1892: Vancouver's first spa and a hotel of 'moral depravity'
The Spa Cafe brought refined ice cream and afternoon teas to Gastown in 1892. Its owner later found work at the Cosmopolitan—a saloon that became infamous for vice.
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When Vancouver was only six years old with a population of 16,000, entrepreneur Percy Venables opened The Spa Cafe on June 11, 1892, positioning it as a place of refinement in rough-and-tumble Gastown.
Located at 168 Cordova (the southeast corner of Cambie, where the Cambie Hotel stands today), the cafe advertised "afternoon teas" alongside "delicious ice cream, ice cream soda, water ices, fresh French candies and frozen oysters." The space featured "cut flowers in great profusion" and a "private parlour for ladies." The ad promised there was "no water in our milk" and pandered to anti-Asian racism of the era by advertising "no Chinese employed."
Customers could telephone 426 to order a quart of French ice cream for delivery. The price was 60 cents before opening but rose to 75 cents by June 11.
The Spa Cafe gained a reputation early on. On December 26, 1892, the Daily News Advertiser reported it "has gained a reputation for serving dainty diners," and the cafe hosted a 60-person Christmas dinner with an ambitious menu ranging from boiled ox tongue and fried smelts to roast turkey and prime beef.
But by March 1894, Venables had moved to work at the dining room of the Cosmopolitan Hotel at 77 Cordova (northeast corner of Abbott) and closed the Spa.
The Cosmopolitan was owned by Jackson T. Abray, Vancouver's first police constable in 1886. Before becoming a cop, Abray ran the Palace Hotel, which burned in the Great Fire of June 13, 1886. When it went up in flames, Mayor Malcolm MacLean (whom Abray had reportedly talked into running) hired him as a police constable. After leaving the force in 1889, Abray took over the Cosmopolitan, which operated more as a saloon than a hotel.
By 1906, the Cosmopolitan had become notorious. On May 9, 1906, The Province reported that "moral reformers" led by future Conservative MP H.H. Stephens objected to Abray being granted a liquor license because the establishment was known as a centre of "vice and moral depravity." Stephens alleged in a petition that it was "the rendezvous of thugs, thieves and rogues, and the resort of women ill-fame."
Stephens pointed out that the Cosmopolitan had lost its license in 1905 after police found the bar was serving liquor at prohibited hours—1 a.m. on Sunday, September 24, 1905.
Venables' journey from refined ice cream to a hotel steeped in scandal reflects the chaotic entrepreneurship of early Vancouver.