Aristocratic Restaurants — Vancouver, BC
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Dunbar Loop
N 49° 15.802 W 123° 08.328
10U E 489901 N 5456742
'Risty' was the name of the Aristocratic Restaurants mascot. Adorned with a tophat and a monocle he represented the top-end nature of this local chain of diners covering Vancouver and Burnaby.
Waymark Code: WM170X2
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 11/16/2022
Views: 3
Aristocratic Restaurant, Date: September 28, 1951.
Image courtesy Vancouver Public Library, public domain.
VPL Accession Number: 81669.
Photographer / Studio: Artray
The Aristocratic Restaurants had locations all over Vancouver and Burnaby. At its height, there were around a dozen locations. Started in 1932 at Fraser and Kingsway, this diner chain had locations at 13th & Cambie, 10th & Alma, Main & King Edward (now Helen’s Grill), and Granville & Smithe.
The location on the southwest corner of Broadway and Granville was the last one to survive making it into the early 1990s when the Vancouver School Board decided to level the block it owned, including the Aristocratic. After the dust of construction had settled and the national bookstore chain Chapters opened up on the site of the restaurant this restored neon sign appeared in the window and it has shone ever since.