Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret 1953 Vintage Men’s T-Shirt

The Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret was a Vancouver “Supper Club” opened in 1953 by Albert Kwan. Its iconic neon sign, now found at the Museum of Vancouver, was a city landmark, and one of the most ornate pieces of neon sign work ever made in Vancouver. While “The Buddha” or “Smiley’s” welcomed many great musicians to its small stage from the ’50s to well into the ’90s, it was more simply known as a place for local and touring musicians to congregate. The venue closed seemingly for good in 1993, serving its last 16–17 years as Vancouver’s epicenter of punk rock, though the space would be resurrected in 2013 as an indoor skate park and music venue where punk bands could once again take the stage and rock the house.

Like all our designs, this one is treated with our signature ‘relic-ing’ process which includes our own secret recipe of hand-painted chipping, cracking, fading, and just the right touch of yellowing to ensure that it looks the part of a true vintage imprint.** We lay these works of art down on premium Bella+Canvas 3001 Unisex Jersey Short Sleeve Tees, one of the softest, best-wearing t-shirts available today, via state of the art direct to garment (DTG) printing which allows us to create a vintage effect that simply can’t be accomplished with other printing methods. In short, these shirts are everything you’ve dreamed of and more – it feels soft and lightweight with just the right amount of stretch making it comfortable and flattering for both men and women.

Not sure what size is your best fit? We recommend taking one of your current t-shirts, laying it flat and measuring it. The measurements in the chart below are taken with the shirt laying on a flat surface. To get the length, measure from the high shoulder point down to the bottom of the shirt. To get the width, measure approximately 1-inch below the armhole, across the chest, from seam to seam. While our tees are all made using premium, pre-shrunk, ring-spun cotton, there can be some shrinkage depending on your personal wash and dry cycles. With that said, if you’re on the fence, we always suggest going up a size.

All sizes are provided in inches!

*Heather colors are 52% combed and ring-spun cotton/48% polyester. Athletic and Black Heather is 90% combed and ring-spun cotton/10% polyester. Ash color is 99% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton and 1% poly. **Due to the nature of the printing process and different sizes of shirts offered, imprint position and scale may vary slightly from the product images, but we do our best to be as accurate as possible.