Last call at The Alpen Club: Vancouver fixture closing for redevelopment

The Alpen Club has been a fixture for the German community at East 33rd and Victoria Drive in Vancouver since 1950. Even if you have never been inside, you probably know the building for its distinctive faux-chalet exterior, decorated with the crests of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.

But it’s the inside that was special. It had a hall on the main floor with a sprung dance floor, like the Commodore Ballroom, and the giant Deutsches Haus restaurant in the basement, where generations of Vancouverites washed down roasted pork hock, chicken schnitzel and Bavarian meatloaf with a German beer.

But it’s about to come down for a redevelopment. A new Alpen Club will occupy the main floor of a new 73-foot-tall building on the site at 4875 Victoria Dr., which will have four storeys and 102 units of rental housing on top.

The club will be closed for a couple of years during construction, and the contents of the existing facility have been sold off through Able Auctions.

It was a lot of stuff, most anything you would need to start a restaurant or catering business. Chairs, tables, bowls, glassware, coffee machines, food warmers, stoves, refrigerators … you name it.