Photo Credit: roaming-the-planet
333-335 CARRALL St, Vancouver BC
Gastown
Removed
D
O
The first occupants of this building were the Vancouver Drug Company run by Dr. James Rolls, and the Vancouver Tea and Coffee Company managed by Won Alexander Cumyow, the first Canadian Born Chinese and well known in Vancouver as a community leader and a court interpreter. Built in 1889, the building took the Louvre name in 1897 with its manager promoting the only circular bar in the province and suggested customers “call in and lubricate”. Today, the same building encourages and sustains locals in a different way – Gospel Mission – founded in 1929 – has occupied the former Louvre Hotel since the 1940s. In 1940, the Bijou Theatre next door was torn down along with a section on the Louvre. A faded reminder of the buildings past can still be seen on the alley side that says “Louvre Saloon, beds 20 cents”.
VHF's Places That Matter plaque project, Changing Vancouver blog