The ever-evolving Restaurant Graveyard series looks back at the countless, long-shuttered establishments that helped to propel Vancouver’s food and drink forward. Full A-Z with maps and photos here. May they never be forgotten!

The Hollywood Café (previously the Blue Goose Cafe), with its long lunch counter (with 25 bolted-down swivel seats), seven booths, separate formal dining room and gleaming art deco interior, was the food and beverage institution on the main floor of the Norfolk Hotel during and after the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Located at 872 Granville Street between the Commodore Ballroom and the Orpheum Theatre in the heart of Vancouver’s theatre district, the Hollywood offered 30 cent lunches, dine and dance specials, and an on-site fortune-telling palmist. I have no idea as to the quality of the food, but since it lasted for a decade it couldn’t have been that terrible. Either way, it sure was pretty.

The Hollywood became the Good Eats Cafe in 1949, its lunch counter demolished and converted to retail at some point in the second half of the 20th century. The whole of the space has seen a retail/restaurant split ever since (the same that saw the highly trafficked American Apparel (now Brandy Melville) and Cafe Crepe pairing of the 2000s.

Hollywood Cafe

Neighbourhood: Downtown

872 Granville St.

(Closed)