Do you remember the Seven Seas Restaurant? It was moored at the foot of Lonsdale from 1959 to 2002. The restaurant had a crazy 48-foot neon sign easily visible from East Vancouver, and it was the place where locals had their first drink, got engaged, and ate at the city’s biggest seafood buffet.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Before it was a restaurant, the Seven Seas was Ferry No. 5—the last of the North Vancouver ferries. No. 5 was built in 1941 to carry up to 600 people and 30 vehicles across Burrard Inlet. During the war, the ferries ran day and night, bringing thousands of shipyard workers to Burrard Dry Dock and North Vancouver Ship Repairs.
After the war, people preferred to drive, and ridership went into steady decline. Ferry No. 5 made its final run across the Inlet on August 30, 1958, lasting eleven years longer than the streetcars that once carried the passengers up Lonsdale.
Jeanne Nielsen remembers taking the ferry from Vancouver with her grandmother when she was nine years old. “It was really an adventure I just loved going, it was a big deal,” she says.
When the ferry service ended, the City of North Vancouver sold No. 5 to restauranteur Harry Almas who owned the King Neptune Seafood Restaurant in New Westminster. Almas paid $12,000 which included a five-year lease for the waterfront lot. He then spent ten times the purchase price converting the car deck into two dining rooms and a kitchen. Almas kept the two wheelhouses on the upper deck and the ship’s funnel.
When Ferry No. 5 became the Seven Seas Restaurant, Jeanne went there with her friends. “We used to think it was fantastic. I remember us going there in our late teens and early 20s and having this incredible seafood buffet—they even had frog legs,” she says. “I thought that it was a shame when they closed it down.”
The ship’s heritage significance was recognized on the City of North Vancouver’s Heritage Inventory in 1994. But the vessel was aging, and the cost of repairs became a court battle between the Almas family and the City. It ended in federal court in 2001. The following year the restaurant was dismantled, towed to Vancouver Pile Driving at the foot of Brooksbank Avenue, and demolished.
The neon sign, it seems, was lost to history.
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32 comments on “The Seven Seas Restaurant”
In 1981 my wife and I went to the Seven Seas for our only visit to that restaurant. We both love seafood and were looking forward to the evening out. The buffet at the time was about $17 per person. The only thing that was different that night was my wife was about 6 months pregnant. We were there for about 1/2 hour before the motion of the boat made my wife feel queasy. We paid our bill and went home.
We still laugh about the evening we paid $40 for a slice of watermelon.
Great story! Had a similar experience on BC Rail’s train to Porteau Cove in the ’90s. Except I couldn’t get off the train.
[…] Lazarus remembers the Seven Seas Restaurant in Vancouver. This was before I moved to BC, but it is a fascinating story! Of course, I might be biased, […]
As a teen, Myself and friends would go there on dates. It impressed the girls to be in North Van,on a boat, eating exotic seafoods like,Mahi Mahi, Swordfish,and of course,Frogs legs.Whenever the seabus would go by, the boat would move, and, depending on the amount of movement,it was either a nice addition to the meal, or an abrupt trip to the restroom.
There was a server there, very polite,older fellow that was very good at his job. Always on point, always treated you like a gentleman, and made the experience even better.
Once,I ordered a bottle of wine. He uncorked it, and handed me the cork.
I took the cork, looked at it, rolled it in my fingers, and looked up at him,unsure of the point of this transaction. He looked at me, wrinkled his nose in a sniffing gesture. I sniffed it, he winked, I nodded, and the date was impressed. Too bad it was never realized for the gem that it truly was.
Ah yes, the days of corks….
I really enjoy your posts Eve….Along with the wonderful first hand stories of how these landmarks impacted daily lives along the way. … in the comments section. I really value the input from your “well seasoned” 😉 readers. I received a little jar of bits and bobs from my grandmother’s things and recently cleaned it out to find a old meat ration token along with an unused BC Electric streetcar ticket. Wish I could have been transported back in time so I could use them on a shopping jaunt with my grandma.
Thanks so much for your kind words and for following along!
There also was the Lady Alexandra docked by Stanley Park. I remember going there with my Brownie pack to have tea. It was such a cool little ship.
My wife and I dined at the Seven Seas ferry boat restaurant In 1984 the food was outstanding. The wine outstanding. We had a bottle of white wine. The label had a rearing black horse on the side of the of it. The wine was outstanding. I have been trying to find that same wine for years. It was a German white wine. ‘Help’.
Sweet or dry?
Great trying to contact Diamond Almas
Good morning. One of my first jobs was at the Seven Seas restaurant 55 years ago. I have forgot Harry Almas’s wifes first name. Can you help me.
Eva I also worked there and met my husband there ..who was a waiter Chai
I was told the Seven Seas Restaurant is no longer there! Sorry about that!!! The food was outstanding! I haven’t been to Vancouver, Bc. in 40 years. I have very good memories wend we was up there from Oakland, California. My Beautiful Wife Wanda passed away in October 2020. 😚
Blue Nun, or black tower, that’s what we drank in the 70s, too sweet for me now, so loved the seven seas!
Here is a crazy story for you.
In 1991, I had the pleasure of celebrating my 40th birthday on The Seven Seas with many friends while on a conference in Vancouver. I can’t tell you how impressed we all were with the entire experience.
The memory was so strong that I decided to take my future wife there on a date. The catch is, we were on a getaway from our home in Edmonton, and staying at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel in Victoria!
So, on a very rainy afternoon, we drove to Swartz Bay and took the ferry to the mainland, drove to Canada Place, parked the rental car, rode the Sea Bus across to North Van, and made the short walk to the Seven Seas in pouring rain. I was so excited to get back there. As you can see, it was quite a journey.
Then the shock!
It turns out that the restaurant was no longer operating. This was in 1995.
And yes, I should have called ahead… live and learn.
So, what to do? Believe it or not, we backtracked the entire trip and ended up having a very late dinner at the Oak Bay Marina, looking and feeling like a couple of drowned rats.
Hard to believe, but true.
Great story – and one of the most expensive dinners you ever had I bet!
I lived in North van from 1971 -1975, and ate at the Seven Seas twice. Once with my parents, and a second time with my grandparents when they visited from Indiana. It was great, as I remember, but I didn’t have much of a discerning palate at 11 years old. It was interesting because the owner (Harry) would come out and speak with every table and reel off all the 101 types of seafood on the menu that day. He looked like Colonel Sanders of the sea. I was friends with his grandchildren, and we attended the same elementary school. I was so sad to leave North Vancouver, such a beautiful city.
I went to school to become a waiter and my first job was the Seven Seas Rest. and I lasted about 16 years and to this day I still get flash backs about those great years. thanks Diamond you were the best!!!!
I worked with you Bob….Joanne and Chai
Bob? Aka Choc?
I have pleasant memories of Seven Seas. Pamela Anderson in 1987 pre Baywatch days took me there for dinner on our first date. It was a memorable evening.
I remember eating at the Seven Seas with my grandparents and parents for a special Christmas-time dinner out, circa 1980. It was the first time I ate oysters and the only time I ate frog legs. A wonderful memory of family and of course the amazing seafood buffet!
I remember that in 1978 i started to work on the seven seas restaurant as a helper in the kitchen. i pulled out all the fish from the freezer and took out all the garbage ,cleaned up and polished brass rails. They provided lunch for $1.00 a day. Great value and even better lunch. Mostly i remember a morning after a storm had rolled thru, i had to go to Cates Towing and borrow the row boat they had and go out and tow back in all the boats that had broken free from the docks around. The family treated me very good and after i had left they even remembered me when i took my girl out for a special dinner there. The treated me so well that she thought i must be royalty. Very important memories for me in my early twenty’s.
Lovely story, thanks so much for sharing it.
My first time visiting Seven Seas was in 1977. The experience continued for many years later. I was fishing off the west coast of Vancouver Island for a few years and when the season was over we would head back to the pond at the end of number 2 Road in Richmond where it would stay over winter. That is when I would eat almost twice or more every month through the winter.
I would brag about how good it was to eat there. Many a guest I would bring for dinner through the years. I will never forget!
I loved this place so much I decided to create my special place on the net for it to live while I can.
https://www.halfwayriverhotsprings.com/sevenseas/
I visited this wonderful Seven Seas Seafood restaurant several times before it was closed; the funny part is that it was recommended by a cousin from Mexico who came to visit Vancouver on Expo 86 and when he found I was going to live in Canada, he told me not to miss this seafood place, which I did as soon as I moved to North Vancouver, after living in Vancouver for 5 years, back in 1993, the restaurant was just 6 blocks from my place; and I have started working in downtown and commuting by the Seabus every day and so many times, coming back, my friends and I used to go for an early dinner and a drink to this wonderful seafood restaurant; afterwards in 1998 went back to celebrate my 55th Birthday with my grown-up kids and their partners and then again in 2000 with my new boyfriend at the time; to celebrate now my 57th birthday. My family and I love seafood since we all grow-up in Mexico City and we are use to eat everything that comes from the ocean. It’s a pity to see gone this memorable place! Such happy reminiscences!
I visited this place in the 80’s and will never forget the wonderful experience. I was in Vancouver and my hotel recommended this restaurant and it was well worth the trip. I have always thought of coming back but I found out it had closed. I tell my wife and friends about the restaurant but I could not show them what I have seen. Only people who have been there will understand why I love this restaurant so much besides the fact that I love seafood.
Oh, how we loved to visit the Ship of The Seven Seas restaurant in North Vancouver! The seafood buffet went on forever, and we used to love the warm welcome the owner used to extend to us while he described all the various types of seafood he had on the buffet. It was always a marvellous place to vusut
[…] North Vancouver residents will remember the Seven Seas, a restaurant that was moored at the foot of Lonsdale. Some of you may even remember it as Norvan […]
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