Every Place Has a Story

The Tomahawk Restaurant

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Tomahawk Restaurant
1550 Philip Avenue, North Van. Eve Lazarus photo, 2020

In 2000, I signed a contract with a Toronto publisher to write Frommer’s with Kids Vancouver. I was a freelance journalist with three kids under eight, and part of the job was to road-test every activity and restaurant and side trip included in the book.

Story from: Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

After the first week, my kids were begging to stay home. But I remember they really enjoyed the Tomahawk Restaurant. And why wouldn’t they?

Founded in 1926

The Tomahawk was founded in 1926 by Chick Chamberlain and is now in the hands of his son Chuck and in its third location. Part restaurant and part museum, the building is filled with woodcarvings, masks, small totem poles, woven cedar baskets, hatchets, pots and drums. Some of the items date back to the Depression, when Chick had a close relationship with First Nations people and traded food for handicrafts.

Tomahawk Restaurant
The original Tomahawk Restaurant on Marine Drive, 1936. Courtesy NVMA 5227

The totem poles out front were carved by Chief Mathias Joe for the restaurant on Marine Drive. It was moved to the current location on Philip Avenue and repainted by the Chief’s grandson. The restaurant also celebrates its Indigenous connections with burgers named after Chiefs Joe Capilano, Simon Baker, August Jack, and others.

Tomahawk Restaurant
Chief Joe Matthias in front of his totem pole, NVMA 9988

CBC broadcaster Grant Lawrence’s band the Smugglers launched their tenth-anniversary album at the Tomahawk in 1998. They’d formed the band while attending West Vancouver’s Hillside Secondary School. According to local lore, another rocker and North Van high school student Bryan Adams, washed dishes at the Tomahawk in the ’70s.

Tomahawk Restaurant

Tomahawk Restaurant
Menu, 2000. Eve Lazarus

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