3 replies to this topic

[glenalan54]

Here are some trivia questions about drinking establishments of Victoria. These are tough but I'm sure you can get one or two. The answers follow the questions at the bottom.

1. Who opened the first saloon in Victoria in 1852? (Hint - the city fathers named a street after him)
2. Did we have prohibition (of alcohol) in British Columbia. If so when did it start and end?
3. What year did the first Beer Parlour open within Victoria City Limits? What was the beer parlour called? Where was it located?
4. What was the name of the first lounge that opened in Victoria? Where was it located?
5. Where was the second cocktail lounge to open in Victoria located?
6. Victoria once had the largest beer parlour in British Columbia - what was it called?
7. What nightclub used to be a bowling alley?
8. What establishment had the first strippers?
9. What was the name of the beer parlour/pub located in the Empress Hotel from 1970 to 1989?
10. What was the most notorious beer parlour/pub in town back in the 1970's?

Answers:
1.) The very first saloon to open in the tiny settlement of Victoria was the Ship Inn opened by James Yates.
2.) Yes British Columbia had prohibition from October 1, 1917 until June 1921.
3.) The very first beer parlour to open in Victoria was the Drake beer parlour located on the 500 block of Johnson Street which opened Friday September 17, 1954.
4.) The first cocktail lounge to open in Victoria (and BC) was the Strathcona Room, which opened Thursday July 1, 1954 in the Strathcona Hotel - where Big Bad Johns is today.
5.) The Second cocktail Lounge to open in Victoria is now known as the Bengal Room in the Empress - the Sylvia Hotel cocktail lounge was the second to open in all of BC.
6.) The Ingraham Hotel had the largest beer parlour in British Columbia until a larger one opened in Kitimat some years later.
7.) The Old Forge was a bowling alley before it was a nightclub.
8.) There is some arguement about which bar had the first strippers but the two leading places tend to be the Golden Slipper 1318 Broad Street (upstairs) or the Bacchanalia at the corner of Head and Esquimalt (but that's not in Victoria).
9.) The Beaver
10.) Well this one you can take your pick: The RO (Royal Olympic), the Churchill on Government near Bastion, the Douglas Hotel beer parlour (The Dug Out) or the Colony Pub (Brass Rail) are all good contenders.

Hope you enjoyed.

[Sparky]

^ Glenalan54 your # 8 is clearly not the Golden Slipper, I worked for Gordy. The strippers started when the establishment was known as the "Brown Jug". Now whether who was first, I can't recall, the Bacchanalia was owned by a stock car driver. Definitely not the Golden Slipper.

[OSJ]

funny , my boss owned the colony with the brass rail, then moved on to buying the bedford regency hotel wich had the churchill.
the churchill was in the basement under Garrick's Head.

[Benezet]

funny , my boss owned the colony with the brass rail, then moved on to buying the bedford regency hotel wich had the churchill.
the churchill was in the basement under Garrick's Head.

I once made the mistake of going in there for off-sales while wearing a tuxedo. The bartender told me to get out. Nowadays, suits are a rare sight at Garrick's Head, which is fine by me!