“West End Memories Project: Growing Up in Vancouver’s West End”
Nadine Jones grew up in the West End in the Depression Years with the kind of spirit that allowed two girls and their young mother to survive and go on to lead very productive lives.
Here is Part 3. Part 1 here, part 2 here. (To contribute a story, check below the fold below.)
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Times really change, nowadays girls spill out of their clothes and pretend to be upset when boys make lewd remarks but when my age group were young, if we walked down English Bay and men didn’t whistle or call out we wondered what the hell was the matter with us!
I was boy crazy and one of the young men I remember particularly when I was about fifteen was called Trevor Knox. His family, I think, owned Jordan’s Persian Rugs. I lived in two horrible rooms in Morton Lodge and his home was a castle in my eyes. I think it was located at the corner of Chilco and Gilford and had Topiary in the garden. He took me home to meet his mother one day and I was terrified and proved it by falling over the door mat when his mum opened the front door. She was very gracious but I still blush to this day when I think of it!
I was married very young (18) to a sailor who lived (ugh) east of Main St. Nobody who was anybody lived east of Main St., in those days. He was shipped overseas four months later and didn’t come back for almost three years. He was the father of Lynne my eldest of four girls. His name was Leonard Jako. (now deceased).
Davie and Burrard, with Embassy Ballroom (now Celebrities)
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I adored dancing and the whole time he was gone I spent every evening I could at the Embassy Ballroom on Davie or the Alexandra ballroom with the spring floor above the liquor store at Hornby and Robson. (it was called the gonorrhea racetrack but I never went home with anyone it didn’t matter to me) I was offered drugs at The Alex many times (which I always declined) so it isn’t just today that kids are offered drugs. In retrospect I was an idiot but not that much of an idiot.
Then there was the Vancouver edition of the Stage Door Canteen next to Christ Church Cathedral on Burrard which was popular but I didn’t want to meet anyone I just wanted to dance.
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Gary Pennington welcomes your contribution:
Please take this as a sincere invitation to write your story or stories about Growing Up in the West End. Use whatever styles that suite you. Stories or letters can be anywhere from 25 words to 2,500 words.
We may have to break down lengthy pieces into shorter stories in some cases. We will not indulge in any extensive editing other than what is absolutely required. Prior to portrayal on the website or publication in print, we will ensure that issues to do with potential libel or defamation are dealt with to protect writers and those written about. While we encourage candour and disclosure, if there are things that you feel are too sensitive for real names to be used, please use pseudonyms and state this in your writing.
We would ask you to contribute your stories as soon as possible so that we can meet the goal of producing a memorial book for the 100th anniversary of King George High School in 2014. Please send your stories, pictures, memorabilia, and certainly any ideas that you have about the project to the address below. If you have the technical skills please send stories as attachments in MSWord format. If you don’t have that skill set, please send us your stories by the postal service. If that is not convenient, we can likely arrange for a personal or telephone interview. We also need contact information for other former West Enders. Please send us any such information that you may have.
Thanks very much for considering this invitation to be part of what we feel will be a truly grand project for us and those who follow. Again, please know that what we wish to do is to give voice to much of the joy and sadness that marked our lives as West End youth. We are happy to answer questions that you may have. All good wishes.
Gary Pennington, 2838 Hwy 101, Roberts Creek, BC, V0N 2W3
E: gazpen@gmail.com T: 604-886-5746
