Flashback: Expo World's Fair 1986 [Archive]

mr.x

Oct 7, 2007, 9:46 PM

For all of those post-'86 babies (including me), this is an amazing highlights video show of the fair.

Documentary of Expo '86

Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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And it's happening all over again with 2010!

SpongeG

Oct 7, 2007, 10:59 PM

i never got to go to Expo 86 :( my parents decided to go the week school started and I couldn't miss school :( at the time I was still living way up north

but a guy i went to school with had a season pass and used to fly down every week to go - he was rich damn bastard

giallo

Oct 8, 2007, 2:43 AM

I was eight when Expo 86 was happening. I had a three day pass and went to every country except two. I almost cried when I heard it was a temporary event.

mr.x

Oct 8, 2007, 2:55 AM

I was eight when Expo 86 was happening. I had a three day pass and went to every country except two. I almost cried when I heard it was a temporary event.

it would've been awesome if we had a downtown amusement park on the waterfront.

David

Oct 8, 2007, 4:37 AM

thanks for sharing, very cool videos.
i wasn't alive for expo but i loved reading about it in books. i used to always rent the offiical expo book from the library

vanhattan

Oct 8, 2007, 4:58 AM

THanks Mr. X, that was great. Very sweet, dorky and quaint, but I still loved it!:tup: I wanted to visit the Expo so bad, but never made it up here until a few years ago. Will be sure to stick around for the fun in 2010 !

squeezied

Oct 8, 2007, 7:05 AM

wow, i actually liked how dome-shaped the skyline looked, and 80's music made it all the better!

SFUVancouver

Oct 8, 2007, 9:08 AM

My family moved to Vancouver from Toronto in June of 1986 during Expo.

I only have a couple of memories of it since I turned four that summer. Basically I remember playing with the remote controlled BC Ferries, I remember walking home across the Cambie Street Bridge up to our house on Columbia and 19th, just off Cambie, while fireworks were going off, and I remember watching the fireworks with my parents from Queen Elizabeth Park. That's about it.

Thank you so much for posting these videos mr.x2!

mr.x

Oct 8, 2007, 10:02 AM

Hopefully, I'll be around in the city in 2010....might transfer out to Ontario. I hope to attend the opening ceremony.

and yea, i wish i could relive the expo experience as well.

Pinion

Oct 8, 2007, 10:07 AM

mr.x

Oct 8, 2007, 9:44 PM

I work in the Plaza of Nations and it's a shame what's happened to the old expo grounds. Some say False Creek is a miracle but it's just all condos and the Plaza itself is a disintegrating piece of junk and a seedy casino. They could've done so much better.

I missed the Expo (moved to Vancouver in 87 from Sydney, which had Expo 88 of course) and wonder what it was like every day I go to work.

i think it's a well planned area. Not to mention that because the gov't sold the lands cheap to Li Ka Shing, we literally had the authority to push the developer to build what we wanted - parks, seawall, roads, infrastructure, community centre, social housing, etc.

What else could we have done with the Expo lands? All of the pavillons were temporary...even the Plaza. It's a miracle that canopy lasted for 20 years.

deasine

Oct 8, 2007, 11:04 PM

I wished to see it too! Wasn't alive back then tho... too bad we couldn't keep the monorail =(

And I would have loved to see the theme park at false creek. Wouldn't it be amazing to have PNE therer instead of Hastings? =D

raggedy13

Oct 9, 2007, 5:21 AM

It's almost hard to believe it's Vancouver in those videos. Turns the "no fun city" label on its head. Unfortunately I was born the month it opened and was never taken even as a baby, not that I would've been able to appreciate it anyways.

The whole event looked so fun, unique, and creative... the sort of thing that is often lacking in contemporary Vancouver. Why couldn't we have things like more street performers around the city today, or more interesting cultural/entertainment venues or festivals? Oh well, I'm optimistic that Vancouver will one day be a great culture and entertainment centre.

Thanks for the videos mr.x2, great find. The 80's were hilarious yet awesome, I wish I'd been old enough to appreciate them at the time.

SpongeG

Oct 9, 2007, 10:32 PM

i think false creek as it is today is much better than having the theme park there

it would sit dead and empty half the year - the season is too short for a proper theme park

much better to have the vibrant condos and most of yaletown that we have been left with

Pinion

Oct 10, 2007, 2:22 AM

i think it's a well planned area. Not to mention that because the gov't sold the lands cheap to Li Ka Shing, we literally had the authority to push the developer to build what we wanted - parks, seawall, roads, infrastructure, community centre, social housing, etc.

What else could we have done with the Expo lands? All of the pavillons were temporary...even the Plaza. It's a miracle that canopy lasted for 20 years.

It's just a bunch of condos now. What's well planned about it? There's no life, people are afraid to walk there at night (besides the gambling addicts). I'm not talking about Yaletown, I'm talking about the Plaza area. It's a cash grab by Concord Pacific and nothing else IMO.

SpongeG

Oct 10, 2007, 3:24 AM

thats cause it hasn't been finished yet

clooless

Oct 16, 2007, 10:07 PM

I don't understand the delay in developing the lands adjacent to the casino through to Science World. I realize they had to remove a good amount of contaminated topsoil, but come on, it's been twenty years already. It's also time for the casino to go and the entire Plaza of Nations area to be redeveloped. The city has enough casinos as it is.

Speaking of Expo, I had the best time. The pavilions, the people and the entire city were buzzing with exciting things to see and do. Playland was utterly packed and I loved the parachute ride and roller coaster at Expo (one of my friends actually cried on the parachute ride). I remember my friends and I worked out a sneaky way to skip the lines at most pavilions by going in through the exits. It didn't always work, but it worked often enough.

SpongeG

Oct 17, 2007, 1:28 AM

they can only develop to market demands??

its taken almost decades to get to where it is today - another decade isn't too bad

clooless

Oct 17, 2007, 6:54 PM

they can only develop to market demands??

its taken almost decades to get to where it is today - another decade isn't too bad

I don't think I am being at all unreasonable in pointing out that a piece of prime downtown, waterfront property has remained an unused wasteland and eyesore for almost 20 years.

SpongeG

Oct 21, 2007, 9:47 PM

no arguement about that but still they can't do it over night

plus its only going to be a park i don't think the developers are in any rush to make the park if it ain;t going to make them money

and there are questions as to what is going to happen with the plaza of natiosn and casino - is it staying is it going - a hotel or not or condos or public space etc.

jlousa

Oct 22, 2007, 6:04 PM

Everything is still up in the air until the NEFC high level review is complete. The city is pushing for commercial only space in that area while the owners Concord Pacific/Marathon/Tri-Powers don't want their options limited. We'll see some sort of compromise by mid-08. That section of land was always scheduled to be the last to be developed as it is the most toxic of all the old expo sites.

EastVanMark

Oct 24, 2007, 8:10 AM

Expo was awesome. (Just like how 2010 Games will be). Can't help but laugh that, much like now, the nay sayers were out in full force back then. Still can remember then Vancouver mayor and future NDP premier Mike Harcourt writing a letter to those who awarded us the fair saying that they should award the games to another city. (Great NDP thinking).

Expo took Vancouver from thinking like a village/small town, to a city.
Hopefully 2010 will take us to even newer heights. (both in building and otherwise).

mr.x

Oct 24, 2007, 8:14 AM

Still can remember then Vancouver mayor and future NDP premier Mike Harcourt writing a letter to those who awarded us the games saying that they should award the games to another city. (Great NDP thinking).

lol you mean Expo right?

i agree...but my only worry are post-2010 housing prices.

EastVanMark

Oct 24, 2007, 8:34 AM

lol you mean Expo right?

i agree...but my only worry are post-2010 housing prices.

Ya I did. thanks

VanHowe

Nov 2, 2007, 12:26 AM

Thanks for posting the videos. I didn't live here then but my parents left me alone at home to visit Expo. We all had fun. I am just so curious. The man who does the voice over is currently the man I listen to everyday on CKNW. He has done so much voice work on tv and radio. What is his name? I am just curious. He is the voice of CKNW as he does all the promos and I am so used to hearing it. Thanks.