Mike Zalman could only stare and watch as his beloved Mount Pleasant breakfast restaurant burned to the ground.
Zalman's Slickity Jim's Chat and Chew is an iconic eatery in the Mount Pleasant area of Vancouver.
"What can you say? You build something and it becomes your life for 10 years and it's gone," said Zalman as he gazed on as firefighters stomped out the remaining embers of a massive fire that engulfed several businesses on Main Street near Broadway yesterday morning.
"It was the soul of the neighbourhood and I think it was important to a lot of people, not just me."
Along with Slickity Jim's, the fire completely destroyed the Kishu Island Japanese restaurant, Zocalo Mexican restaurant and United Professional Accounting Services.
Lugz Coffee Cafe and Militant Penguin clothing also suffered smoke damage, but were not razed like the other businesses.
A vacant building at the corner of Main and Broadway suffered minor damage.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services' Capt. Gabe Roder told media the fire, which broke out at 4:30 a.m., looks like it began at the Kishu Island Japanese restaurant.
The cause of the fire was accidental.
Kishu Island owner Hung Nguyen was told about the fire through his landlord and said he had no idea how it could have started at his restaurant.
"I was the last one to check up on things before I left at 11 p.m.," Nguyen said. "I was very careful."
He added that no one else was at the restaurant overnight.
"It was the soul of the neighbourhood and I think it was important to a lot of people, not just me."
