Thanks for bringing it up man, great memories :woot2:

Anyone know of the history of richmond? How much is actual backfill? The west shore looks way too straight and planned out. Also what is the deal with the garden city lands and the dept. of national defense next door in richmond? I've heard some weird stories, like there's a huge missile silo underneath the area and they have a tank facility.

I kind of remember how great woodwards was...
I got flash backs of ch12 back in the days when they read Christmas letters and gave needy families gifts.
KVOS-TV ch12 Christmas Commercials Dec 1990
youtube.com/watch?v=J0E8Gewl_o4

The Lions Gate Bridge has a rich history. It was built after the Second Narrows Bridge (the original Second Narrows Bridge). Three freaking lanes........ back then, in 1900's, it was good enough. The bridge was owned by the Guiness family (brewing company). Later sold to the government. Toll of 25¢, which was a lot back in those days.

Anyone else remember how the Cambie Street bridge used to have wooden planks for the pedestrian path?

Right before they tore it down to build the new bridge, my parents took me for a walk over the bridge. A few of the wooden planks were missing on the walkway and you could see all the way down to the water. That old bridge was such a piece of shit, I wonder if any photos exist of it.

In my younger days, I used to be in a marching band. I remember crossing that bridge on a radars route. The organizers were somewhat worried about the amount of people watching the parade from the wooden walkway. Does anyone remember the old Georgia viaduct? Or the Fraser street bridge.
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Guiness family owned much of west van for a LOOONNNG time. Some major stretches above HWY 1 is still somehow related to them.

Heard some crazy stories/theories about the new development that stetches to the cypress bowl road from the BP's has to do with the guiness family still. No idea if any of it is true.

is there any pictures of the old Vancouver International Airport before it was renovated in the 90's? I only remember bits of it but I can't seem to find any pictures

^wow, that's too bad. I remember how simple and bland it was. I wonder if there are any old news reels with footage........... come to think of it, that airport went through a big reno/expansion back in the late 60's, then again for Expo 86.

nothing to add, just stumbled upon this pic on r/vancouver
http://flic.kr/p/7Dnnsj

thanks given for photo number 28 (Raquel Welch, one of my all time favourite actresses). Unshaven, too, by the looks of it.

What is that big building on 1st and Nanaimo beside the Chevron gas station?

If memory serves me correctly, it was an electrical sub station. Not 100% sure, though. Wasn't there one on Vistoria Drive near Venables?

There are smaller ones all over the city.

The one on Broadway/Lougheed east of Boundary used to be one of hte biggest. A few buildings around there have been taken down and now is a compound for new cars.

Memory is a bit foggy on this stuff......... old age and being hit in the head too many times, LOL.

There is a substation on Joyce st. just before Kingsway near Collingwood.
And there is one on Hastings near Tempelton high school, across the street some dim sum restaurant.

The big station is still on the corner of Lougheed and Gilmore. The office building is gone and I believe it will eventually become the new home to an the Audi dealership.

There's a big substation on Burrard between the Scotiabank Theatre and Electra building; the other big one is on Main between Union and Georgia

Garden City lands are owned by the natives. There used to be a fisheries communications farm there with a dozen antennas sticking up into the air, but that was taken out in the early 2000s.

As for the DND Lands. The green building on the corner of No.4 and Alderbridge is an armoury, housing mainly the 12 Service Battalion, a corp of Military Police, a corp of Army Cadets and a Squadron of Air Cadets (655!). The land behind the armoury is mainly used as a training site and government land in case they ever need to expand. AFAIK there's no silo base there, and the 12 svc's primary function are fixing trucks and engineering work.

I hope they never develop that part of Richmond even though its vacant land.

Apparently the city of Richmond acquired Garden City lands in 2010, they're currently deciding on what to do with it.

Build a track

New icbc test center

Leave it as is
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They're building Wal-Mart next to it, with Garden City as congested as it is already; if they put some crazy development in the middle then there's a new "DO NOT GO THERE ON WEEKENDS OR AFTER 4PM" zone in town

I came to Vancouver from Victoria back in the mid-80's so most of my memories are of the Expo-era Vancouver. Back then I used to ride my bike everywhere! Living out by UBC (I graduated from Lord Byng), I saw many changes with local businesses, houses, schools and parks. Most of my memories of Broadway and Dunbar area revolve around the 7-11 at 10th and Alma, The Captains bargain store, Cheapskates, Hollywood theatre, The 'new' Safeway at MacDonald and all the new condos and construction at 25th and Dunbar area.

Back then it was a great time to grow up and watch the community develop. At the time I was one of the only poor kids in a rich kid school but really, it didn't matter.