ultra-underground alternative club located next to a bathhouse on Pender Street was lost to a fire in 2003. Indie rock band the Cinch was just one of the many local bands to grace the cabaret’s gold-lame curtained stage. But that was then, this is now.
For every grungy hole-in-the-wall that dies, there’ll always be another for counter-culture types to call home — be they scary looking dives, art gallery gatherings, kitschy Japanese or retro haunts. They’re the kind of places where the only meat on display is the chunk being raffled off in the meat draw.
Bosman Hotel’s Side Bar on Howe is a classic David Lynch style backdrop for a motley crew of old-time lounge lizards and indie-minded youth. Sometime ago, it was the Marine Club that laid claim to the distinction of greatest worn-out watering hole. Now it’s Bosman’s.
CiTR music director Luke Meat recently discovered the place after attending a Ted Leo & the Pharmacists show. Bosman’s is best described as the kind of bar where a velvet painting of Monica Lewinsky is not out of place. Fake books line the wall. The staff are friendly in an old-school way, not in a way designed to get tips.
“It reminded me of the lounge in Jackie Brown, when she gets out of jail and she meets Sam Jackson there,” says Meat. “A really dark red-lit brown velvety 70s lounge. And the velvet painting of Monica Lewinsky is in the bathroom now,” he helpfully adds.
“I’ll go back there in a second. So far, in the last year or so that’s been the best place in Vancouver.”
The Main, and The Candy Bar Bistro are already well-trodden hangouts, good for a drink and live music, particularly of the indie rock variety. But in that part of town, it’s the Royal Canadian Legion on Main that is most in keeping with the boho spirit, a conflation of students who shop at Value Village and old-timers settled in for the night.
“It’s great for shuffleboard and conversation,” says Meat. “If you show up with a remotely attractive woman, you’ll have 18 codgers on you at once, that kind of thing. And there’s a husband-wife duo in their 50s or so who play Mersey Beat, Beatles covers and old Who on Fridays.”
Of course, no conversation about hanging out at old hotels and legions would be complete without an examination of the Canadian institution that is the meat draw. Shane Nelken, who’s been in just about every local band including A.C. Newman and Sparrow — and who is set to launch his solo project the Awkward Stage any time now — is a fan of the meat draw. One of his haunts is the British Ex-servicemen’s Association on Kingsway. Meat draws, pickled eggs, it’s all part of the decor.
“I go to the [male-dominated] Portuguese Club on Commercial Drive, as well. I bring girls there but they always feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. I might add I don’t agree with that policy. I’m the Norma Ray of the Portuguese Club.
“And the downstairs bar in the WISE club [on Adanac Street] is pretty cool, too.
“It’s small, and they let people smoke down there, and there’s darts, pool, a couple of TVs. There are a lot of sad sacks there. And a surly bartender named Monty, and he plays the harmonica.”
“It smells like mould,” adds his girlfriend Karin McIntosh.
Trendy alternatives aren’t necessarily steeped in the smell of mould, mind you. While certain gleaming bars in the downtown area are far too earnest and body-focused to draw an eclectic crowd, old 70s and 80s holdovers are becoming favourite spots to while away the late hours. Let’s just say, if Polynesian-themed ’70s institution Trader Vic’s was still alive and well at the Bayshore Hotel, the place would be hopping. But it’s not, so places such as Cloud 9 Revolving Restaurant’s lounge and the Keg have become cool chill-out places.
“You can’t beat it, the atmosphere is great, and it’s total suburban culture night, but it’s really fun,” says Coco Culbertson, front woman for local band Choir Practice, which recently opened for Antony and the Johnsons. She hangs at the Keg on Thurlow.
“And then there’s the piano bar at the Renaissance Hotel. It’s got a ’70s kitsch to it.”
Concert promoter Jeff Herrera ends every Friday at his favourite place, the Tokyo Lounge on Alberni. Herrera is into intimate out-of-the way watering holes, and he likes the atmosphere of ’80s kitsch and sparse lighting.
“I like to go top shelf there with some Cognac drinks. Most of my friends are DJs and promoters, so I’m going out to where they’re at. Tokyo always has a few familiar faces with dope hip hop, funk and soul, to close out my night.
“I’m not into super mainstream top-40 spots or college type bars. . . . And dingy bars are always on the radar. I need to have that balance between flossy and gully.”
Some places go in and out of fashion, such as the downtown institution that is the Railway Club. It’s where you will see former Sugar Refinery owner Ida Nilsen slinging beers.
“The Railway is back,” says Culbertson. “Wednesday nights at the Railway are a super hipster hangout.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2005