Happy 111th Birthday To Tin Lizzie

On 1st October 1908, the Ford Motor Co. produced the first Model T, probably the most important automobile ever produced. Henry Ford said:

“I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

It was a huge and immediate success, opening up enhanced mobility for Everyman.  From today’s perspective we can see that it was also the precursor to the dreadful congestion we have on the roads, along with all the other ills that automobiles have inflicted on us. However, for a time at least, the Model T was the great liberator of the working man and his family.

Image: Street Art #1

Changes on The Drive #98

I did the walk yesterday and it was like a summer’s day; I was significantly over-dressed, but not complaining.  There are virtually no changes on the Drive this month, stability (almost) reigns).

Not surprisingly, Mintage at 1714 Commercial is listed as one of Vancouver’s Best Thrift stores in a list compiled by the Georgia Strait.

The Benchhouse Bakery in the Il Mercato mall gets a nod in the Daily Hive’s list of best bread in Vancouver.  It is the only place on the Drive that makes the list (although Uprising on Venables makes the list).

As suggested last month, 1346 Commercial has now opened as a multi-service store with printing and cell phones.

 

Sula at 1128 Commercial makes the Hive‘s list of best Indian food in Vancouver. They call it “a gem.”

Next door, at 1124, the Stlll Fabulous store makes the Straight’s Best Thrift stores.

 

The Miscellany store at 1029 Commercial is another Best Thrift store according to the Straight.

As posted a few days ago, the wonderful Skylight Restaurant, at 1012 Commercial has joined the pantheon of now-closed diners I have loved. We went back on Sunday, their very last day, and were happy to stand in line for half an hour, so eager were folks to say goodbye to a treasured neighbour. This was my last meal there and the shot represents my nostalgia for things now gone.

 

This storefront has been a diner since the building was erected in 1977. But no longer: A little bird tells me that the space will be taken over by a non-sushi, non-breakfast, Japanese restaurant.

I had wondered where the Britannia kids who frequented the Skylight at lunchtime would go. Perhaps it is no surprise that, when I walked by yesterday about noon, the Pizza Garden at 1042 Commercial was overflowing with them.

Little Miss Vintage at 931 Commercial also gets a mention in the Straight‘s Best Thrift stores article.

 

Vacancies on The Drive This Month:  2277 Commercial (3 months vacant), 2223 (7 months), 1740 (2 months), 1735 (12 months), 1544 (4 months), 1260 (3 months), 1128 (2 months).

 

Previous Changes On The Drive editions.

October