The 2400 Motel on Kingsway opened in 1946. It still has an old fashioned, retro feel and its huge red and blue neon sign.
I fell in love with the 2400 Motel on Kingsway 20 years ago when I was writing Frommer’s With Kids Vancouver. Loved the old fashioned, retro feel of the place and its huge red and blue neon sign. The freshly painted green and white bungalows had the feel of a country cabin. Kids could play on the lawn outside, the rooms were clean and functional, and staying there was inexpensive.
Endangered list:
The last time I wrote about the 2400 Motel was in June 2011, shortly after it made Heritage Vancouver’s Top 10 Endangered hit list. According to a Statement of Significance prepared in 2007 the auto court was the last and best example of post-war car culture. “Not only did the 2400 function as a home-away-from-home for many travelers…but it has entered Vancouverite’s collective imagination as a seemingly immutable part of the city—a whole, miniature world from an earlier simpler time.”
The City of Vancouver bought the 3.5-acre site in 1989 as part of the proposed Norquay Village neighbourhood centre. But the plan lacked any heritage retention, and the building was not and is still not on the heritage inventory.
Opened in 1946:
Built in 1946 when the car was king, the motel has seen tourists from the States, retired couples from BC Interior and Alberta and loads of families over the last 75 years.
In 1966, the Grateful Dead played at Jerry Kruz’s dancehall The Afterthought for $500. Jerry says, his dad knew the owners of the 2400. The 17-year-old Kruz put Jerry Garcia and the band and Owsley Stanley, their sound guy and more famously, the manufacturer and distributor of their LSD up there. Jerry tells me they left the motel exactly how they found it.
Bomb plot:
In November 1999, the 2400 received worldwide media attention when an Al-Qaida terrorist named Ahmed Ressum (millennium bomber) built a bomb in one of the cottages. He planned to blow up LA’s International Airport that New Year’s Eve. In 2001, 21-year-old Kevin Peters was murdered there in a drug deal gone bad.
Mostly, though good things happen at the 2400. The motel has been the backdrop for movies and television shows including X-files, Bates Motel, Motive, Super Natural and a Bryan Adams music video.
Sanctuary:
The 2400 continues to offer reasonable accommodation for travelers (I could have booked a pet friendly one-bedroom suite with kitchen for $129 Friday night). Over the years, it’s also become a sanctuary for people in distress. In 2006, it provided emergency housing for families and individuals who were forced out of their apartment building after a leaking roof. In 2016, it became a haven for more than a dozen Syrian refugees. At the outbreak of the pandemic it housed people recovering from Covid-19, and sometime in the near future it will provide a roof for people waiting on the long list for permanent housing in Vancouver.
Related:
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Where exactly was this motel. Was it a couple of blocks from Boundary Rd a d Kingsway.
Hi Judith motel was basically at Slocan and Kingsway slightly west of Slocan close to where i grew up.
No it was near Nanaimo and Kingsway- half a block east or Nanaimo actually-
Very interesting Eve. It is like revisiting another time in our history. Have to say, the tall hotel towers might be safer, but I think people were more trusting back in the day. There is a loss of innocence today.
I hope they save it they are to quick to tear down history all in the name of progress an mostly greed, money and profit. I remember at growing up as well. Is there a petition to save the motel if so where can I sign it.
Please save it. It’s classic and have many memories. I’ll sign
Great bit of history
For 5 years, up until last year, the motel staff was very kind to sponsor a Vintage Car Club of Canada car show each summer which I organized. Everyone enjoyed a summer evening at the 2400 with cars from the 40s, 50s, and 60s filling the lot. It was a chance to catch a glimpse of those old days. A surprising number of the drivers had memories of staying there in their childhood days – it was a good family motel.
I had no idea that the Dead stayed there. They are may favorite band so thats really cool. Although I was born and raised in the West End for reasons Ive never understood our family moved to St Albert in 1958. In 1960 we thankfully moved back to the West End. My dad and I drove back to BC in his shiny new 60 Caddy. We stayed a couple of weeks at the 2400 waiting for my mom and my new baby brother to fly to Vancouver. My vivid memory was the cable TV KVOS and a cartoon show called Fun O Rama . Now I look at the picture of the car and its looks very similar to my 1972 Merc Montego right down to the British Racing Green. All great memories .
I used to live close by. I pass by it whenever I go to Church’s Chicken. Thanks, for the write up on the motel.
Brings back memories! When my family first moved to BC 48 years ago we lived here while we were waiting for our house to be ready! I still have a scar on my knee from jumping on one of their roll away cots.
It would give me hope if the city did the right thing and protected the 2400. As time goes by, this place will become ever more fascinating, like the relics on Route 66.
The motel deserves respect!
By the time it is done serving as “temporary” transition housing for those being evicted (to strong a word) from Strathcona Park there might not be anything left for the city to save.
Sadly there WON’T be
I knew the guys at what was then the City Properties Dept. who had to do some fancy footwork to get the City to agree to the purchase. I recall that their clincher argument was that the purchase price was lower than the assessed land value. The buildings were ‘worthless’, only liabilities at that time. We all revelled in the architecture but dare not demonstrate that value publically. Great to see that it is still there!
I just joined your blog, Eve, and the first article I read is this very informative essay about the Motel 2400’s history. Thanks very much for this excellent bit of local history. The Motel 2400 is such a fixture on Kingsway—so noticeable to anyone who passes by. As someone else replied, it truly is a symbol of a simpler, more innocent era.
Stayed there a few times with my highschool swim club from Belmont High to swim at Percy Norman Pool…was 13 and sometimes a rowdy group but somewhat behaved on our visit to the big city…was like being at home. Was always our first choice… glad it is still there.
Hi, I was in VASC that trained there. Where was Belmont club located?
As a child I spent a lot of time at Children’s Hospital, and this was one of my landmarks to mark how much longer the car ride was, I loved it’s little white boxes. A first Valentine’s date with a man I dated for nearly 20 yrs was a glamorous night (!) in the last “Smoking Rooms” lol. I thought it was hilarious and even called my mom to laugh about it. Still have the bar of soap I took as a souvenir!
In the 1970s the 24 – NANAIMO Brill trolley bus line terminated at Slocan and Kingsway, within sight of the 2400 Auto Court. As a B.C. Hydro bus driver I worked this line often. The 2400 desk clerk rode home on my bus from time to time when he finished his evening shift. One night he gave me a bunch of postcards, the same as the one in this blog. I still have them.
There were many other motels nearby, since Kingsway was the old main highway into Vancouver. The Cariboo, Colonial, Eagle, Pacific, and Vancouver Auto Villas were nearby. The Cariboo advertised “33 Garden Level Rooms – on City Bus Line.”
I loved going past the 2400. It was pleasing to look at and restful for the mind as it brought back memories of when Vancouver was a big small town and fast asleep. And a time when just about anywhere you were located in the city, you could see for miles in any direction. Foncie Pullice photographed ‘my’ Vancouver. Of which the 2400 was part of.
Love it! The acid connection is funny as it was a place us west side Hamber brats would take kids too far gone to go home. And Eve the mention on the band posters location is a perfect intro to that venue’s history.
I visited this Motel several times as my family was preparing to welcome a couple of Syrian families into our home in Maple Ridge. They welcomed us with dinner and introduced us to all the families there.
It’s so great to read about the history of this place. Thanks for sharing!
This comforting place was Where the Police stashed my friend Donna and her young daughter when their lives were threatened by a violent rapist she was trying to get evicted from her housing complex back in the 70’s
Did she have a son also?
Just curious and nosey.
Thank you Eve. My family owned the motel from 1969 through 1989 when we sold it to the City of Vancouver. I am collecting stories and working on a project about the motel. Was thrilled to see you blog post.
Hi Dana, my Mom Irene Thorogood worked for your family in the 80s and early 90s as the head housekeeper. She always spoke about them with such respect and gratitude. I recall her coming home from a trip to Hawaii years later thrilled that she had run into your family there.
I remember the 2400 Motel , been there many years and presume it is still there…….I moved from Vancouver 45 years ago ( still not sure why ) and now living in the Prince George area. So much history on Vancouver . Many years back, actually in High School I read the book , Vancouver, Mill Town to Metropolis and that book got me going on Vancouvers history……great CITY
My Great grandfather built this motel in 1946 with his father and brother. Stephens and Sons. My dad also did some renovations there years ago. I grew up at Kingsway and Victoria Drive and my Grandma lived on Beatrice and Kingsway. I always got excited because I knew we were close to grandmas when we reached the 2400 motel. Brings back a lot of memories. Wish I could find a picture of the construction. My uncle is looking for them so he can restore an old international truck like grandad Stephens.
We have a paper hotel mat with info on it from the 2400 motel. My mom stayed there on her wedding night October24, 1958. That was 64 years ago.
My sister and I were paid 25 cents a week to turn the light on at each unit door. Each unit had a light switch by the door. We did this every night at dusk! Good exercise!
I spent my youth at 1923 kw, and before that on Beatrice. I was a weird kid. Spent lots of time in 90s East van as what I call a shadow on the wall. Seen various things that no experience or story comes close to comparing from others. As dark and depraved as it were, I miss it everyday and only wish to return. The stories I have always get called into question, or met with refusal of authenticity by the phrase “that was a movie”. Hell, my childhood bedroom window was much more raw and real than any episode of Cops (reality show of the era in which to compare)
With current trends of knocking down history, it’s great to see the archival of the city i was born and hellraised in. Plus, eve is really cute 😍
really sad to hear the 2400 ‘will’ be rezoned. too bad the city cant make it (even parts of the site) a heritage zone . There’s enough congestion on Kingsway as the street has been the same width from the early 60’s , progress is that what it ‘s called ? My dad worked at the Eldorado at Nanaimo for a few years and prior to that at the E&B grill 24 hour place by Kingsway/Victoria. White spot is no longer there, Harvey’s is gone , Dominion supermarket disappeared?
Living in the hood and graduated from ‘happy rock’, I missed the ‘old landmarks’ as no GPS and used the landmarks to know where the bus stops.
I believe my great aunt and uncle, Ernie and Eleanor Deacon, owned this motel in the 50s and early 60s. I have memories of visiting thereafter a little child and loving the cottages, and the pony in the pasture next door.