History Question

[KnowItAll]

does anybody know/remember the restaurant that was at the corner of renfrew and hastings? I think it had something to do with horseshoe.

[Toppy Vann]

does anybody know/remember the restaurant that was at the corner of renfrew and hastings? I think it had something to do with horseshoe.

The Golden Horsehoe.



A story here:

“I worked at the Golden Horseshoe at Renfrew and Hastings from 1951 to 1955 while going to high school. The Horseshoe was always busy feeding people who had attended hockey games, wrestling, football, horse races, roller and ice skating, the PNE, Playland, horse, dog or cat shows, Empire Games, Shrine Circus and many other events. It had a drive-in, a coffee counter, formal and informal dining areas and an on-site banquet room with dance floor. The Chinese chefs were adept at Western dishes as well as Cantonese. Rotary pies were a big favourite. Those were the days of Police Chief Mulligan’s reign and it was not unusual for there to be a private poker game in one of the back rooms. We sometimes delivered large Chinese food orders to locations hosting floating crap games. Police officers were never asked to pay for their coffee or meals."

The best time was after 3 a.m. closing on Saturday night when we could join the chefs in the kitchen and share the supper they prepared for themselves. Delicious and mysterious food! Jack Cullen did some of his radio broadcasts from the dining room on Friday nights. The Horseshoe was where I learned that most people are very forgiving and kind to a kid just learning. The whole experience moved me out of my shy, wary, self and gave me the confidence to take on many challenges.” – Helen Brown

https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blo ... nt-history

Fun Fact: The Ding Ho can certainly claim the prize for the first Chinese Drive-In and chain in Vancouver, but it wasn’t necessarily the first to offer free home delivery of Chinese food. This advert (above) for the Horseshoe on Renfrew at Hastings from December 1954 states that it offered “Vancouver’s first free home delivery service {of} Chinese and American foods”. Another newspaper ad from 1952, a year before the Ding Ho opened, confirms that Horseshoe owner Henry Wong offered free home delivery to customers from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. Unlike the Ding Ho drive-in, the Horseshoe never became a chain and instead operated primarily as a dine-in establishment. The Horseshoe later became The Golden Horseshoe in 1959 and operated until 1971 when founder Henry Wong died suddenly at age 49.

https://scoutmagazine.ca/2020/11/16/how ... very-game/

[KnowItAll]

Interesting to me was that when I spent the 80s in winnipeg, there was a place called the Paddock with a similar layout . It gone too now

[Sir Purrcival]

Restaurants come and go like the tides. At least in the lower mainland. It's tough to make a go of that business in a market that doesn't usually accept food that is just okay (too many better places to choose from). I have eaten in a a lot of smaller places in the prairies and on the east coast (historically at least) and I found much of the time that food simply wasn't as good. Whether it was the ingredient supplies, the local style, it just was pretty blah. I will admit that these days however, I have found some amazing places in small town wherever. And where I least expect to find innovative food, extremely well prepared, it invariably turns up. You just never can tell. Didn't Ray's Kitchen used to be on the corner of Renfrew and Hastings? And then later it was some kind of soul food restaurant.