The Old Spaghetti Factory
53 Water Street
In March of 1970, the first Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant was opened at this location in Gastown. Located in an
old warehouse and wonderfully decorated with antiques and artefacts from yesteryear, it has been pleasing customers for over 35
years.
The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown has two ghosts. The first is the spirit of a train conductor who some
believe died during a collision on an underground railway line below where the restaurant now stands. He frequents the old
trolley car that's inside the restaurant, which itself contains dining tables. The streetcar, old “Number 53,” once
belonged to the British Columbia Electric Railway Company. Built in nearby New Westminster in 1904, it served as a public
transit trolley in and around Vancouver for many years. In 1957, it and dozens of other trolley cars were decommissioned in
favour of electric and diesel buses, which are commonplace in the city today. It's up for debate as to whether the ghost of
the conductor was already in residence in the building or whether he came with the trolley when it was delivered in 1969,
during the installation of the restaurant.
A photograph that hangs on the outside of the trolley, purportedly taken in a works yard in the late 1950's and not long
after the car was decommissioned, shows a shadowy figure sitting in the disused, empty car. Another photograph, taken over a
decade later when the trolley was being moved into restaurant, shows a shadowy male figure climbing onto the steps of the
streetcar. Not only did the photographer claim that no one was in or near the trolley when the photo was taken, blurry details
of the trolley can be seen right through the apparition. Considering the two photographs and the fact that the details
surrounding the supposed underground rail crash are hearsay, it seems likely that the ghost came with the car. The underground
trolley accident may simply be a local myth.
Regardless of his origin, various staff members have seen the ghost of the uniformed conductor, always sitting at the same
dining table inside the streetcar when it's closed to the public. Inexplicable cold spots and moving table settings have also
been experienced inside the car. One night, when the restaurant was closed, a staff member walked through the trolley to check
that place settings had been properly laid out on the tables for the following day. He was stunned to see that all the cutlery
had been bent upwards. Other staff members saw the bent cutlery, too, but by the time they brought the restaurant manager
over to have a look, it was all back to normal.
The second ghost at The Old Spaghetti Factory is a small, mischievous spirit with a ruddy face and bright red hair.
Simply known as the “little red man”, he likes to call people by their names and stroll through the kitchen. His favourite prank
is to surprise customers in the ladies' washroom. On one particular occasion, two ladies saw the dwarfish man leaving one of the
cubicles, dressed in a red shirt and red long johns. After looking at them and laughing mischievously, he left through the
washroom door. To the ladies' surprise, nobody else had seen the unmistakable phantom leave the washroom. It is said that one of
the ladies took a picture of the ghost but, when the film was developed, he appeared as a blur. Nobody knows who the little red
man is or why he haunts the restaurant. One thing's for certain, however...he's a devilish little fellow! |
