When Amman Rawji took over the Metropole Pub in 2003, the room wasn't exactly the jewel of the Downtown Eastside. "It was comparable to some of the bars on the main Hastings strip," says the general manager of what's now known to regulars as the Met. "Basically it was a shooting gallery." Determined to clean things up quickly, Rawji plunged right into a massive renovation, which yielded some pleasant surprises.

"We found things like an old safe-we had it cracked and found documents dating back to the 1940s. One of them was a deed to the place."

The Metropole name has remained the same since it first opened as a pub, likely around the middle of last century, but the look of the room changed over the years. During the recent reno, a hole was accidentally punched in a wall, revealing a brick faí§ade that dates back to the early 1900s, when the hotel that houses the bar was built. A wood floor and seven layers of carpet were ripped up to reveal the room's original, deco-looking white floor tiles.

"We wanted to bring the original features of the room back to life," Rawji explains.

It's likely that the Metropole was at some point more than a drinking establishment. At the turn of the 20th century, many buildings in Vancouver had tunnels beneath them, some operating as escape routes for opium dens.

"I've heard stories from the engineering department that there were a lot of opium tunnels in the early 1900s," Rawji relates. "We still have those tunnels down here-from the look of them, they got a lot of wear and tear."

After years as a down-and-out bar, the Metropole has had a successful rebirth as the Met. It was tough going for the first year after the doors were reopened, with the former regulars discovering that they were no longer welcome. Today Rawji has successfully attracted the kind of college-age crowd that's made successes out of rooms like the Blarney Stone and the Cambie. He describes the Met as a pub by day and a club by night, but admits that could change in the future.

"We plan on running things as they are for another couple of years," Rawji reveals. "Then we may do another reno and turn it into an Irish-themed pub. With the Woodward's redevelopment, the clientele down here will change, and you have to keep up with that."