No More Shadow

I was saddened, nay devastated, to read yesterday that the Burnaby Mountain Shadow is closing.... to make way for townhouses.

Just when I think I love Vancouver. The Yuppies Strike Back.


The Shadow was a bit of an institution at the base of Burnaby Mountain. It was a hang out for SFU students, including myself. I had at least one birthday party there, and got in to the sort of trouble that only dumb college kids get in to. I actually never liked the ski resort motif it had, but the place, which has been there serving SFU students and seconding as a neighbourhood pub, has been an institution since 1980.

There is a campaign to save it in some form, be it as a pub with soundproofing, a community centre, or a museum. But if it is not a pub I don't really see a point. Also, most of the noise was outside the place, as University kids spilled out at 2am to stumble up the mountain to the University dorms or waited for a cab or a friend to pick them up. I guess I can see why some people would not appreciate the noise, but lets be honest here, if you bought a house next to a pub you don't have much of a right to complain about the noise. Earplugs people.

I missed going the last time I was in Vancouver, as Burnaby is a bit of a mission and I only had two weeks. Now I really wish I had gone. I went back once in 2011, and I guess that'll be the last time. I guess though, that it is a place that lives in my 2006-2008 memories. I guess I am okay with that, though its closing is the end of an era at SFU.