Vancouver History

[Dbone]

I was 5 years old in 86. My dad was given a family VIP pass for the whole season (he was a GP and some of his patients were rich/famous). I only remember a few things about expo like the McBarge, the gondola, the massive ball pit play area, and most of all watching him as he went on the scream machine but then being told I couldn't go because I was too small.

Crazy how humans work. A year of skipping all the lines to the best event in Vancouver until the Olympics in 2010 and my main memory is being upset I couldn't go on the roller coaster.

I'd love to go see what bull shit was in the CCCP booth now.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by Dbone

I was 5 years old in 86. My dad was given a family VIP pass for the whole season (he was a GP and some of his patients were rich/famous). I only remember a few things about expo like the McBarge, the gondola, the massive ball pit play area, and most of all watching him as he went on the scream machine but then being told I couldn't go because I was too small.

Crazy how humans work. A year of skipping all the lines to the best event in Vancouver until the Olympics in 2010 and my main memory is being upset I couldn't go on the roller coaster.

I'd love to go see what bull shit was in the CCCP booth now.

Damn, you're about the same age as my oldest son. Used to go almost every week with the family - family pass. Got my money's worth. It was great. So many things to do. I still have the passports filled with stamps from all the pavilions.

[Mikoyan]

Somehow Jimmy Pattison signed the back of my family pass. I remember my parents hit up the liquidation sales for Expo 86. I had so many Expo shirts growing up that about half the summer pics I have as a kid are wearing an Expo shirt.

I still have a Expo shirt New with Tags in the original plastic bag in my closet. Also, still have one remaining that I still wear. Only at home and it's semi transparent at this stage. They don't make textiles like they used to.

Kept the liquidation sales trend alive with the 2010 Olympics. I have a couple pairs of volunteer snowpants that I bought for $25...

[MG1]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

Somehow Jimmy Pattison signed the back of my family pass. I remember my parents hit up the liquidation sales for Expo 86. I had so many Expo shirts growing up that about half the summer pics I have as a kid are wearing an Expo shirt.

I still have a Expo shirt New with Tags in the original plastic bag in my closet. Also, still have one remaining that I still wear. Only at home and it's semi transparent at this stage. They don't make textiles like they used to.

Kept the liquidation sales trend alive with the 2010 Olympics. I have a couple pairs of volunteer snowpants that I bought for $25...

I used to go to the liquidation sales often as they kept bringing new stock onto the sales floor. Lots of freebies, too. The 2010 one was located behind the Brighton Avenue Costco. Where Grimco is. Cariboo Road.

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by MG1

I used to go to the liquidation sales often as they kept bringing new stock onto the sales floor. Lots of freebies, too. The 2010 one was located behind the Brighton Avenue Costco. Where Grimco is. Cariboo Road.

There a location on Annicis Island I think that was the more of the Olympic Committee stuff. Like uniforms, hard goods, equipment etc. The retail goods had liquidation locations all over the place as different local manufacturers were getting rid of stuff too.

I saw a claw machine in Parker place a couple years later that was full of nothing but Quashi plushies.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

Somehow Jimmy Pattison signed the back of my family pass. I remember my parents hit up the liquidation sales for Expo 86. I had so many Expo shirts growing up that about half the summer pics I have as a kid are wearing an Expo shirt.

I still have a Expo shirt New with Tags in the original plastic bag in my closet. Also, still have one remaining that I still wear. Only at home and it's semi transparent at this stage. They don't make textiles like they used to.

Kept the liquidation sales trend alive with the 2010 Olympics. I have a couple pairs of volunteer snowpants that I bought for $25...

You'll need to wear the Expo t-shirt at the next Stock & Noob Meet!

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

You'll need to wear the Expo t-shirt at the next Stock & Noob Meet!

I'll wear the repro I had made a few years back.

[supafamous]

https://youtu.be/QqNMp3GHKyw?si=-elpiCF4MOx9VlWB

Was watching this video which sorta explains why so many main roads in Vancouver have a "jog" right around 16th (Victoria to Commercial, Fraser at Kingsway, Knight/Clark, Main/17th) (it's because Vancouver proper's border was 16th avenue back then) and then went down the rabbit hole and found this book that tells the history of Vancouver streets: https://bccd.vpl.ca/pdf/Street_Names_of_Vancouver.pdf

Lots of fascinating stuff that explains a lot about how streets got their names etc.

[MG1]

I thought it was because of a fault. Like the San Andreas.................

Plate techtonics, ftmfw!


Wasn't my fault.

[supafamous]

Reading more about Vancouver streets...if you look on a map you'll see that almost none of the streets on either side of Nanaimo line up with each other and that's because Nanaimo used to be the border of Vancouver and the Hastings Townsite. It was only when the amalgamated that they forced the renaming of the streets but only the major roads (Hastings, 1st and 9th) line up and it's why 22nd goes nowhere when it hits Nanaimo.

Nanaimo used to be called Boundary road at the time too.

And the Hastings Townsite extended south to 29th avenue (between Nanaimo and the new Boundary Road) which is where you then you see the streets go nuts (they are perpendicular to Kingsway instead) because those streets were laid out by the folks of South Vancouver.

[MG1]

Thanks to supafamous, I went down the rabbit hole, too................

https://jolegacy.ca/the-municipality...%20Street%20to

[MG1]

Always wanted to know about the neighbourhoods of Vancouver.

https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explor...631,-123.10678

Then a real estate version

https://faithwilson.com/vancouver-neighbourhoods/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_in_Vancouver

[supafamous]

Related fun fact: I always thought Ontario street was the dividing street between East and West but it's actually Carrall street (which Ontario aligns with) and where the old Gassy Jack statue was is where the street numbering starts. This explains why our street numbers don't line up with our avenue numbers - it's offset by 1600 (at 1st avenue the house number is 1600) as Gassy Jack is 16 blocks north of 1st.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Related fun fact: I always thought Ontario street was the dividing street between East and West but it's actually Carrall street (which Ontario aligns with) and where the old Gassy Jack statue was is where the street numbering starts. This explains why our street numbers don't line up with our avenue numbers - it's offset by 1600 (at 1st avenue the house number is 1600) as Gassy Jack is 16 blocks north of 1st.

Yea.. I’ve always argued this is such a stupid way to do it

Like on main, you’re at “main and second” but the address is 1302 main etc.

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Related fun fact: I always thought Ontario street was the dividing street between East and West but it's actually Carrall street (which Ontario aligns with) and where the old Gassy Jack statue was is where the street numbering starts. This explains why our street numbers don't line up with our avenue numbers - it's offset by 1600 (at 1st avenue the house number is 1600) as Gassy Jack is 16 blocks north of 1st.

I always knew about the 1600, never knew why it was offset by that specific number. I always used it to figure out the cross Ave for Vancouver addresses. Works for most of east van.

ie 3525 Fraser St, would be 19th Ave as the cross (3500 - 1600)

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

I always knew about the 1600, never knew why it was offset by that specific number. I always used it to figure out the cross Ave for Vancouver addresses. Works for most of east van.

ie 3525 Fraser St, would be 19th Ave as the cross (3500 - 1600)

And east west numbering can also be sorta used to figure out where something is - every 100 is a block and most major streets have about 5-7 blocks in them. On the East side Fraser is 700, Knight is 1400, Victoria is 2000 etc and on the West side Cambie is 500, Oak is 1000, Granville is 1500 etc (West side blocks are bigger)

[6793026]

^ I grew up in Van knowing this, what was funny was when i moved to Toronto, the block system doesn't work so well around here and F-ed me up a few times.

Now that we have a GPS I no longer needed that skill but funny still.

[tegra7]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A2...ibextid=wwXIfr