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.

The McDs I worked at was on Robson (N side) at Bidwell St. I wonder if it was built on the old Zaros location

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.

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.

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.

I guess not. Anyway, lots of photos if you google “only seafood hastings”

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!)