Every Place Has a Story

The Ratdale Apartments on West Broadway

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The Ratdale Apartmentw
Michael Roschlau photo, ca.1981

Deidre Keohane (Deirdriu Ni Cheochain) moved into the Birkdale Apartments on West Broadway with her boyfriend Marty Lacroix in 1980.

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
2235 West Broadway. Gord McCaw photo, 1983.
Birkdale Apartments:

The Birkdale Apartments first appears in the city directories in 1922, and at some point became the Burkdale Apartments on the front of the building. Not long after moving in, 22-year-old Deidre, an art school grad and Marty, a dancer with Paula Ross, took a can of spray paint to the name, replacing Burk with Rat and the Ratdale was born.

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
Gord McCaw photo, 1984

“The rats were the pigeons which Marty hated and called them flying rats. All the roommates were artists and contributed to the energy. It was our intention to make onlookers smile. It was a happy creative place,” she says.

No rats lived here:

While there weren’t any rats, there wasn’t any heating either. The Ratdale residents used their art and their sense of humour as a way to cope with rundown rental housing.

The Ratdale Apartments on West Broadway
Deidre Keohane (Deirdriu Ni Cheochain) in 2024 with some of her art

Deidre sculpted a big white rat and put it on a ledge above the front porch. She moved out in 1982, but before she did, Deidre unveiled her new creation, a black and white rat riding a vespa.

“The reason I finally left the Ratdale was because it was too male toxic,” she says. “I was probably a rare female creator in a hugely sexist male dominated art scene. I hated “scenes” but I loved the madness of the 80s. Not the hardcore aggressive stuff, I was more of a Siouxsie and the Banshees type.”

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
Gord McCaw photo, 1985

Pieta Woolley, whose dad was one of the artists, remembers it smelling like “oil stoves, rotting wood and pastels.”

Kitsilano resident and photographer Gord McCaw developed a fascination for the Ratdale and took several photos over a three-year-period.

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
Gord McCaw photo, 1986
Artist Colony:

In the Summer of 1983 Vanguard Magazine (1972-1989) published an article about the building and its artists. “The Ratdale is an anachronous unheated clapboard building on cloyingly commercial West Broadway. In keeping with its revised moniker, the “Burk” was crossed out with black spray paint and “rat” painted over it,” it said. “It became for a time something of a walk-in gallery reminiscent of sixties storefront psychedelic hangouts, advertising to passers-by such offers as “hats stapled on to heads for a fee,” “we pay cash for static cling” and other such mockeries of free enterprise.”

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
Gord McCaw photo, 1986

Later someone painted the building with large yellow polka-dots. When the landlord complained, the polka-dots were painted bright blue. Others decorated the exterior with airplane parts and purple clouds.

And there were parties. Lots of parties, including Ratopolis ’80, with live music and film.

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
Gord McCaw, 1987

Vancouver photographer Lincoln Clarkes remembers going to a farewell party after the eviction letters were sent out and the building’s demise was imminent. “George redesigned the living room with a chainsaw to make the dance floor bigger,” he says. “The bathroom had real lawn turf on the floor with a grow lamp. There was a sign on the front apartment window reading ‘haircuts 100$.’ The entire building was an empty stage or canvas ready for ideas that were beyond limits.”

Just look what we did with the space.

Ratdale apartments on West Broadway
West Broadway near Arbutus, 2024
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© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.

 

More Photos of Kitsilano in the 1970s and ’80s

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Last week’s blog on Kitsilano featuring Bruce Stewart’s photos, brought back memories and a healthy does of nostalgia from those of you who were lucky to have known Kits in the ‘70s.

In this week’s blog I’m delighted to bring you photos from Angus McIntyre, Gord McCaw, Peter Dobo and a couple more from Bruce, interspersed with your comments.

Kitsilano in the '70s
Some things never change: don’t open your car door in the path of a bus – brill or otherwise. Cypress Street and West 4th Avenue, outside CKVN (CFUN), 1973. Angus McIntyre photo

Says Angus McIntyre: “Sam Angel the “Mattress Man” was across the street. He paid for the first New Year’s Eve free rides in 1974, and got his name on the front of every bus.”

Looking west on 4th Avenue from the Fir Street off ramp on the Granville Street Bridge around 1:00 am. Angus McIntyre photo, mid-1970s

“This view was taken in the mid-1970s as the City of Vancouver converted street lighting from incandescent (on the left side of the street) to mercury vapour (on the right side),” says Angus. “This shows how the night time appearance of the city changed. But little did we know what was in store a few years away- the scourge of orange sodium vapour lighting.”

Soft Rock Cafe, 1924 West 4th, early 1980s. Artwork by Pablo Fiasco, photo by Gord McCaw
Music:

“I spent a lot of time in Kitsilano in the late 60s and through much of the 70s. I was there the July day when the Grateful Dead, who were in town for a three-day gig at Dante’s Inferno on Davie, were about to play a free concert near Engine 374 at Cornwall and Yew,” says Mark. “A couple of bands played first, then the neighbours complained about the noise, the cops showed up and the Dead, who’d been hanging around for an hour waiting to play (I stood next to Jerry Garcia, watching as, seated on a picnic table, he give guitar tips to a number of aspiring players), took off along with the rest of us, disappointed.”

Kitsilano in the 1970s
Soft Rock Cafe, 1925 West 4th, Gord McCaw photo, 1979

“Mom and John lived on the top floor of 1872 W. 3rd. They had the Hippogryff Store beside the Stuart Building on W. Georgia & Stanley Park at the time. I moved down to live with Mom in 1967,” says William who was 10 at the time. “I had all the freedom I could wish for, it was a pretty magical time.”

Kitsilano in the 1970s
The first Greek Days on Broadway. Peter Dobo photo, 1974
The Beach:

“I used to live in Kits Point at 2080 Creelman Ave., a duplex with view of Kits Beach with all the beautiful people depicted in Bruce Stewart’s photographs,” says Thomas. “The bakery on Yew and Cornwall with all the wonderful breads and pastry and all the great restaurants along Yew and Cornwall. Lifestream was the melting point where you always met someone you knew. Saturdays we went to the only liquor store up on West Broadway to buy a gallon bottle of Calona wine (tasted horrible) and to find out where the parties were happening. Life was truly beautiful.”

Kitsilano in the 1970s
The first Greek Days on Broadway. Peter Dobo photo, 1974
Landlords:

“In 1969-70, I lived at 2nd and Arbutus in an old wooden, three-storey house basement suite. I was 16 yrs old. The landlords were two ‘eccentric’ brothers Percy and Wes. They were retired, and Wes had worked for the CPR. They were hoarders, and there was canned food stacked everywhere,” says Nick. “The house was full of valuable antiques. Percy gave me a WW2 German Navy flag with the Swaztika on it. I gave it to a collector neighbour in East Van whose son was a friend of mine. Do you remember that HUGE rock that sat on the S.E. corner of 4th and Arbutus? The hippies used to sit on it.”

Kitsilano in the '80s
West 4th between Yew and Arbutus Streets early 1980s. Gord McCaw photo

“I worked at the Lifestream warehouse. I used to pick up Peter in my VW van in White Rock and he would meditate on the floor during the commute to Richmond sometimes toppling over with sharp turns,” says Rob. “Lots of odd and funny hippy stories about the warehouse and the restaurant on 4th, my hangout. I’m still a health food freak!”

Kitsilano in the 1980s
Birkdale Apartments, 1984. Gord McCaw photo

“I shot several photos of the Birkdale Apartments at 2235 West Broadway over a three year period,” says Gord McCaw. “There was an artists’ colony there and they decorated it in a few different incarnations.”

Bulletin Boards:
Kitsilano in the 1970s
Bulletin board a few blocks west of Burrard, just off 4th Avenue. Bruce Stewart photo, mid 1970s

Says Bruce: “It appealed to me as it seemed like a one-stop ‘shopping’ setup: notices for everything from experimental theatre, cheap accommodation, yoga, clown workshops, spiritual healing, you name it! And, a place to rest one’s bones and pick over the free merchandise, on offer (the Fourth Avenue Free Box).”

“The Lifestream billboard. It was our internet,” says Will.

Says Jennifer: “It was like Tinder for hippies before social media.”

Kitsilano in the '70s
Kits Beach, mid-1970s. Bruce Stewart photo

“I worked at CFUN in the early ’80s,” says Elizabeth. “A regular sight was the local guy with a big boat of a car, who had replaced front and back bumpers with flower boxes and always had his goat in the back seat.”

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© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.