Vancouver After Dark: The Wild History of a City's Nightlife

by Aaron Chapman

In his latest book, bestselling author, musician, and cultural historian Aaron Chapman looks back at the most famous music entertainment venues in Vancouver, a city that's transforming so fast it has somehow lost some of its favourite nightspots along the way. These are the places locals are still talking about years after they closed, burned down, or were bulldozed in the face of new trends, rising rents, gentrification, and other vagaries. This raucous book tours Vancouver's legendary hot spots, from the Cave to Isy's, Oil Can Harry's to the Marco Polo, the Luv-A-Fair, the Town Pump, the Smilin' Buddha, and Gary Taylor's Rock Room, from the city's earliest saloons to the Chinatown cabarets, gay bars, East End dives, goth hideaways, discotheques, and taverns. Archival posters and photos, many published for the first time, chronicle how the city's nightlife changed with times, and how some of these nightspots ushered in changes to Vancouver. Are the great days of Vancouver's nightlife behind us? Or does it endure in new side streets and new spaces and new forms that have resisted the changes in other parts of the city? Now's the time to look back at the nightspots that shaped Vancouver, and how its residents shaped those venues.

Replete with full-colour photographs and posters from back in the day, Vancouver after Dark is a no-holds-barred history that amply demonstrates how this was never "No Fun" City - at least once the sun went down.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Canada, Music

256 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Aaron Chapman is a writer, historian, and musician with a special interest in Vancouver's entertainment history.

He is the author of The Last Gang in Town, the story of Vancouver's Clark Park Gang; Liquor, Lust, and the Law, the story of Vancouver's Penthouse Nightclub, now available in a second edition; and Live at the Commodore, a history of the Commodore Ballroom that won the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes) in 2015. He lives in Vancouver.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay.

It was admittedly mostly history.

It did touch on the recent unaffordability crisis and Asian gangs though, and mentioned it was these that contributed towards the loss of the nightlife of Vancouver. This comes straight from the author, Chapman.

2.9/5

[Rhiannon Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having grown up listening to stories from parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents of the legendary spots in Vancouver (and coming from a fairly musical family) it was great to hear some of the background (and confirmation about some of the crazier tales I'd heard) along with the photos. Also great fun and huge nostalgia reading about my own experiences at the 80s and 90s era nightlife (my own informal wedding reception was at Luv-a-Fair since that's where my husband and I met and spent so much of our time, long before we'd even met).

This would have been a 5 star rating but for two things:

Really crap editing. I can't stress how distracting it is to constantly run into poor editing when you're really enjoying the narrative - it's just so aggravating and jarring. Every few pages glaring, obvious, and easily avoidable typos and issues. BUT the content is what counts in this case, so it is something that can be moved past.

The other is that I feel like there could have been better use made of social media in collecting more photographs and material. There are several online groups that are constantly swapping "Historic Vancouver" photographs and stories that could have really fleshed out some of the spots that were concentrated on. I was quite surprised that there wasn't MORE photographs from The Cave, Luv-a-Fair, Graceland, Richards, etc... I've certainly seen a lot more, and I know a lot of the folks who actually own the photos who would have happily contributed them to the book if they'd been asked (myself included).

Yes, more spots could have been included, and I was surprised by some omissions, but I understand the author's desire to keep it focused on "live act" clubs. It did seem to completely miss a lot of the clubs, bars and restaurants in the gay community that had live music and shows, and the ones that were mentioned (i.e., Celebrities, the Duff) were given rather short shrift. It also seemed to skip right over some of the well-known classic live music venues in our older hotels - I was confused about the omission of the Panorama Rooftop (where my granddad regularly played) and others.

The highlights were the obvious 'legends' - The Cave, Isy's... These were legendary places that I'd heard so much about from my family. The author also did a decent job of highlighting the role Chinatown placed in Vancouver's nightlife. The Town Pump, Isy's, Smilin Buddha, Oil Can Harry's were also well covered (and some surprising ones), but again, the more 'recent' history from the 80s and 90s seemed to be hurried and rather thin, and yet there was so much more to it.

Still, I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in Vancouver's past! Lots of interesting bits that I never knew and am so glad to have discovered.

[David Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaron has gone deep into local club and entertainment history. You will find out about venues that you never knew existed. The local venues at the turn of the century through to modern day . To me, the captivating moments where the information about local R+B and Soul history . Legendary figures like Ernie King ( in the late 50s The 1st Black owned club " The Harlem Nocturne" and what he had to deal with ) Other historic venues from that time, like the "New Delhi" ( unknown to me, the HI-Fives, a local R+B band from the early 60`s, was the house band) The Chong brother`s "Elegant Parlour" and then "The Shanghai Junk" were fascinating venues in 60s Soul History. Congrats to Aaron; it is well written and essential local history ..

[litost · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of Vancouver nightclubs, starting with Gassy Jack Deighton’s Globe Saloon in 1867 and moving forward. Within the chapters, there is a section for each venue with a lot of research & information presented, too much for a casual reader like me, though Chapman does dish out the dirt on club owners like Isy Walters and Danny Baceda; difficult musIcians like Dusty Springfield; and various crimes and murders. The most interesting part for me was about Tommy Chong coming to Vancouver from Calgary in 1958 with his R&B band, progressing to operating nightclubs like the Elegant Palace and Shanghai Junk, then joining up with American Richard “Cheech” Marin and making it big in 1971. Those with a long association with Vancouver’s nightlife will appreciate this book.

[Michael Rancic · Rating 2 out of 5]

considering how frequently police raids come up within this text, i feel like the author misses a significant opportunity to unpack the antagonistic relationships local governments have with nightlife, opting instead for a position that aims to be balanced but simply comes off as toothless.

though he acknowledges that the book specifically focuses on nightlife that features live entertainment, owning his limited perspective doesn't make the remaining narrative seem any more complete.

there's a lot here and much of it is interesting, i'm just not sure it tells a compelling story.

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This thorough, interesting, and colourful book ( for the people featured, the posters and photos) must have been a lot of work to produce. I learned more about my favourite old venues: the Town Pump, Luv-a-fair and others and learned even more about nightspots I never knew existed. I wish I could check out the Inquisition and the Cruel Elephant among others. In the time since this book was published another death knell has sounded for the night scene - the effects of Covid-19 lockdowns, long enough to be habit forming. What a story it would be if the old live music scene could come back!

[Degan Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched but somehow still feels incoherent and boring. I loved reading about the lost classics of Vancouver history and I learned a lot but it would have really benefited from a map and maybe some summary plates at the beginning of chapters instead of burying dates and addresses, etc. in the text.

[Rose Kurylyk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know a lot about Vancouver's nightlife a friend of mine said someone was writing about this only thing is what he told me I didn't contradict the things he said but people will believe anything right or wrong.

[Christopher Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’re so lucky in Vancouver to have Aaron Chapman recording the history that would normally be forgotten. It’s a must read for anyone interested in this world and Vancouver.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting! not for me though

[Tracie Sievers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into Vancouver and its characters - seems like a very different time. Aaron is thorough in his research.

[Richard Lehingrat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gerald Yoshida would love this one.