Beatroute Magazine BC Print Edition December 2017

CITY
THE ROCKIN’ COWBOY
BECAUSE LIFE’S TOO SHORT FOR BORING CLOTHES
LUIZA BRENNER
If you’ve ever strolled by East
Broadway, around Main Street,
chances are you’ve spotted a peculiar
storefront crowned by bull skulls.
Those who dare to meander through
the doorway are transported to a
parallel universe of leather cowboy
boots, beaver-hair brimmed hats,
and tons of new and vintage goodies.
The men behind it all? The one and
only Cowboy Dave (a.k.a. Dave Lawr)
and his second-in-command, Danny
Kresnyak.
“The front of the store is obviously
very attention-grabbing,” says
Kresnyak. “And then you come
inside and you maintain that sort of
museum-esque quality. People come
in and just look at stuff, or you get
folks who just stand outside and are
almost afraid to come in. They just
look at the fact that the door handle
is a rifle and they’re so mesmerized
by it.”
As a branch of now-defunct
Toronto-based shops, the Rockin’
Cowboy opened its doors in
Vancouver in 1971 and “has
specialized in curating the finest in
new and used rock n’ roll, western,
vintage wear and accessories”
ever since. The bold statement on
their recently-launched website is
accurate, indeed. There, Elizabeth
Taylor’s dear Liberty boots and a
never-worn 1970 John Wayne-like
cowboy hat share the space with
a rack of $15 used t-shirts and
bullwhips.
More than a store, the Rockin’
Cowboy is a rock ‘n’ roll and country
music sanctuary. The homages
are everywhere: “Guitar Slim, a
very early blues and rock ‘n’ roll
musician who influenced Muddy
Waters, Buddy Guy, and all those
cats; Waylon Jennings, the king of it
all... Essentially, everything you see
is for sale, except for this Johnny
Cash poster, in his pill-doing days,”
Kresnyak points out. Amongst the
collector’s items is a dull beige shirt
priced at $495 designed by Nudie
Cohn, the man behind Elvis Presley’s
infamous gold suit.
When asked about the
importance of the store for the
music scene in Vancouver, Cowboy
Dave is categorical: “We make it
affordable for musicians to come
and buy cool and different things
that they can’t find anywhere else
– things that are going to set them
apart. ‘People aren’t coming only
to hear you. They are coming to see
you. They want to see what you’re
wearing.’ And that’s part of the
whole thing.”
To seal the deal and end the visit,
a good ol’ cowboy tradition (despite
the fact that it was a rainy Tuesday
morning): a shot of whiskey. After
walking out of the shop, Kresnyak’s
words still echo: life’s too short to
wear boring clothes. Cheers to that.
The Rockin’ Cowboy is located at 106
East Broadway.
Photo by Luiza Brenner
Cowboy Dave Lawr and Danny Kresnyak curate eclectic oddities with style.
10
December 2017