Muzac For Munsters

[Blob Mckenzie]

We used to go shopping at the old Woodward’s on Hastings in the late 70s as little kids with Mom and Dad before Coquitlam Centre opened. That area wasn’t an eyesore back then.

[Chef Boi RD]

We used to go shopping at the old Woodward’s on Hastings in the late 70s as little kids with Mom and Dad before Coquitlam Centre opened. That area wasn’t an eyesore back then.

Were you that kid who kicked me in the shins by the escalator with those hard dress shoes on? I’ll never forget that kid.

[Carl Yagro]

We used to go shopping at the old Woodward’s on Hastings in the late 70s as little kids with Mom and Dad before Coquitlam Centre opened. That area wasn’t an eyesore back then.

Skid Row was still awesome in the 70s. It was rough but Hastings was still vibrant and full of businesses.

As kids, we used to walk down with our folks from Chinatown Strathcona, via Hastings & Main to the A & N for clothes. Then Woodwards for groceries.

It was like heaven for us. Six floors to run around in, every floor had an arcade machine. The toy department was big and awesome. We'd spend an entire day down there.

The well-to-do families would shop on the Granville strip, Bay and Eaton's but we loved the DTES before it became what it is now. Really sad.

[Chef Boi RD]

Its not a racial slight its too many fuckin people all squabbling over average homes.

I'm glqd i got to grow up there and enjoy what it was before it became this.

Hey Chef did u used to go for hangover breaky at the totem? Or De Dutch Pannekoek at the end of hastings?

I’m a north shore guy, Brown. My old man was East Van. We did the Tomahawk off Marine Drive and the De Dutch where Marine meets 3rd street beside the Oasis Car Wash

Do you prefer Oppenheimer Park or Mahon Park?

Fond memories at Oppenheimer as a kid. There was a fast pitch league for all the stripper bars. The Fives home field was Oppenheimer park, watched countless many games there as a kid, that was my enjoyment as a kid, watch a bunch of drunk bar men play ball at Oppenheimer, once watched a drunken native lady attack my Mom there once. I wonder if that was SKYO’s Mom. Remember the Marr Hotel across the street? They were in the league. It’s a total shit hole now.

Yeah I think it's a tent city squat these days.

Geez your granddad was quite a scrapper back in the day eh. Wow.

I don't really know anything about the old culture around there, I grew up way out in Crescent Beach/White Rock.

Crescent Beach is nice. Nothing wrong with growing up there

[Blob Mckenzie]

We used to go shopping at the old Woodward’s on Hastings in the late 70s as little kids with Mom and Dad before Coquitlam Centre opened. That area wasn’t an eyesore back then.

Were you that kid who kicked me in the shins by the escalator with those hard dress shoes on? I’ll never forget that kid.

Lol I never wore dress shoes as a kid. Maybe Stan Smith leather runners.

[Chef Boi RD]

We used to go shopping at the old Woodward’s on Hastings in the late 70s as little kids with Mom and Dad before Coquitlam Centre opened. That area wasn’t an eyesore back then.

Skid Row was still awesome in the 70s. It was rough but Hastings was still vibrant and full of businesses.

As kids, we used to walk down with our folks from Chinatown Strathcona, via Hastings & Main to the A & N for clothes. Then Woodwards for groceries.

It was like heaven for us. Six floors to run around in, every floor had an arcade machine. The toy department was big and awesome. We'd spend an entire day down there.

The well-to-do families would shop on the Granville strip, Bay and Eaton's but we loved the DTES before it became what it is now. Really sad.

I love Strathcona. My great Nono’s house still stands on Prior street. We did the Bay on Granville mostly, but we had Park Royal on the North Shore so going downtown shopping wasn’t very often for us

[Chef Boi RD]

We used to go shopping at the old Woodward’s on Hastings in the late 70s as little kids with Mom and Dad before Coquitlam Centre opened. That area wasn’t an eyesore back then.

Were you that kid who kicked me in the shins by the escalator with those hard dress shoes on? I’ll never forget that kid.

Lol I never wore dress shoes as a kid. Maybe Stan Smith leather runners.

Out of nowhere and for no reason Doyle he just laid that hard as fuck dress shoe into my shin

[Cornuck]

Out of nowhere and for no reason Doyle he just laid that hard as fuck dress shoe into my shin

And you guys have been at like an old married couple ever since.

Yeah - shopping for 'school clothes' at Woodwards - that was a while ago! Years later, I was clothes shopping at the great army surplus store on Hastings, then pub crawl back to the record stores along Granville / Seymour and West 4th.

[Carl Yagro]

What kid wore dress shoes in the DTES?

Most got no-name brands at the Army & Navy (huge shoe department back then). If we were lucky, we occasionally got a pair of North Stars.

You'd never see Stan Smiths or Nike canvas shoes. Those were for the rich kids shopping on Granville.

[Cornuck]

My brother still wears Stan Smith....

[Carl Yagro]

$100+ for old, uncomfortable 70s tech? Unbelievable cash grab for a bit of nostalgia.

I'll admit, they bring back good memories. I got a pair of Stan Smith's for my birthday one year. I was so happy.

But I can't wear bright white, leather sneakers at my age now. Looking like a 90s Seinfeld.

[Cornuck]

Yep... you've described my brother's look (minus the puffy shirt).

I think he buys them new.

[Carl Yagro]

I recently went back to Converse Chuck Taylors though. Haven't worn them since I was a kid. Bought a couple pairs.

Classic great looks but with updated comfort.

[Megaterio Llamas]

There was a second, even older, smaller Pantages theater farther up Hastings near Main. It was finally destroyed in 2011 but not before the city dicked around for a while going through the motions of trying to save it. This one was still open in the mid seventies as the City Nights and my friends and I used to like to go down there to watch movies once in a while. It was a really cool old place with ornate plaster sculpture and great balconies and it used to run a lot of cult movies. I first saw The Night of the Living Dead there. It stayed open as a Chinese theater for quite a few years after that but it sat empty for a long time in a state of decay. Too long I guess.

[Megaterio Llamas]