Ivanhoe Pub — Restaurant in Vancouver

Hey, I love to tie a few on at the IVANHOE! Classic joint. Very dodgy, very rad. The last payphone in Vancouver! It's not for everybody, but everybody there is for it. I always have a great time there.

Anyways... I noticed your "Never 51" sign outside. I actually remember seeing it get installed, I happened to be walking by for lunch. I also noticed you mounted a couple Canadian flags, which is nice. However I have to say, I noticed the "never 51" sign has been damaged, looks like its been torn in half, and then refastened to the wall with more screws. You know, when the flag is damaged, the Canadian Heritage Society asks that the flag be removed and disposed of in a respectful manner. Not only that, but the flag is also not to be defaced in any way, both of which occurred when the flag was made into a sign, and when screws and washers were used to fasten it to the wall... That's also recognized as a violation of the flag, as the flag is to be flown, not used as a drape, dressing, or wall covering. My point is that I notice you PAINTED the missing "51" from the defaced flag sign onto the wall underneath. And I guess what I'm trying to say is, in putting this NEVER 51 sign outside your place I'm sure your intention wasn't to violate the flag in any way, because you just didn't know. But what it does say is that your message is more important to you than the flag itself. Which tells me that your not so much a Patriot of this country, as you are just somebody who hates Donald Trump. You hate Donald Trump more than you love Canada, and definitely more than you love that flag. You've reduced the flag to a mere political prop. Wow dude, you really OWNED the TRUMPERS with that. I bet he sees it and feels so STUPID! Look at you go, turning the symbol of this country you claim to care about so much, into some advertisement for your political stance. If you truly loved this country, and didn't want it to be hijacked, disrespected and invaded, you would have done something to stop the hijacking, disrespecting and invading that has already taken place right infront of you. Look around! You'd think that as a business that survived this long, through all the recent hardship, in the area youre in, you'd have some memory of what this country once was. But this just says to me you've been watching too much TV and scrolling a shitlib algorithm to the point youve been hard reset or something. Wake TF up and stop embarrassing yourself. Thise who truly love this country do not respect your virtue signaling. It makes you look weak. Men who have shed blood and lost brothers flying THAT flag, believing that they were protecting your right to be a dipshit, do not appreciate what youre putting out there during this careless shitfit youre throwing. Stop being a butt puppet. Have some respect for the flag, have some respect for yourself. Please just take it down and snap out of it. If you want to show some respect, replace those 2 little flags, and your silly defaced flag sign, with a big, high quality Canadian flag. The leaf AND a Red Ensign. That will show patriotism and much more love for this country than what is essentially a big, silly, ripped "I HATE BLUMPFT" sign. Anyways I really like the big...

If you like live music and authentic working class bars, then look no further than the Ivanhoe Pub.  I went on a Sunday and there was a blues band playing.  I don't know the name of the band but the music matched the decor perfectly.  The vibe is very unpretentious and laid back. I feel very comfortable in blue collar pubs like this one. I just had a non-alcoholic beer because I don't drink.  They serve food as well, although I didn't order any.  There are big screen TV's and billiard tables.  Live music is just on the weekends, I believe.

If you need to make a call, there is an old fashioned coin operated phone.  The kind you only see in a phone booth on a street.  I wanted to take about a million photos of this place but I didn't come to the pub alone and you have to be careful about taking too many photos in bars.  I would love to check out some of the hostel rooms upstairs and the basement downstairs.  These old heritage buildings are a photographers dream.

The story behind the building is a long one so I'll just give you the highlights.  The Ivanhoe Pub is on the main floor of the Ivanhoe Hotel.  The upper floors are long stay rooms.  Possibly a hotel, possibly a hostel, or maybe SRO's.  And the main floor is a pub.  It was built in about 1908, or so.  The exact timeline is a little sketchy but it supposedly started out as the Globe Hotel and then in 1920 it became the Ivanhoe.  Even back then it offered long stay hotel rooms.  So that feature has remained consistent.

Rumour has it that back in the old days the nearby Pacific Central Station had lots Black Porters who worked on the trains.  And a lot of them stayed in the Ivanhoe Hotel because it was so close to the train station.  This was also during a time when nearby Hogan's Alley was thriving and was home to a large Black population.  It was a vibrant community that was well known for it's Blues and Jazz music.  Even Jimi Hendrix lived in Hogan's Alley for a time.  Back then the Ivanhoe Pub must have hosted some amazing musicians.  There was no internet in those days but there was a lot of live music and bars.  Which was about as close as you could get to an internet experience, back in the old days.

One could argue that back in the old days the entire community around the Ivanhoe Pub had more life to it.  But all that character and culture got washed away with the construction of the Georgia-Dunsmuir Viaduct, gentrification, and all the homeless problems that now plague the...

I moved into a room in the Ivanhoe hotel which is above the pub in August of 2022. On one or two nights per week they have live music in the pub and although I don't drink I did occasionally come down to listen. There are some pretty talented people, playing good music to a genuienly well received and well behavied crowd. The staff at the hotel are all helpful and if I ever was in distress or appeared as if I needed help they would check on me immediately with kindness and a good amount of well deserved jabs at my often strange behaviour. I have been going trough a tramatic experience and chose to do it away from where I previously lived for 30 years in a much smaller, quieter location. I have nothing but good things to say about the people running the hotel and pub, and I respect the additional work they have to do because of the toxic drug crisis here. they could have turned their backs on the community and turned it into expensive condo's but there's a dire need for affordable rentals in east vancouver and the good folks a the Evanhoe have given 110% to this here community. Thank you for making me feel...