It
is a Friday or Saturday night sometime between 1995 and 2005. I’m driving into
Vancouver from the burbs out in Richmond, BC. It is raining out. I cross over
the Granville Street Bridge, pass the Cecil Hotel and there it is with the neon
sign with the saxophone on the corner of Drake and Granville, the 3 story
building that dates back to the 1880s, the home of the blues in Vancouver for
many years, The Yale Hotel.
I
drive a little further up Granville Avenue. I can see the run down shops to my
left and the second hand bookstores. Ahead of me is the movie theatre area that
runs to West Georgia Street. The many neon signs are reflected on the wet
pavement. I make a right turn and then another right turn and start heading in
the direction I just came from. Off to one side of me I can see a line-up
outside of some huge nightclub that caters to people in their twenties. The
name of the nightclub escapes me. Parking is at a premium in this area on a
weekend night.
I
park my car underneath the Granville Street Bridge or on Pacific Boulevard. It
isn’t exactly a well- lit area. I wait for a break in the traffic on Pacific
Boulevard and run across the street when the chance comes along. There is a
curved pedestrian walkway that leads up to Granville Street that I take. I pass
the Cecil Hotel that is renowned for its strippers. As I near the front door to
the Yale I peak in the front windows and can see some folks playing pool. A few
people, maybe street people, are milling about the entranceway. The outdoor
hotdog stand that is usually on the corner is just setting up for business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMT03WSWiyg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMT03WSWiyg
Just
inside the front door of The Yale is a small coat check room with a thin counter.
Most people keep their coats with them if they are wearing one. An older gal
behind the counter collects the cover charge. I walk up a few steps. I can see
the stage at the far end of the room. It is about 7:30 p.m. and the joint is
just starting to fill up. The carpet on the floor is well worn. The walls are
made of brick. Off to the right is the bar seating area with about 20 stools.
These are some of the choicest seats in the house. The service bar wraps around
and faces the area where the two pool tables are. Behind the pool tables, on
the brick wall, are some photographs of musicians who have played at The Yale
in the past. There is a small area by the bar with a metal railing where the
waitresses pick up their drinks.
The
Yale drew people from all kinds of walks of life. On any given weekend night
you might see older guys with pony tails who still had a bit of the 1960s in
them, middle aged suburbanites or tourists out for a night on the town, the
occasional pimp, businessmen in suits who hadn’t gone home to change into more
casual clothes, some shuckers and jivers, old friends of the band that was
playing that night, every now and then a few bikers, university kids who had
had a few brewskies at the nearby Cecil Hotel as warm-up to the evening,
mysterious looking guys in raincoats, gals in their forties and older who still
had it going on, and younger couples on date night. To some well to do yuppie
types this joint might be considered as “slumming”.
The
Yale was also a great singles bar, particularly if you were getting up there in
years. The first gal I went out with after splitting up with my ex was an
Italian lady I met at the Yale. It was a short lived relationship that I just
wasn’t ready for after 14 years of marriage. I hope her life has gone well.
Every
once in a while a waitress would try and short change me. It would take me more
than a few beers not to be able to count and I never had more than a few beers.
In a way, I kind of found it funny that they would try that on me. My guess is
I didn’t catch them every time. The smoking ban came in and the ashtrays were
removed and for a year or two the staff would look the other way if you lit up
a smoke. I am sure somebody along the way picked up a beer bottle with a few
wet butts in it and gagged.
By around
9:00 p.m. the joint would be close to full with a line-up outside waiting to
get in. Up on the stage the band for the night would be tuning up their
instruments. There was a fair amount of noise in the room with people talking,
glasses clinking, and some piped in blues music. A roadie or two might be seen
scurrying around the stage doing last minute sound checks. The lighting guy was
ready to go.
I
think the stage had a curtain but I don’t remember ever seeing it. The band for
the night would walk out on the stage, make sure their instruments were tuned. This
was usually about 10-15 minutes before they started playing. At around 9:15 or
9:30 the music started. Usually there wasn’t any introduction. The music just
began blasting. Almost always the first tune was kind of peppy to get the crowd
in the mood. Those that were more confident about their dancing skills and
others that couldn’t give a shit about those skills were often the first on the
dance floor. If you were looking at picking someone up it was a good idea to
make an early move. If you were a single guy you probably had the place pretty
well scoped out way before the music started.
Rocking the joint. |
So
what is this thing called “rhythm and blues”? If the “blues” means sadness it
hardly ever was reflected in the music played at The Yale. It was far more like
party time.
If
you came of age like I did in the 1960s, you were aware of the folkie years and
coffee houses and hippie joints where people like B.B. King played. Even if you
knew very little about R & B you had probably heard the song “The Thrill
Has Gone”. If you were a little more curious you might have listened to 33-1/3
albums by John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, or Willie Dixon. You
might be familiar with Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, or Taj Mahal. You might have heard
something by Bobby “Blue” Bland.
B.B. King |
Around
1980 in Vancouver there were two local bands that created a local following and
got some exposure across Canada and the US. Both bands played at a small club
in Gastown called the Spinning Wheel. One of the groups was Doug And The Slugs
(Doug Bennett had a unique voice and died way too young) and the other group
was a band called Powder Blues headed by Tom Lavin. His brother Jack was also in the band along with a cool saxophone player, David Woodward, who had previously been with The Downchild Blues Band. Probably more than anyone
else, the Powder Blues created a wider interest in the blues in Vancouver.
Powder Blues Band early years. |
If
you followed the British invasion back in the 1960s at all you knew that bands
like the Rolling Stones were heavily influenced by imported blues music records
from the US. At one time Rod Stewart, Elton John, and Long John Baldry played
in the same blues band in the UK.
It
is interesting to note that many who have played The Yale over the years had
settled in Vancouver after growing up and living in other places. Tom Lavin
and his brother grew up in Chicago. Jim Byrnes came from the St. Louis,
Missouri area. Long John Baldry was from the UK. I have to wonder if they still
see Vancouver as the same city they discovered many years ago. That they
decided to call Vancouver their home must have a lot to do with the friends
they have met over the years. I don’t think they watch The Real Housewives of
Vancouver and I don’t think they are probably totally thrilled when they see
another hi-rise condo being built.
When
you think about it, most of those who play R & B are in their 50s and 60s.
You hardly ever see a younger guy up on the stage. I think R& B is kind of
like Viagra to a lot of them. Most of these musicians like jazz but probably
find it too sedate. Rock and roll kind of died a long time ago and a lot of it
was kind of saccharine. Playing R & B shows that you have made a long time
commitment to a music that can’t be learned in 5 minutes. It also shows that
you still have some shit disturber in you. You have seen the good and the bad
times and R & B was always about the good times.
Over
a period of about 10 years, I must have been in The Yale 50 times. I saw
Brickhouse, Russell Jackson, Widemouth Mason, Doc Fingers, Long John Baldry,
Jim Byrnes, Powder Blues, Gerry Doucette, and many others. I was never ever
disappointed.
The late Long John Baldry |
Jim Byrnes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4zDKUepCI |
The
dance floor has filled up. Occasionally somebody will go bouncing into a nearby
table. The place is packed with people standing on the emergency exit steps and
it is standing room only. If you were going to make your move it is now
probably too late unless you are standing beside some good looking gal. A young
lady in a long dress wanders through the place selling roses. Buying some
flowers for some gal you had just met moments before might just be a tad on the
cheesy side.
I
used to have a routine at The Yale. I drank a maximum of 3 beers (usually
Heinekens) and about an hour before I planned to leave I would order a coffee.
One night I went out and got into my car for the trip home. I rounded a corner
and lo and behold I was faced with a police roadblock. When it was my turn to
answer some questions a women cop said to me “Have you got decals for this
rig?” I thought for sure I was going to have to blow into breathalyser. It
turned out that I hadn’t put the decal on my back plate. I got out of the car
and started fumbling with the backing on the decal. It was raining out and the
woman cop came over and gave me a rag to dry off the area where the decal was
supposed to go. I lucked out that night.
The
last time I was at The Yale was about 4 years ago. The billing for the night
was Jim Byrnes and Bill Henderson and Chilliwack. I went with my girlfriend
Linda and my son Dean. Up ahead of us in the line-up was Jack McIlhargey, the
former Canuck player and coach. The Yale was a popular spot for the famous and
near famous. One night a gal I danced with claimed to be professional Canadian
golfer Sandra Post. It was great evening with Linda and Dean and the joint
rocked. I was very glad to expose some more people to the unique place that the
Yale was.
Bill Henderson and Chilliwack |
Nobody
ever got rich playing the Yale. Rich or not, a lot of the musicians had big
hearts. A lot of fund raising was done over the years at The Yale for good
causes. When I was doing a bit of research on this story I went through some
videos on YouTube. One of the videos had Dave Woodward on it. He was one cool looking
guy back in the day with his head bobbing when he wasn’t playing his sax. He
spent 20 years with Powder Blues and 10 years before that with The Downchild
Blues Band. For the past several years he has been working with senile older
folks and involving them in music. The dude seems like a class act.
I
highly recommend looking at Youtube videos of the great musicians who played at
The Yale. It will bring back a lot of good memories if you ever happened to
stumble into The Yale.
I
left Vancouver for Vancouver Island several years ago. About 4 years ago we
went a club in Nanaimo called The Queens. The joint reminded me a lot about The
Yale. The Queens Hotel dates back to the 1890s. In all the dives and nightclubs
I have been to over the years, this particular night was one of the best.
Buckwheat Zydeco was the entertainment for the evening and the place shook. Our
seats were just a few feet away from the band. I got to shake hands with
Buckwheat (Stan Dural) as he left the stage after their last song. As he would
say….”It don’t get much better then dat!”
Last
Christmas Linda bought me guitar lessons for Christmas. I already had a guitar
that my son had let me have that wasn’t being used. My guitar teacher’s name is
Doug Thring. Doug is a pretty laid back type. After my first lesson Linda asked
Doug if he could find an acoustic guitar at a reasonable price. He did just
that. We see Doug about once a week for an hour and there are always a few
laughs. That G Major is a bitch! I don’t have big expectations. I don’t think I
will ever be on any stage but I will learn how to play a few tunes….”Scotch and
soda, mud in your eye, baby do I feel high”?
The
Yale closed on November 20th, 2011. I have no idea when the new Yale
Hotel is supposed to open. As I understand it a deal was cut where the old Yale
would be updated and incorporated into a new condo complex.
I’m
no R & B expert, but I actually do know how to walk my dog. I will close this
story with a song recommendation for people who like the blues. Look it up on
YouTube. It is the blues version of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five by Jimmy Johnson……
“Right
now ladies and gents we’re going to take 5 so we can stay alive.
We
might take 10 but we’ll be back again.
We
might take 20 but when we come back we’re going to play a plenty.
We’re
not going to take 30 because that would be kind of dirty.
So
if you want to be somebody, get yourself another beer and stay here.
Don’t
be a clown and go to town or be a square and walk out and go somewhere.”
One
last note…I used to make a lot of homemade CD’s that had themes to them. If I was doing something on bluesy stuff I
would often run the following 3 tunes back to back.
#1
Somewhere Down The Crazy River- Robbie Robertson…”I followed the song of a
jukebox coming from up the levee.”
#2
Blue Bayou-Roy Orbsison…”I feel so bad, I’ve got a worried mind…”
#3
Blues In The Night-Peggy Lee…”From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe…”
Update:
I was in Vancouver a few days ago and took the following photo of The Yale. The restoration is way behind schedule. I had a brief look inside and it looks like the place has been gutted. A security guy told me I couldn't come in. He also told me that he thought it was a waste of time rebuilding the place and if it was up to him he would have levelled the building. The Yale was built in the 1890's. Vancouver has very few buildings that old. It is well worth restoring as far as I'm concerned.
I was at the club in 1990 I can tell it had lots of history yes some one with deep pockets and bring it back to some glory would be nice
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