The Dewdney Trunk Road Pleasure Faire was held over three days in September 1971, on land that was designated to become a federal penitentiary in Mission, BC.
The Deluxe group—Alan Clapp, Dan Clemens, Ian Ridgway and Ray Clark—applied for the permit, and Clemens and Ridgway spent the summer deconstructing barns and designing and building a 60-acre village.
“It was a big arts and crafts faire in the true sense,” says Bruce Stewart, photographer. “Leather works, pottery, candles, stuffed dolls, batiking, paintings, sculptures and an assortment of foods, smokes and grilled oysters.”
“Wending one’s way through the woods one comes upon this startling ‘village’ which Deluxe spent all summer long putting together for the Faire,” says Bruce.
There was also lots of music—and Joni Mitchell.
Zip lines were strung from some of the towers and turrets to provide rides for the kids.
“Terry Lyster supervised the building of a custom dome made from two by fours and his wife Carolyn’s tie-dyes and batiks,” says Bruce.
I went to the PNE last week, the first time in more than 15 years. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty underwhelming.
For this post, I thought I’d draw from comments left on my August 17 blog and on my Facebook page Every Place has a Story. The general consensus from fairgoers seems to be that the PNE is an expensive shadow of its former self.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
All photos were taken from the mid to late 1970s by Bruce Stewart.
Terry: “They’ve taken the “Exhibition” out of the Pacific National. It’s just food vendors, Playland rides and games, the Superdogs, the concerts at night and only a few animals and farm displays. It is just about selling you something!” (ed. note: the SuperDogs never gets old. Loved taking the kids to them in the ‘90s, love them now).
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
There was an issue over Dodgem versus Bumper car.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Dan: “Carny life. I worked night shift for a summer at Playland as a sweeper—sweeping cigarette butts in the rain. They would roll and disintegrate. It took us about two hours to do all areas of the site and then we hung out in our tent and gambled with cards until about 5 am when the Rotary Pie truck would arrive with a delivery of cheap pies. Yeah, that was the life.”
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Nancy: “What about the mini-donuts?” (ed. note: I paid $9 for 12, but I think you could have got this down if you shopped around. Yeah, it was worth it.)
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Christine: What’s missing? The building with the huge map of BC; the gardening/horticulture building with flower/plant displays/awards; the Food building with foods of the world; the PNE house to view/buy tickets; the needlework/sewing arts building; and the ant colony/bee hive displays. The midway was smaller. The shows were free. It was a place where families could have a great time, spend little, learn lots. Nighttime was magical.”
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Troy: “It sucked when they got rid of the demolition derby, loggers show, the sky ride and all the buildings where the green space is now.”
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Gord: “It’s changed a lot. Now it seems like just another second-rate amusement park. It’s expensive and not very exciting. Many of the attractions that we used to see are gone and replaced with a lot of booths selling the same junk.”
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Donna: “The demolition derby was iconic! I remember going to cheer on my dad’s friend Charlie and he got hit, stalled and stuck almost immediately.”
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Andre: “No BC Building with the giant BC map. No PNE Prize Home on site for visitors to see and buy tickets. No real melted butter poured onto popcorn which was the BEST-ever.”
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Jim: “The PNE house on site was always a must see. Now if you want to see it, you have to head out to Langley.”
The Dollarton Pleasure Faire was held in the summer of ’72 at the Maplewood Mudflats in North Vancouver. It was a celebration of alternative living, an acknowledgement that its days were numbered, and it was timed to clash with the annual PNE.
Danny Clemens (right of frame) at the canteen. Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
At least as far back as the 1940s, squatters were part of a long tradition of settlements such as Crabtown in North Burnaby and Finn Slough in Steveston. On the North Shore, the squatter community stretched from what’s now called Cates Park to the Maplewood mudflats, about a click or two east of the Ironworkers Memorial bridge.
By 1971, their lifestyle was under threat. The District of North Vancouver was determined to rid the land of squatters and replace their homes with a development that would rival Lonsdale Quay. The first round of evictions and burnings occurred in 1971.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
The two-week long Dollarton Faire in August 1972 was a show of support—the mudflat squatter community versus the District.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
Bruce Stewart had recently returned from art school in Los Angeles and was living in Kitsilano when he heard about the Faire. Bruce had met Danny Clemens and Ian Ridgway at the Mission Faire the previous summer and asked them for permission to document the event.
Al Davis and Ian Ridgway. Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
Clemens and Ian Ridgway also had serious carpentry skills and both worked on the set of Robert Altman’s movie McCabe & Mrs. Miller through most of 1970.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
Artist Colony:
Bruce found an artist colony living in houses made from recycled materials—old pieces of boats that had washed up on the mudflats and timber and windows and bits and pieces collected from heritage homes being demolished in other parts of the city.
Pirate Ship house. Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
There was the Pirate Ship house created from the abandoned hulk of a boat that was resting on a log. And there was the Glass House, an A-frame construction with assorted bric-a-brac and salvaged windows.
The glass house. Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
McCartney Creek was dammed up to create a swimming hole where people could cool off during the Faire.
Swimming hole. Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
Bruce has taken several hundred photos of a moment in time using fast film, a wide-angle lens and a Nikon FTN. He’s photographed the very young and the very old who happily co-existed with those in their prime. You can see them dancing, swimming, making art and just hanging out.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1972
Nature Sanctuary:
I’m not sure what happened to the hotel and shopping mall, but in the end, capitalism trumped the rights of people to occupy public land. Most of the homes were burned down later that year, and nearly all traces of the mudflat shacks were gone by 1973.
The aftermath. Bruce Stewart photo, 1973
Bruce’s photos, taken that year, show little evidence of the squatter community—just a few charred skids where houses once stood. “Perhaps the saddest image is the old torn off refrigerator door, paint peeling from the intense heat of the fire, like a third-degree burn on scorched skin,” says Bruce. “The end of an experiment in ‘off-the-grid’ living which was decades ahead of its time.”
The Aftermath. Bruce Stewart photo, 1973
Fortunately, developers also got the boot, and the land has been a nature sanctuary for decades.
Glenn Richards, 31 told me that racing is perfectly safe; he’s only been taken away by ambulance once. “The throttle stuck. It rang my bell pretty quick.”
Sadly, the daily exploding car attraction was cancelled that year after officials received too many noise complaints.
That year I got to tour the PNE prize home without having to line up.
Bruce Stewart, 1970s
Up until 1991, the PNE had beauty Queens—43 in fact. And while they were replaced by the Youth Ambassador Contest in 1992, the last Miss PNE, Kim Van Der Perre was here riding a PNE float.
That’s right, the first parade was in 1910 along Georgia, Granville and Hastings Streets—and the last wouldn’t be until 1995.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Back then it cost $9.50 to get in the gate and it was free for kids 12 and under. You paid $4 for cotton candy and a root beer, bought 18 mini doughnuts for $2 or spent a $1 a minute at the Laser Zone tent.
Rides:
Fortunately for me, I was seven months pregnant and not even the most world-weary editor would force me to go on the wooden roller-coaster, the fair’s most popular ride since 1958.
Bruce Stewart, 1970s
The hot new attraction at the PNE this year is the Thundervolt coaster from Italy which “blasts off with 1.3 Gs of acceleration through an illuminated tunnel, up a steep incline before an 18-meter drop.” Yikes, it makes the Pirate Ship look like a merry-go-round.
Bruce Stewart, PNE
“The lady with her prizes is one of my favourite photos,” says Bruce. “I was so fortunate that she was back-lit which make her feather stand out. The velvet painting of the semi was so bizarrely amazing, I was inspired to do an oil painting of this image.”
The Wall of Death. Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
“The Wall of Death is a good lesson in the understanding of how gravity works,” says Bruce, adding that the ride master was trying to get the audience to donate money, because as he told them, the act was so dangerous they couldn’t get insurance.
Bruce Stewart, 1970s
“The Midway Quarterback’s job was to entice participants to toss a football into a hoop held by members of Kiss riding motorcycles,” says Bruce. “I couldn’t make this stuff up.”
Last week’s blog on Kitsilano featuring Bruce Stewart’s photos, brought back memories and a healthy does of nostalgia from those of you who were lucky to have known Kits in the ‘70s.
In this week’s blog I’m delighted to bring you photos from Angus McIntyre, Gord McCaw, Peter Dobo and a couple more from Bruce, interspersed with your comments.
Some things never change: don’t open your car door in the path of a bus – brill or otherwise. Cypress Street and West 4th Avenue, outside CKVN (CFUN), 1973. Angus McIntyre photo
Says Angus McIntyre: “Sam Angel the “Mattress Man” was across the street. He paid for the first New Year’s Eve free rides in 1974, and got his name on the front of every bus.”
Looking west on 4th Avenue from the Fir Street off ramp on the Granville Street Bridge around 1:00 am. Angus McIntyre photo, mid-1970s
“This view was taken in the mid-1970s as the City of Vancouver converted street lighting from incandescent (on the left side of the street) to mercury vapour (on the right side),” says Angus. “This shows how the night time appearance of the city changed. But little did we know what was in store a few years away- the scourge of orange sodium vapour lighting.”
Soft Rock Cafe, 1924 West 4th, early 1980s. Artwork by Pablo Fiasco, photo by Gord McCaw
Music:
“I spent a lot of time in Kitsilano in the late 60s and through much of the 70s. I was there the July day when the Grateful Dead, who were in town for a three-day gig at Dante’s Inferno on Davie, were about to play a free concert near Engine 374 at Cornwall and Yew,” says Mark. “A couple of bands played first, then the neighbours complained about the noise, the cops showed up and the Dead, who’d been hanging around for an hour waiting to play (I stood next to Jerry Garcia, watching as, seated on a picnic table, he give guitar tips to a number of aspiring players), took off along with the rest of us, disappointed.”
Soft Rock Cafe, 1925 West 4th, Gord McCaw photo, 1979
“Mom and John lived on the top floor of 1872 W. 3rd. They had the Hippogryff Store beside the Stuart Building on W. Georgia & Stanley Park at the time. I moved down to live with Mom in 1967,” says William who was 10 at the time. “I had all the freedom I could wish for, it was a pretty magical time.”
The first Greek Days on Broadway. Peter Dobo photo, 1974
The Beach:
“I used to live in Kits Point at 2080 Creelman Ave., a duplex with view of Kits Beach with all the beautiful people depicted in Bruce Stewart’s photographs,” says Thomas. “The bakery on Yew and Cornwall with all the wonderful breads and pastry and all the great restaurants along Yew and Cornwall. Lifestream was the melting point where you always met someone you knew. Saturdays we went to the only liquor store up on West Broadway to buy a gallon bottle of Calona wine (tasted horrible) and to find out where the parties were happening. Life was truly beautiful.”
The first Greek Days on Broadway. Peter Dobo photo, 1974
Landlords:
“In 1969-70, I lived at 2nd and Arbutus in an old wooden, three-storey house basement suite. I was 16 yrs old. The landlords were two ‘eccentric’ brothers Percy and Wes. They were retired, and Wes had worked for the CPR. They were hoarders, and there was canned food stacked everywhere,” says Nick. “The house was full of valuable antiques. Percy gave me a WW2 German Navy flag with the Swaztika on it. I gave it to a collector neighbour in East Van whose son was a friend of mine. Do you remember that HUGE rock that sat on the S.E. corner of 4th and Arbutus? The hippies used to sit on it.”
West 4th between Yew and Arbutus Streets early 1980s. Gord McCaw photo
“I worked at the Lifestream warehouse. I used to pick up Peter in my VW van in White Rock and he would meditate on the floor during the commute to Richmond sometimes toppling over with sharp turns,” says Rob. “Lots of odd and funny hippy stories about the warehouse and the restaurant on 4th, my hangout. I’m still a health food freak!”
Birkdale Apartments, 1984. Gord McCaw photo
“I shot several photos of the Birkdale Apartments at 2235 West Broadway over a three year period,” says Gord McCaw. “There was an artists’ colony there and they decorated it in a few different incarnations.”
Bulletin Boards:
Bulletin board a few blocks west of Burrard, just off 4th Avenue. Bruce Stewart photo, mid 1970s
Says Bruce: “It appealed to me as it seemed like a one-stop ‘shopping’ setup: notices for everything from experimental theatre, cheap accommodation, yoga, clown workshops, spiritual healing, you name it! And, a place to rest one’s bones and pick over the free merchandise, on offer (the Fourth Avenue Free Box).”
“The Lifestream billboard. It was our internet,” says Will.
Says Jennifer: “It was like Tinder for hippies before social media.”
Kits Beach, mid-1970s. Bruce Stewart photo
“I worked at CFUN in the early ’80s,” says Elizabeth. “A regular sight was the local guy with a big boat of a car, who had replaced front and back bumpers with flower boxes and always had his goat in the back seat.”
The Nanaimo to Vancouver bathtub race ran from 1967 to 1996
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
When I moved to Vancouver in the mid 1980s, I lived in an apartment at Third and Cypress in Kitsilano. Over the next 12 years, I moved two more times up Third Avenue, and one of my summer highlights was heading down to the beach every July for the Nanaimo to Vancouver bathtub races.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
I was excited when Bruce Stewart told me he had taken photos of the race and the crowds in 1978 – did I want to see them? I did. I think you’ll love them to.
Small outboard-powered boats that look like bathtubs. Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
Fun Facts:
The first race was held in 1967 as a Centennial project for Canada’s 100th birthday. It was supposed to be a one-time event but it ran every year for three decades.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
The route across the Georgia Strait is 55 kilometres (give or take)
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
More than 200 tubbers participated that first year with forty-seven completing the course
A teen cannonballs into a tub of raspberry jello down by the change rooms at Kits Beach. Yuk, just yuk. Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
Engines had to be a maximum of six hp
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
Frank Ney was a huge promoter of the bathtub races. Frank was the mayor of Nanaimo from 1967 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 1990. There is a statue of him in Nanaimo wearing a pirate’s outfit.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
In 1978 the winner was Gary Deathbridge, a 23-year-old plumber from my hometown, Melbourne, Australia. His secret? He lay prone in his tub for added speed leaving his legs to hang outside. Deathbridge made the crossing in just under an hour and a half.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
Not to rub it in, but Australians won the bathtub races in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
In 1978 there was a four month beer strike – from June until September.
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
Penny Tremain, 25 of Vancouver was the first woman to finish. She placed third overall, weighing in at 94 pounds (42-kilos)
Bruce Stewart photo, 1978Bruce Stewart photo, 1978Bruce Stewart photo, 1978
June is Italian heritage month, and this year Italian Days was held on Sunday June 9, 2024
Italian Days 1977: Bruce Stewart photo
I hate crowds, so I can’t give you a first-hand account of Italian Days this year. Having watched a couple of YouTube videos though, I can tell you that it was a gorgeous day that drew thousands of people to eat, drink and be entertained on Commercial Drive in what the Italians (or possibly City Hall) are billing as the largest cultural street festival in Vancouver.
Italian Days 1977. Bruce Stewart photo
Anna Terrana:
The first Italian Days festival was organized by a group led by Anna Terrana and held on June 26, 1977. Times were simpler, there were samplings of pasta and pizza and home-made wine tastings. There was a puppet show, a bocce challenge and performances by the Sicilian Folk Society, the Alpini Band, the Italian Folk Choir of BC, Polynesian Dancers and an appearance by the Chinese lion.
Italian Days 1977. Bruce Stewart photo
Bruce Stewart, who lived for at time on Graveley Street, was there to record the “mood on the street.”
“Back then, it was a gathering, in the true sense of the word. People from all over town were there, with a large contingent from the local Italian community centred largely around The Drive,” he says. “Many families showed up for gelato and treats in their Sunday finest. It was a happy, low-key event.”
Italian Days 1977. Bruce Stewart photo
The Drive: then and now:
“Much of The Drive has changed little – other parts, quite a bit. Some store fronts have faded away to be replaced by new businesses, restaurants, espresso bars and fitness joints,” he says.
Italian Days 1977. Bruce Stewart photo
The building that housed Gransasso Billiards at 1622 Commercial Drive still exists. It is now a Mexican restaurant called La Mezcaleria. Manitoba Hardware at 1714 Commercial Drive is now a vintage clothes store called Mintage.
Italian Days 1977. Bruce Stewart photo
The first Italian Days unfortunately clashed with the fourth year of Greek Days on West Broadway.
Says Bruce: “I went over to photograph Italian Day in the morning, then charged over to West Broadway to cover Greek Day in the afternoon!”
Italian Days 1977. Bruce Stewart photo
Italian days moved from The Drive to the Italian Cultural Centre on Slocan Street in 1985 and moved back to The Drive in 2010.
Stanley Park Easter Be-In, April 22, 1973. Bruce Stewart photo.
1967:
It’s been 57 years since the first Stanley Park Easter Be-In. A local take on the be-in that had taken place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park two months before and set the tone for the Summer of Love.
Vancouver’s event was much smaller, but about a thousand hippies, and three times as many onlookers, turned up at Ceperley Park near Second Beach in March 1967, wearing colourful beaded vests with jeans and tattered evening gowns, even monk and clown costumes. They danced to bands like Country Joe and the Fish, dropped LSD, and carried signs that read, Make Love, Not War, and Burn Pot, Not People.
Bread Baker’s Puppet Theatre, Stanley Park Be-In, 1973. Bruce Stewart photo
This event officially marked the beginnings of Vancouver’s counterculture and set the stage for the launch of the movement’s newspaper, the Georgia Straight, the first issue of which hit the streets on May 5 1967, with a cover price of 10 cents.
Stanley Park Be-In, 1973. Bruce Stewart photo
1972:
The sixth annual Easter Be-In was held on April 2, 1972. Less than three weeks later, the Park Board would unleash the bulldozers and demolish the hippy huts in All Seasons Park. Thanks to their tenacity and ability to live without running water (the hippies not the Parks Board), instead of a huge hotel and condo development, we have Devonian Harbour Park.
Harlequin Group, Stanley Park Be-In, 1973. Bruce Stewart photo
1973:
On April 22, 1973, when Bruce Stewart shot these fabulous photos, the Be-In was in its seventh year. About 10,000 people turned up to listen High Flying Bird, Brain Damage, Dandy Tripper Band and One Man’s Family. It was still counterculture, if not as novel as it had once been, and the story made its way out of Vancouver into the Star-Phoenix in Saskatoon and the Windsor Star in Ontario. The biggest issue that year was the traffic jam in the Stanley Park Causeway.
Sax Man, Stanley Park Be-In, 1973. Bruce Stewart photo
Sax Man is Ross Barrett. Ross, who also played flute and keyboard, was in the psychedelic band Mock Duck, and around the time this photo was taken, was with Sunshyne, playing with Bruce Fairbairn and drummer Jim Vallance.
1974:
In April 1974, A headline in the Vancouver Sun quoted a teen who called the Be-in “kind of boring.”
Bruce Stewart captured this photo while on his way to the 1972 Easter Be-In at Stanley Park. The thugs in bad pants were harassing the Gospel Guitar couple along the Seawall at Third Beach. Quite a contrast to the music and dancing above.
By 1977, less than a thousand turned out for the April Be-In and the festival moved to Semiahmoo.
“Terry Lyster supervised the building of a custom dome made from two by fours and his wife Carolyn’s tie-dyes and batiks,” says Bruce.
