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10 Years Ago This Week, Inside the Launch of Lucy’s Eastside Diner

For this week’s edition of #ThrowbackThursday we go back exactly 10 years to the arrival of Lucy’s Eastside Diner at 2708 Main Street in the heart of Mt. Pleasant.

So much change has come to the neighbourhood since Lucy’s opened (24 hours a day), but it has remained a reliable constant, emerging as something of an institution. Here’s to the next 10 years (raises cup of coffee)! Text and photos from back in the day:

Whip owners Erv Salvadore and his wife Casey Thiessen have just opened Lucy’s Eastside Diner at 2708 Main St. (the former home of Yummy’s Frozen Dim Sum). It’s a 30 seater with a swivel stool bar, mirrored lunch counter, two front window four tops and a bunch of deuce booths. The menu is very simple: old school diner-esque with fried chicken, melts, burgers, milkshakes and all day breakfasts. They’re licensed, serving Red Racer, Slipstream, Nelson Stout and Steam Whistle beers, plus a limited cocktail selection until midnight (they’ve put in to City Hall for the obligatory 1am extension). That all sounds well and good, but the coolest thing about Lucy’s is that it’s open 24 hours a day! Now all of Vancouver’s service staff have a place to go after clocking out that isn’t Denny’s or The Naam. How sweet is that? You can read more about it my Westender column next Thursday, but in the meantime, feast on the photos after the leap…

  • Exterior | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Menu | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Fried chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Soft serve chocolate milkshake | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Interior deuce booths | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • The tuna melt and brace of mini-burgers | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Interior | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Soft serve vanilla milkshake | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Kitchen doors | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Umbrella stand | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Interior | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Owner Erv Salvadore | Lucy's Eastside Diner
  • Exterior | Lucy's Eastside Diner

Five Years Ago This Week, Inside the Mess That Would Eventually Become ‘The Arbor’

It's been five years since they first broke ground on The Acorn's casual cousin. Take a look inside its messy beginnings.

Exactly Five Years Ago, One of Vancouver’s Best Restaurants Softly Opened in Chinatown

These photos were taken the night of the Japanese-Italian inspired restaurant's first friends and family service in late April, 2016.

Five Years Ago in East Van, Patiently Awaiting the Arrival of Really Good Pie

The new Pie Shoppe address allowed for more room and natural light, not to mention the ability to actually seat guests.

Five Years Ago Today, Inside the Beginnings of Nightingale Restaurant

I remember being floored by the sheer size of the project, which loomed more like a cathedral ruin than a restaurant.