my big gay crush

ok...maybe it wasn't a crush, and it wasn't me who had the crush...but, some used to tell me that ken from deluxe junk liked it when i tended the coffee bar at the block oh so many years ago. many years ago - i was cute then. maybe.
ken was the king or queen, depending in how you look at it, of the vancouver vintage clothing scene. he had no peers in that dept. sure, others sold old clothes, vintage and otherwise but ken was the man.
i first knew ken, or met ken, when i was living on fourth ave. around 1982. i had shopped at his store when he was on fourth before that time but when i moved into that apt. i would frequent the store more often. at night i could see, from my place, into his apartment which was above the store - long before i had binoculars or telescope - and see him walking around doing whatever he did at night. it was across and over a bit so i really couldn't see anything but i thought it was pretty cool that he lived right above where he worked and had the whole top floor.
later deluxe would move to cordova street and i think, for a while, there were two stores...i can't be sure of this...it was a fuzzy time for me.
for a few years, maybe more, west cordova street was a meeting place of sorts. i had befriended the kids at the block clothing store and became the cookie maker for them. marcy worked at the block and across the street at salmagundi, devon was at dream, i think, don bull was above deluxe junk plying his trade, the gangland boys - alan moy, keith porteus, jason grant and michael turner - were upstairs from the block, the pantages boys - tony and john - hung out across the street doing who knows what, keith and scratch records around the corner, and ken at deluxe junk. it was a great time to be down there. ken and i would talk on the street, or over the clothing racks inside the store. ken used to like to talk about his dogs - which he refered to by their gender rather than by name....the male and the bitch. he loved saying "the bitch"...especially when there were straight lookin' folks in the store. ken also had snakes at home - not that i was ever there, but i heard tale of them. ken was an interesting guy. ken also loved to talk to me about tattoos and tattooing as he knew i had tattoos and that i knew a lot about tatooing and he loved his tattoos. loved to show me his work when he had gotten something new.
ken died a short time ago and while i knew about his illness and what he was going though i didn't know what to say. but i do know this, ken was a good guy to me but i know he was a tough cookie on those who worked for him, and that he didn't always have a good editor when he was talking...but that's what made him ken.
today as i was walking home from granville island i walked by deluxe junk and stopped to look in the deluxe junk window. i had seen, from my car as i drove by the other day, that they had put up in one of the windows three boards with pictures of ken and some pictures of things that referred to ken or that were kenesque, and i wanted to see them up close. if you knew him or knew of him you should go by and have a look.
thanks for all the clothes ken.

g. xo