Every Place Has a Story

The PNE: Then and Now

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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.

PNE
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s

All photos were taken from the mid to late 1970s by Bruce Stewart.

For more stories like this one, check out Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

PNE
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s

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).

PNE
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s

There was an issue over Dodgem versus Bumper car.

PNE
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.”

PNE
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.)

PNE
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.”

PNE
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.”

PNE
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.”

PNE
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.”

PNE
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.”

PNE
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.”

Related:

 

© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.

The PNE in the ’70s: A photo essay by Bruce Stewart

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The PNE kicks off today (Saturday August 17) and runs until September 2.

Bruce Stewart, PNE
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s

In 1992, I worked at the Vancouver Sun and that year I spent most of my August shifts at the PNE.

One day I’d write about the rodeo clown who had broken every bone in his body at least once. The next day I’d write about the Demolition Derby.

For more stories like this one, check out Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

Bruce Stewart, PNE
Bruce Stewart photo, 1970s
Demolition Derby:

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, PNE
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, PNE
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, PNE
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
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.”

Bruce Stewart, PNE
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, PNE
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.”

Bruce Stewart, PNE
The gambling Alley. Bruce Stewart, 1970s
Related:

© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.

The PNE Prize Home: Party Like it’s 1957!

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In 1957, the PNE prize home, at 1,444 square feet, was one and a half times the size of a normal house. 

Story from: Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the city’s hidden history

The PNE
The PNE prize home in 1957. Courtesy Vancouver Archives
1957:

In 1957, things were a lot less complicated. People went out to movies and drank Nescafe in the kitchen. The prize home, at 1,444 square feet, was one and a half times the size of a normal house. It was a single-storey, boxy, early Ranch style house.

It was also less than half the size of recent prize homes.

Moved to Burnaby:

The 1957 house was moved to, and remains at, 6517 Lougheed Highway in Burnaby. It originally sat on a concrete pad, but owners have since added a basement, bringing the total square footage to a little over 2,400. In 2021 it’s assessed at over a million.

Courtesy BC Assessment

Contrast that with this year’s PNE prize home. Valued at $1.8 million (including extras) and located in South Surrey.

It has 3,600 sq.ft. spread across three levels and includes a home gym, media room inside and a hot tub and “outdoor living package” in the backyard. Seriously, you’ll never have to leave the house.

Also please note that the PNE prize home is not actually at the PNE this year, you have to go to South Surrey to try and find it. For more information see the PNE prize home website

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.

The Livestock Building at the PNE

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From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

 

Designed in 1929 by McCarter Naine
The Livestock Building at Hastings Park. Eve Lazarus photo 2010
Hastings Park:

The Livestock Building at Hastings Park is a rundown old concrete warehouse full of peeling paint, boarded up and broken windows. The back is just as neglected, but painted red from a film shoot some years ago. Most of us know it from taking our kids to see the petting zoo, the pig races and Big Bob at the annual Pacific National Exhibition. And, while it’s in desperate need of a face lift, the building has got both architectural merit and a really interesting social history.

The Forum was the men’s building K. CVA photo 1942 180-3541
Internment:

The first part of the building went up in 1929, and then in the ‘40s architectural firm McCarter Nairne turned it into a much larger Streamline Moderne building—the same firm that designed the amazing art deco Marine Building on Burrard.

Most important though is the building serves as a reminder of the injustice suffered by 22,000 Japanese-Canadians during WW2. From March to September, 1942 you would have found more than 3,100 women and children at different times living in deplorable conditions in the animal stalls at the western end of this three-acre large building. The eastern section housed a hospital, kitchen and dining area. The men–mostly fishers and miners and merchants and foresters were housed in the Pure Food Building.

The Hastings Park buildings used to contain the Japanese during the war – 1942-1945. Photo CVA 180-3506
PNE buildings:

All told there were at least 10 of the PNE buildings used to house the Japanese Canadians in disgusting conditions.  Most of the buildings are long gone, but as well as the Livestock building, Rollerland, the Forum, the Garden Auditorium and the race track were all used at some point to contain the Japanese before they were shipped off to internment camps.

These “enemy aliens”–many who were born in Canada–were  wrenched from their homes  and sent to live here before being forcibly relocated to internment camps in places like Slocan, BC.

Wander through the Momiji Gardens and you’ll find a faded plaque secured to a rock telling some of the story.

Muriel Fujiwara Kitagawa described the Japanese women’s dormitory: “The whole place is impregnated with the smell of ancient manure and maggots. Every other day it is swept with dichlorine of lime, or something, but you can’t disguise horse smell, cow smell, sheep, pigs, rabbits and goats…there are 10 showers for 1,500 women.”

Courtesy Vancouver Heritage Foundation

Back in 1997 when it looked like the PNE and Playland would move somewhere else, the Garden Auditorium (1940), the PNE Forum (1933), the iconic wooden rollercoaster (early 1930s) and the Livestock Building were all under threat of demolition. A decision to keep the PNE where it is gave these structures a reprieve.

According to Dave Hutch, project manager, the City of Vancouver is currently assessing the Livestock Building before recommending that it be added to the Vancouver Heritage Register. Hutch, says based on the research so far, the building will likely qualify for an A Status, which at the very least should help the former marshalling facility get the maintenance it badly needs to prolong its life.

© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.