14 - Fraay. September 10. 1989 - North Shore News Cypress homestead for sale: $158,000 inciudes ari acre Neville Judd Contributing Writer horne Shindler looks like he remembers a hundred moments at once. With the boots he bought in 1952 he kicks the door frame and marvels at its sturdiness. “That’s my door,” he says proudly. He raps his knuckles on the rustic window shutters. They’re his window shutters. He runs his fingers along the stove he carried here on his back half a century ago. “Whatever [ could take off that sucker I did. It was so damn heavy it must have taken 20 trips to get all the pieces up here.” Fifty-four years ago Shindler bought an acre on Hollyburn Mountain for $150. He cut cedars on the lot in the spring, while snow still lay, “It’s important to do it then because the sap is still running, which makes the bark easier to peel.” He axed and adzed cach log and still has che block and tackle, the hemp rope and pulley and the one-man cross-cut saw he used to create his weekend cabin. He sold the cabin in 1981 and hasn't set foot inside it until now. West Vancouver realtor Karin Morris is listing the cabin and lor for $158,000 on behaif of the family Shindler soid it to. That price for an acre on Hollyburn might seem like a steal, even without the cabin. Broom closets sell for more in West Vancouver. But a zoning bylaw dating back to 1909 means Shindler’s cabin is a tough sell. “The cabin is zoned as a recreational property, which means a buyer must come up with a 50% downpayment,” sal set os : ee : UITTLE about the 710-square foot cabin has c SHINDLER next to the stove he carried up in pieces. says Morris. “It also means the owner is only supposed to live in it a few days a week, not full-time.” It’s unlikely West Vancouver municipality would dispatch bylaw enforcement officers to stake out the woods to ensure a new owner isn’t breaching this condition, but 50% down is a big hurdle. “{ve had lots of young couples inquire about the place, but the downpayment is the killer,” says Morris. Shindler thinks the price is ridiculous to start with, but he’s glad to get a second look ar the weekend home he built almost sin- gle-handedly. A couple of years ago, on a whim, the 75-year-old West Van resident sought out the old place. He found it and left a note for its owner — “just so he' knew no one had been snooping.” The owner passed on the note to Morris, who contacted Shindler. The cabin appears much as he Jeft it: ever a “snow bike” that Shindler built lies under the stiles. It has been adapted with a snowboard where a fixed ski at the back and a flexible one at the front had been. “1 wanted to market this thing, but never got around to it. We used to ride it down the hill all the time. I’m glad someone else had some fun with ir.” The cabin is furnished, with ewo bedrooms upstairs, a chemical toilet in an alcove off the entranceway and a sauna, built after Shindler sold. In 1945, Morris could have listed the cabin as a view property. “I had friends on 17th and Blenheim who knew when Ud put the roof on because they could see it,” says Shindler. Five decades of forest growth conceals the cabin to the point that only those in the Know can tind ic. In the carly 740s, Shindler would finish his Friday “after- aoon” shift at the Bocing plant on Sea Island at midnight. He’d catch the last bus to Maipole, where he’d catch the last bus to 41st and Granville, where he’d catch the last streetcar downtown. The West Van bus would be waiting to take him to the end of the line-22nd Street and Mathers. After a 90-minute hike, he’d be safely ensconced in the cabin by about 3 a.m., ready for a weekend of skiing. “We used to be able to ski down the hill and off the roof, One year there was so much snow [ couldn’t even find the place. I fell down a hole and slid right into the porch and Photos Nevis Judd THORNE Shindler sits on the “snow bike” he built, cirea 1950. The snow- board base is an adaptation of the original (left photo above}. through the front door.” Shindler says the trail we cook to find his cabia is too easy, It has keen cleared by a Bobcat almost down to the 10-km mark on the road to Cypress Bowl. He insists on taking us back to the road via the old trail, the one he hiked — often in darkness — every weekend for 30 years, oe In the 15 minutes that follow, two of us fall over, unable to see where we're treading smongst falicn trees and ram- pant foliage. | begin to doubt whether there ever was a trail when we happen upon a small cup hanging on 2 branch over _ a stream. It’s the same cup Shindler uscd to refresh himself on summer hikes to the cabin. ; SoM Thorne Shindler’s cabin — otherwise known as Lot 18 Block A District Lot 1123 — is a rarity. Few originals © remain, and changes to West Vancouver's zoning bylaws | mean it’s no longer possible to build on just onc acre. Cypress, or Hollyburn as it was formerly called, compris- es provincial park land, municipa! land and frechold land. The latter is divided into four blocks, A to DB, each compris- ing 18 fats. Zoning bylaws stipulate that no new building can take place on less than two acres of land. Since lots here measure only 6.9 of an acre, the builder is obliged to purchase three lots. For information about Shindler’s cabin, cai! Karin Morris ar 925-1111. CALENDAR:15 STRING BENDERS - KOARK - BUMBERSHOOT - SONIC YOUTH THEATRE:16 RADIX FRINGE FESTIVAL GALLERIES:77 FIRST SON PRESENTATION HOUSE MUSIC:19 MARY J. BLIGE - LFO - CHRISTINA AGUILERA - PUFF DADDY - EXIT THIS SIDE - VEDA HILLE - STAR COLLECTOR - THE BELL JAR - HUSKAVARNA - SMUGGLE®s - EMPEROR NORTON - FANTASTIC PLASTIC MACHINE - POP ROMANTIQUE CLASSICS - ARLING AND CAMERON - XIMER DINING:23 ARIGATO SUSHI CINEMAS:28 SHOWTIMES BOOKS:30 LITTLE GREEN MEN - THE BIG NEW BC TRAVEL GUIDE