Vancouver rockin’ in 1966 with nightclubs, bands and strippers

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When people talk about the Vancouver music and club scene in the 1960s, they’re often thinking about the hippie era, and psychedelic hot spots like the Retinal Circus and The Afterthought.

But Vancouver’s nightlife was arguably more happening just before the hippies — and liquor licences — arrived on the scene.

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Many clubs advertised in the Friday and Saturday Vancouver Sun. And their ads are just fantastic.

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Take Dec. 23-24, 1966, when there were about 30 cabaret and restaurant ads in The Sun. You had live music venues, you had strip clubs with music, and you had restaurants with or without music.

The Pink Pussycat at 352 Water St. in Gastown advertised it was “Vancouver’s Swinging A’ Go Go,” with entertainment by Soul Unlimited, the Raible Brothers and the Checkmates.

The Pink Pussycat also had go go girls, and was open from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., which means it didn’t have a liquor licence and could stay open till well past the closing time at bars. People brought their own liquor and hid it under the table, the venues sold mix.

The Surf also advertised itself as “A Go Go” at 821 River Rd., “at Richmond marina on the airport road.” The entertainment was by a band called The Mojo, featuring Norm Lancaster. And yes, it had go go girls.

The headliner at the Shanghai Junk at 442 Main St. in Chinatown was Baby Jane, who may have been an exotic dancer. Baby Jane was “direct from San Francisco,” but was probably upstaged by Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers, a local act that was later signed to Motown and had Tommy Chong on guitar. Chong’s family ran the joint.

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Down the street at 544 Main, Club New Delhi was hosting “Stripperama.” The ad featured a drawing of several naked women, their nether regions covered by a “Stripperama” banner.

Over at Frank’s Cabaret at 64 East Hastings, country singer Allan Lee, “the singing drummer Bryan Law, and “Mr. showbiz” Saxy Williams were performing. The fourth act was Melonie de Milo, who was described as “the amazing 55 inch bust.”

The Frank’s Cabaret ad was just above an ad for the legendary Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret at 109 East Hastings, which had bluesman Guitar Shorty along with Miss Penny, “Chicago’s favourite exotic.” Guitar Shorty was based in Seattle at the time, and married to Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister.

The entertainment was a little more tame at the Marco Polo at 90 East Pender, where Jim and Pati and the Sparklers offered “a fun filled show of music, mirth and song.” Earlier in the day, the Marco Polo lured in diners with its 10-course Chinese smorgasbord.

A 10-course smorgasbord was also on the menu at the King of Clubs at 1275 Seymour, which later became the home of The Luvafair. People of a certain age will remember Gary Taylor as the proprietor of Gary Taylor’s Rock Room in the late 70s/early 80s, but in the 60s he was a drummer that had his own “swinging” band at the King of Clubs, the Gary Taylor 4.

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There were several more clubs downtown, including The Torch Cabaret at 1129 Howe, where future Collectors singer Howie Vickers was performing with the Illusions.

The Torch ad also advertised it was having a “Giant New Year’s Eve Frolic.” For $4 you got “hats, noisemakers, etc.,” for $7.50 you got a hot turkey dinner.

Oil Can Harry’s had the snappiest logo, a dapper and somewhat dastardly guy in a top hat leaning on a cane. Its “New Year’s Eve Jamboree” was spread over two floors and featured “two of the best R&B and Mercy Beat bands,” The Nocturals and The Villains.

They probably meant Merseybeat, as in The Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers and The Searchers. It was at 752 Thurlow, and was a classy place: the ad says “Jacket and Tie please.”

Even the Sea Vue in Blaine, Wash., took out a Sun ad, although you have to guess at what the show is. It featured an “undersea adventure with gorgeous mermaids” called The Aqua Sex, and it was “fun and laughs.”

The last line is “adults only,” so it might have been a bit naughty.

jmackie@postmedia.com

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