When Fritz Autzen, a baker from Neukölln, Germany moved his family to British Columbia in 1954, his first job was a cook at Zaro’s of America, a deli on Robson Street. Five years later he moved his family to the West End and established the Hippocampus, a fish & chip shop on Denman and Comox Streets.
When he wasn’t working, Fritz loved to take photos in and around Vancouver, and his daughter Chris Stiles recently sent me some of her favourites.
Story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Hippocampus
One of them is of a business card with the opening hours 11 am to 10 pm Tuesday to Sunday. “I remember the first few years my dad had the business he never closed for holidays because he was afraid that somebody else would come and take his customers,” she says.
Fritz invented the torpedo sandwich and garlic vinegar to put on your fish and chips.
Chris and her older brother Michael went to Lord Roberts Elementary. The house and business are still there—one of a row of four along Denman near Davie, and some of Vancouver’s few remaining “buried houses.”
The West End:
The houses were built in the early 1900s, but a look through the city directories shows the storefronts weren’t added until the 1940s. By the end of that decade, Harry Almas, who owned the King Neptune Seafood Restaurant in New Westminster, and in 1959, North Vancouver’s Seven Seas Restaurant at the foot of Lonsdale Avenue, bought the house and added three apartments. The Hippocampus opened in 1953. Fritz and Herta moved into Harry and Eva Almas’s apartment and managed the other two apartments in return for a break in the rent.
Because Monday was the only day the store closed, Fritz would grab his camera and take the kids out of school and hit Stanley Park, pick huckleberries at Lost Lagoon, and eat at the Marco Polo in Chinatown. In summer, the kids would wait for the diving barge and slide to come in at English Bay.
Chris still has Fritz’s immigration papers when Fritz entered Canada a few months ahead of his family in 1954. His net worth was $226 and included his clothes (valued at $160), a pair of binoculars and his Teco camera.
The family lived above the store from 1959 to 1968. That year they moved to Richmond and Fritz opened the Seahorse Café.
When Fritz died in 1981, he left over one thousand slides.
Top photo: The Hippocampus at 1076 Denman Street, ca.1960. Fritz Autzen photo
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.
24 comments on “Fritz Autzen and the West End’s Hippocampus”
What a remarkable man – and a wonderful story of success. I remember when Denman still had houses along the street and nice to see some of their remnants still peeking out. There are three very quaint little houses on Thurlow (1176) that have always intrigued me (my grandparents lived on Davie so I saw them many times). I don’t know how they’ve escaped development on such prime land when everything around them has been demolished They’re still there on Google earth but with Vancouver changing so rapidly they might even be gone by now. The last time I was in Vancouver I made a point of photographing them. Great story – thanks for sharing!
Thanks for dropping by Linda! Those houses on Thurlow are part of the Molehill Development – there’s a bit about it on a blog post I wrote a few years back: https://evelazarus.com/west-end-heritage-a-chance-to-have-your-say/
What a great neon sign the Hippocampus had. The seahorse reminds me the Only!
I meant to say the sign outside The Only Seafoods on Hastings in case anyone wasn’t sure what I was getting at.
Here’s a photo (hope the HTML works!)
I guess not. Anyway, lots of photos if you google “only seafood hastings”
Sorry Skip, for some reason it won’t allow pictures in the comments, have no idea why. If you email it to me info@evelazarus.com I’ll add it to the post
My friends and I probably met this man hundreds of times. The Hippocampus was a mandatory stop on our way to or from a day in Stanley Park. We could not afford to try all of his great foods but always made sure we could buy a side of fries. The fries were great but the garlic vinegar was beyond belief.
Thank you to his daughter for sharing the photos with you. The pictures of the deli and the proprietor bring back so many awesome memories. Another forgotten favorite was on Davie St south side between Bidwell and Denman . The drive in was called the “4 Gs”. This is a late Christmas present. Thanks again.
Thanks so much for your note Doug! Do you remember Zaro’s on Robson Street. I had not heard of it before and was fascinated to see a photo. Looking at the Archives it seems to have lasted until the mid 70s
I can honestly say Zaros isnt ringing a bell. I worked at a McDonalds on Robson across from the Safeway and the liquor store. Pagers had just come on the market and every time one would go off the user would come to the counter and ask to use the phone. We would always direct them to the pay phone beside the liquor store. We had the # and as they got close we would call the pay phone and when they picked up we would tell them to get back and finish their burger.
Another great fast food outlet was “The Texan” . Two locations , one on Georgia St near Stanley Park and another on West Broadway near Burrard.
The McDs I worked at was on Robson (N side) at Bidwell St. I wonder if it was built on the old Zaros location
PS I went to Lord Roberts for one year grade seven. Home room teacher was Mr Anderson. Math teacher was Mr Ipen. 1966.
This one is on the SE corner of Denman at Comox.
Did you try and send a photo Maurice? If you did, please email it to me and I’ll add it to the post
I lived a couple blocks away in 1968 to 1970. I loooved the food at the Hippocampus.
I would save money from my newspaper route to buy a fried corn dog on a stick. Probably one of those 25 cent Dixie Dogs mentioned on the menu sign. It came with a most wonderful sauce that I still think of ‘with relish’.
You mention a Seahorse Cafe in Richmond and of course ‘Hippocampus’ is Greek for seahorse.
I did not know that Hipppocampus is Greek for Seahorse (when I looked it up it had something to do with the brain – so thanks for clearing that up!
Eve, this brought back such a flood of memories. I grew up on the 1700-block of Nelson Street, went to Lord Roberts Elementary until Grade 5, and remember all these spots up and down Denman. I think there was a five-and-dime store nearby. I also remember (I think it was) a dry cleaner with a beautiful Samoyed dog who could be seen in the window.
When I started reading this, I immediately remembered a big adventure, likely in Grade 4 or 5, where I boldly left the school grounds with a group of friends, who took me to what must have been the Hippocampus, to get a ‘Dixie Dog.’ It all felt so sophisticated, as I was used to elementary school lunches which usually involved Lipton’s Chicken Noodle soup. I can still taste that Dixie Dog. It was the taste of freedom. What a delight to see the sign advertising them, and that it was a special for schoolchildren.
Thanks for sharing this Pamela! Which I could time travel back to the 60s and check all these things out!
The Scott family lived in two of the apartments above the stores during the late 50s at least into the mid 60s. The grandmother in one and Marjory Scott in the other with her two sons David and Daniel. There were always kids visiting the Scotts where we played games and ate peanut butter and jam sandwiches made by Mrs. Scott. It was like having a clubhouse of our own. Most of the kids attended Lord Roberts School situated one block up the lane. I’m pretty certain that I can think of at least 50 kids who were regulars at the Scott’s apartment so all appreciated and loved Mrs. Scott.
This post speaks to my heart. I moved to the West End in 1987 and I only wish I would have moved here earlier. But even in 1987, Denman still have a feeling of a beachy neighbourhood.
Thank you for the further historical information about those hidden houses on Denman. I find them endlessly intriguing and am so curious about what they look like inside.
I went to Lord Roberts for grade 4 in 1968. We lived in the Pendrell St. twin round apartments across the street. On rainy days we all chased Mercury around the concrete basement floor of the school…very heavy in our palms, lustrous in the gloom. I had a quarter for lunch, the cafeteria had crappy burgers for 35 cents so I figured I could do way better on my own. I found fresh, fragrant giant glazed doughnuts (10 cents) and delicious brined pickles (8 cents) as in constituted sufficient nutrition according to the Canada Food Table in the ‘bread’ and ‘green vegetable’ categories) at The Cookie Jar on Denman and Mars Bar (7 cents) at the corner store. Still around to tell the tale. 🙂
Great story, and it’s great to see that old block again! I grew up on Gilford Street and I’m just a little too young to remember the Hippocampus but I can vividly remember the variety store right next to it on the corner. Everything was in bins, lots of great things to poke around at as a kid. Every time I see Breakfast at Tiffany’s I think of that place – the store in the movie is larger, but set up in the same way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdnuL6YRBc
There was also a great bookstore across the street and down the block called Pauline’s.
An indie bookstore in the West End – wish we still had one
Your commentary says Fritz arrived in 1954 and established the Hippocampus 5 years later (which would make it 1959, about the time I first found it). Further down you say “The Hippocampus opened in 1953.” typo?
Between 1960 and 63 we would occasionally row our dinghy from near Jericho beach to English bay to buy fish and chips , or if we were feeling especially flush, prawns and chips. From 1964 to 67, I and a workmate shared our first apartment in the building immediately east of the shop and Fritz was responsible for our dinner (usually one of his enormous torpedoes or prawns and chips) on days too numerous to count. I moved to Beach towers in 67. I assume that Fritz sold the business with the name but the new owner seemed not to have as much concern for quality so I stopped patronizing.
In 1971 I moved to Dunbar and sometime after that I was participating in an automobile gymkhana in the parking lot of Sears at Richmond Center. (It must have been in the days when drugstores were the only stores that could open on Sundays. I’m sure Sam Bass got very rich and changed the Sunday economy by exploring the limits of those bylaws.) Anyway, I spotted Fritz standing outside a shop, very reminiscent of the Hippocampus, across #3 road so I went over to talk to him and buy prawns and chips. I don’t remember much of that conversation except that business was slow and he was missing all those hungry customers he had on Denman street. I am deeply saddened to hear that he died so young.
[…] Fritz Autzen and the Hippocampus […]