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Vancouver Now & Then: Before it was Movieland Arcade, this building was home to The Esquire Café

The iconic arcade and peepshow venue shut down in 2021, but decades earlier it was home to a Theatre Row diner.
John Bentley - Vancouver Now & Then
esquire-cafe
Have a look at the past and more recent past of 906 Granville St. Though for the last few decades Vancouver has known this address as the infamous Movieland Arcade, in the 1940s it was a diner called The Esquire.Vancouver Archives and John Bentley/Vancouver Now & Then

In the 1940s, this stretch of Granville Street was known as Theatre Row and movie patrons could go to The Esquire to enjoy a nice pork chop or get their tea leaves read by Madame Lucille.

The building at 906 Granville St eventually became home to Vancouver's infamous Movieland Arcade in the late 60s or early 70s (accounts differ). The venue closed in 2021. 

Time has not been kind to this building. I wonder if all that beautiful neon signage survived somewhere?

esquire-cafe
Have a look at the past and more recent past of 906 Granville St. Though for the last few decades Vancouver has known this address as the infamous Movieland Arcade, in the 1940s it was a diner called The Esquire. Vancouver Archives and John Bentley/Vancouver Now & Then

With additional reporting by Lindsay William-Ross

John Bentley is an architectural photographer who has photographed the inside and outside of thousands of buildings around Vancouver. Using images from the Vancouver Archives he offers a glimpse of the past and present on his site Vancouver Now & Then.