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FIRE sale .. Fireplace by Maxwell owner Noei Cromack and fiance Jennifer Brent
have been in the fireplace game since 1987.

Upholsterer covers
drive's changing tale

Robert Gaister

News Reporter
robert@nsnews.com

ONCE upon a time
North Vancouver’s
Marine Drive was a sin-
gle lane strip with plen-
ty of parking and apple
orchards breaking up
rows of streetside hous-
es.

One. of those
houses has str-
vived and is
today known as
the Moustache
‘Cafe. Next door,
one of the oldest
residents of the .
block = remem-
bers the house
long before it became a
cafe,

“You used to be able to
park out front in those
days,” said John Taylor,
owner of Ben Ray Enterprises
upholstery, “It’s ‘changed big
time. It’s hard to remember
how it was.”

The upholstery — shop
opened in [959 and Taylor
came on board three years later.

“Years back when I got out
of school it was between being
a painter or an upholsterer,”
said Taylor. “I got the uphol-
sterv job first.”

He has since come to own
the shop which specislizes in
‘motor vehicle upholstery that
includes anything from refit-
ting the interior of an old
Volkswagen to the crusty seat

“Provi ing triste

FE hone for. your - coniplivientary, kit which includes ou

i
ees. oe

‘MARINE DR. 1200

ofa 1949 Triumph motorcycle.
Taylor said the shop was ini-
tially opened by Lynn Valley's
Joe Wickham who has since
retired.
“He'd kill me if FE didn’t
mention him,” said Taylor.

itchen corner

AL self-proclaimed member
of the North Shore's “old
seock,” John Frith has been
with The Kitchen Company fer
15 years. Born and bred on the
shore, Frith started out as a
cabinet maker, bur has since
developed into a

designer.

“It’s a very good

kind of | work,

there’s a lot of
variety,” said Frith.

“Everyday it’s

something differ
ent, you never get bored.”

As the name indicates, the
store specializes in all things
kitchen, particularly when it
comes to planning a new one

— be it a new development az
a renovation.

“Most often the kitchen in
the house is the one that came
with the house ... and now they
(homeowners) are making it
like they want,” said Frith.

Horsing around
C.G.M. Sound and Color is
another Marine Drive stalwart
having been there for 44 vears.
Its manager Larry Jorgenson
has been there for the last 14.
Before joining the clectron-
ic retailer, Jorgenson who grew
up in Vancouver spent ten and
a half years at Panasonic.

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Wednesday, April 22, 1998 ~ North Shore News — 15

north shore news

» BUSINESS

In the wake of several sales
calls to the store they made a
deal.

“They made me an offer I
couldn't refuse ~ puta horse's
head in my bed,” | said
Jorgenson,

Fire sale

Noel Cormack caught a,

glimpse of his future shorty
after high school. It was 1987
when he first worked a dav for
a friend’s father who owned
Fireplace by Maxwell.

“Tve been here ever since
— just kind of evolved into it,”
said Cormack who together
with fiance Jennifer Brent now
owns the fireplace and acces-
sories store. “I love it.”

Although spring wouldn't
necessarily jump to mind as a
hot time to be in the fireplace
business, Cormack said. sales
have not dropped off this year
or any other for that matter.

“We're fairly steady
throughout the vear — tt’s not
as seasonal as people think,”
said Cormack,

All the rest...

The other businesses on the

street are (west to cast) Marine:

Drive Veterinary Hospital,
Moustache Cafe, Specialty
Motor Cars and MeDanald’s.
[fvou have a business that is
part of a unique or otherwise
worthwhile biock or know of any,
fer ous) know. Write — to
Commercial Avenues c/o Robert
Galster at. the North Shore
News, 1139 Lonsdale Ave.,
Norsh Vancouver, V7M 2H4 or
e-mail: robert@usnews.coni

KITCHEN corner ... John Frith has worked at Marine Drive's The Kitchen
Company for 15 years, first as a cabinet maker and later a designer.

TAYLOR made ... John Taylor of Ben Ray Enterprises has re-upholstered every-
thing from the seat of a vintage Triumph motorcycle to countless Volkswagens.

"NEWS photos Mike Wakefield “fs
HORSING around ... C.G.M. Sound and Color's Larry Jorgenson has seen technol- a

‘ogy develop 8-tracks into records and tapes, and everitually CDs, during his career. ©

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