Most people are surprised to learn that from 1907 to 1939 there was a pier at English Bay, but it was only recently that I found out that English Bay actually had two piers. Local historian and collector Neil Whaley has kindly provided a guest blog about the second pier at English Bay, the one where all the music and dancing took place.
By Neil Whaley
English Bay holds a special place in my heart. I’ve scoured old newspapers for information in the days when you had to strain your eyes on microfilm, and I’ve read 100-year-old park board files at the City of Vancouver Archives.
But the two English Bay piers were a mystery. I wasn’t even sure there was more than one until I saw a Vancouver Archives photo showing them together. I wanted to get their story straight, so I went back to the newspapers, this time online.
First Pier:
It turns out that the first pier was built by the Vancouver Park Board and completed in December 1907. The wooden structure gradually deteriorated and was torn down in 1939. There was still a stub of the pier on shore with a tearoom, until it was all demolished in 1941.
The second pier started out as an entirely-on-land, two-storey tearoom and confectionery built in 1923. Owner Llewellyn G. Thomas and his wife Lilly lived in rooms below. Thomas built a 50- foot extension in 1925 with a Winter Garden dance hall, and the next year added a pier which extended 337 feet (103 metres) into English Bay. (There was a lumber executive and Vancouver Symphony supporter named Llewellyn C. Thomas who lived 10 blocks away – not the same guy.)
Park Board:
Years ago, I read a park board memo that I didn’t really understand.* Now I did. In 1925, Thomas was promoting the idea of adding a year-round warm-water swimming pool under the second pier with the blessing of Mayor L.D. Taylor. A park board administrator wrote to the mayor and politely told him to quieten down. A pool would compete with the park board’s thriving business at the English Bay bathhouse where they rented bathing suits and lockers. The park board, it transpired, had messed up by not getting crucial foreshore rights on the pier property, which would have prevented the pier in the first place.
The memo to Mayor Taylor has a great quote: “You can imagine the stir and commotion that took place at the City Hall when it was found that a stranger had come to town and obtained the only concession in the English Bay Bathing Beach. The City had to smile and look cheerful.”*
The hope was that Thomas couldn’t afford to finance the pool. And, apparently he couldn’t, because the pool was never built. Thomas left the business in 1927 and by 1932, the pier faced foreclosure.
Dances:
There were sporadic dances and meetings throughout the 1930s, even after English Bay Pleasure Pier Ltd altered its charter in 1933 to allow it to branch into mining and smelting (presumably not on site!) In 1938, the Winter Garden gained a Hammond electric organ and became a roller skating rink for the next two years.
Various cadet corps used the site during WWII and even held a mock storming of Second Beach. It became the barracks for the Navy League Sea Cadets from 1943 to 1949, and then Theatre Under the Stars repurposed it as rehearsal space and offices.
By 1958, all signs of the second pier were gone.
*CVA 49-C-7, folder Natatorium 1925
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7 comments on “The Second English Bay Pier”
Thanks for bringing the Winter Garden to the blog. My Grandad and Nana used tell us about going out there to dance when they were courting. Grandad was a friend of Dal Richards as they had both been in the Kits Boys Band for a good many years so they would go out to hear him and the band. Must have been a bit painful for Grandad as he was a committed classical music lover and not a swing jazz fan.
Amazing history of Vancouver from a very long time ago. My mother loved the thirties and early forties before getting married. She would have remembered the early parades and how it was an adventure to go downtown from the North Shore in those days. To dance and meet young men!
Very interesting story, Eve! Thanks for the info. I do enjoy your blog.
I was just asking why the per was taken down at our weekly “Social Distance Happy Hour” at Stanley Park. Everyone had no idea what I was talking about..and they were long term Westenders. It seems to me to be a no brainer to have one like San Fran, LA, White Rock to name a few. I wish I could post a few pics here that I have of people enjoying the pier back in the day.
I used to walk along English Bay beach in the mid-1950’s, in my childhood. I didn’t know anything about musical theatre but found out one day when walking under the pier during low tide. There was a lot of stomping going on above me. Turns out it was TUTS (Theatre Under the Stars) rehearsing the grand finale of ‘Oklahoma’. Even though we had little money for luxuries like theatre tickets, our whole family went to see the performance of ‘Oklahoma’ later that summer. I felt especially thrilled to hear and see on stage what I had previously heard high above me. Much later, in my childish viewpoint, I was disappointed to see the pier gone; it had somehow seemed a magical place and should have remained there forever. I still envision the pier as a grand rehearsal space whenever I visit the West End.
[…] English Bay Pier, considered an eyesore by many, was demolished in 1939. Following a plan to rid the shoreline of […]
The Winter Garden was managed (the City Dir. for 1939 shows) by two Schubergs, John E. and his father John A. of Heather St., Vancouver. J.A. was a pioneer film exhibitor (Electric Theatre, 1902-3; Rex and others 1913-20) who made a pile when he sold out to the Allen chain, but kept busy, managing the Empress (1923-7) and then this roller rink with his son.