by Andrew Morrison & Michelle Sproule | Last week we took a good long look inside the labyrinth at 1024 Main Street between the Ivanhoe and Campagnolo. The voluminous, 10,000 sqft, mulit-level maze was secured by The Cobalt’s Ezra Kish and Morgan Ellis on January 4th. Their goal is to turn it into a multipurpose arts facility that will act as permanent home to the Eastside Flea Market. The building – home to the Main Street Sheet Metal Co. for 80 years – will also house artisan studios, small business workshops, craft demos, food truck get togethers, summer BBQs, and presumably much more.
Ezra and Morgan gave us the tour together with Eastside Flea co-founder Jill Whitford. What we saw was pretty astounding; it’s an amazing space — three and half levels with an attached warehouse and an enclosed courtyard space in the back. The potential of the building as an arts space was plain to see. (Imagine a miniature version of Parker Street Studios and then put it on Main Street)
“We’re really going to try and make the space unique in that people can create, sell and grow their craft all under one roof.” Morgan told us. “We’ll also be making the venue really accessible – free or by donation – to other arts and culture organizations, specifically non-profits, to use.” That means theatre performances, workshops, small gatherings, events, and so on.
They hope to have it (at least partially) operational this Spring. The Wise Hall will host its final Eastside Flea Markets on February 13 & 14 (1882 Adanac Street at Victoria Drive). “Join us under the twinkling lights of the historic East Van Wise Hall one last time for our farewell market to this beautiful space we’ve called home for the past 3 years! It’s sure to be two exciting days of friendly faces, cool tunes, local vendors and amazing goods.” Explore the new digs as we did below…
Nice! Potential! It looks so much like the former Red Gate space on Hastings at Cambie