Former V.I.A. contributor Jef Choy sent in this crazy photo of what used to be PD's Hot Shop at 2864 West 4th Avenue (at Macdonald) today. The new PD's Hot Shop is alive and well at 3734 West 10th Avenue (at Alma St) on the west side of Vancouver and this photo of the ghost of the one is a reminder to me of how things are constantly changing in this city.
For many years PD (a friend and mentor of mine, whom we once featured HERE) had headquartered his international skateboard brand, Skull Skates, in one of the suites that used to be located at the top of this staircase. To the right of it - at ground level - was his store, the aforementioned PD's Hot Shop. In the 1990's I was a neighbour of theirs, taking up residence in a large one bedroom suite (for $685 a month!) that was accessed by climbing these stairs and hanging a left. He managed the building so PD was essentially my landlord as well as a client of mine as I was making a go at designing web sites and he had me doing updates and tweaks to SkullSkates.com.
If I look back on my early career as an online publisher I have PD to thank for giving me enough work to keep food on the table while as a passion project I pursued publishing the first online skateboarding magazine, which then went on to be bought up by a large dot com and kickstart my career. Fastforward 13 lucky years and here I am doing Vancouver Is Awesome, a free resource keeping you up to speed on many of the things that make your city great... so essentially you have him to thank for being the spark that lit the fuse that got this thing going.
Pay the new PD's Hot Shop a visit at 3734 West 10th Avenue (at Alma St), and tell them Bob sent you!
