In 1926 (or thereabouts) a new car service and parts building designed by Swinburne Annandale Kayll was developed by Boultbee Ltd. Later Clarke Simpkins, owner of the city’s largest Ford dealership, took the building over and used it as his parts and a service facility. By the early 1960s that use had ceased, and in 1963 the building took on a new life as Seymour Billards, owned by Edmonton restaurant operators. Inside there were large charcoal drawings of famous pool players on the walls, with a small snack bar at the back. It was a big space, with 36 full-sized, 6 x 12-foot Brunswick round-cornered tables. Outside was one of the city’s fabulous neon signs, with three sequentially lit ‘9’ balls (to signal the address) above a revolving ‘Seymour Billiards’ name.
By 1981 when these pictures were taken there were fewer patrons for the hall. A Ford dealership (Dominion Motors) was still on the block, but in the former Vancouver Motors building to the north. That too converted to a different use more recently, as Staples office supplies, with office space on the upper floors. The billiards use eventually closed in 1999, and after a period as a parking lot, a new condo building designed by Acton Ostry Architects was completed in 2014.
Image sources: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 779-E03.06A and CVA 779-E03.05A
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Changing Vancouver 