Classic old downtown Vancouver still lives
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Cook Sean Reardon says Joe Brown's Cafe in Vancouver serves diners a taste of nostalgia. Photo: Joseph Gallivan/Axios
Classic Vancouver is still around if you know where to look.
The big picture: Shiny condos, office buildings and hotels on the Vancouver waterfront are just a few blocks away, but they're not visible from the pawn shop, diners and coffee bars tucked away in downtown's walkable grid.
A few places of note:
Zoom in: Manager and cook Sean Reardon calls the cafe — which has only had two owners since its 1932 opening — a "super-friendly hole in the wall."
Best bites: The menu is classic Western diner — hash browns, eggs and bacon plus burgers.
People return because the portions are large and served with sides of nostalgia.
- "Your mom's eaten here, your grandma's eaten here and we still produce the same food that you remember back then," says Reardon.
This space looks tiny but has seating for 37 in its loft. It serves both the morning sandwich crowd and the happy hour and later crowd until closing at 9pm.
That variety is one reason owner Kevin Baker is not worried about competition.
- The other is a loyal customer base that saw Brewed through the COVID-19 pandemic.
- "Customers would get a $2 coffee and throw 50 to 100 bucks down as a tip, just to make sure that we stayed open," says Baker, one of seven family members who work at the 12-year-old cafe.
In the 1960s, half a dozen pawnbrokers operated downtown, but most went out of business or relocated.
- Briz store co-manager Janie Black says 80% of Briz's business is sales, not pawns.
- They survived by focusing on musical instruments and added new items like sound systems, pedals and cables.