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Page 10 West Vancouver Historical Society May 2004 Responding to Encouraging Responses Jack Cruickshank wrote in recently with interesting notes about the Ambleside addresses listed in the last newsletter. He mentioned Mr. Kerr, who was the proprietor of the Ambleside Pharmacy in the 1930’s. A decade or so later he ran the Dundarave Pharmacy, where Jack worked for him delivering prescriptions for ten cents a delivery. Mr. Kerr’s talents extended beyond matters pharmaceutical. Locals occasionally brought in cats for him to put down, and Jack was assigned the job of burying them. There have long been culinary enticements at 1468 Marine Drive. Before the Bennett family ran the bakery there, the business was owned and operated by the Stratton family. Jack’s uncle worked in the bakery and also in the garage giving on the lane at the back, where he put his hand to car repairs. He will have made an impression and been himself impressed, as he married one of the Stratton daughters. Someone could write a history of the Hollyburn block at 1584 Marine Drive. Today, in the basement is “II Vino”. On the main floor, during and for a while after the war, was the show room and office of the B.C. Electric, where Mr. I.T. “Tom” Meglauglin held sway. Above, then as now, were apartments. Jack’s family rented one of these suites in 1930 while the Cruickshank house was being built. Jack inquired if the building is designated as a heritage building. It isn’t, but certainly not for the lack of history it contains. A little more than a block west on Marine were two buildings most will remember. Jack mentions the Hollyburn Grill at 1702. One of the apartments on the top floor was rented by a certain J.L. Pettigrew, popularly know as “Oscar”. Work for him was only several doors west at the Hollyburn Theatre, where he worked tirelessly as an usher and quasi-policeman in the balcony. The long beam from his silver flaslilight regularly lighted up rowdies for whom the balcony was a kind of headquarters. Jack’s mother and aunt, Bess and Marge Holt, were telephone operators at the West Vancouver B.C. Telephone Company office at 1718 Marine Drive. They, along with other well- known West Vancouver women, were voices heard as soon as you lifted the receiver. These were human touches that gave substance to the word “community”. Our March Speaker It’s small wonder that Mike Riste is in the BC Encylopaedia, listed with the likes of Bob Lenarduzzi, Annis Stukis and Fred Hume. He is one of Canada’s foremost authorities on golf history, collecting and memorabilia. Mike’s involvement in golf began in 1960 at Capilano, where he started out as a caddy. He almost lived in the pro shop, where he was lucky to acquire a highly respected mentor in the person of John Crofts McKinnon, aka “Jock” McKinnon. He played an important part in Mike’s life. (Jock, by the way, is in the Guinness Book of Records for his unsurpassed 33, Just two strokes short of perfection on a par-72 course.) Decades earlier Jock had been a resident of West Bayâ€" McKechnie Avenue, to be preciseâ€"and was well respected by his neighbours. The West Bay golfer became the West Bay soldier. He was commissioned in 1942, and three years later, served with distinction in Western Europe, where he was wounded in action. A recollection of Jock McKinnon was that he was both demanding and fair. Those that got his attention really merited it. Mike got it. This young man was a golfing zealot with a remarkable brain. He is the only Canadian to have won an Evans Scholarship, the largest sports-related and publicly funded college scholarship in the U.S. For the four years starting in 1965 everything was paid for him: his tuition tees, his lodging, his food. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Mathematics. Later he went on to the University of California at Santa Barbara to do post graduate work. He could have done his degree in history. As a junior high school student Michael Riste disdained fiction when he could read history. At this time of his life he became almost obsessed with the subject. While doing a book report he came across a book about golf in Vancouver before 1905. The author had mentioned that the first organized club in Vancouver was Jericho. He spent the next three decades doing research to prove that Jericho was the first organized golt club west of the Mississippi River. Mike never forgot the help he was given by the Evans Scholarship and was ever determined to pay them back for ail they had done for him. With the approach of the PNGA Centennial he found the ideal chance to do so. He decided to write a book about the association and about the people who made it work. Collaborating with a fellow Northwest writer, he succeeded. Five years ago they finished a book entitled Championships and Friendships: The First 100 Years of the PNGA. It is hoped that reading this item will spur you to visit the Golf Museum at 2545 Blanca Street in Vancouver. Before you enter the building take a close look at it. Built in 1930, this handsome structure was almost torn down a few years ago. It is to a large extent because of the efforts of Mike Riste that it was saved and later restored to what it is now. Mike was one of the most compelling speakers we have ever had at a general meeting. His enthusiasm is nothing short of spectacular.