Memory Lane

Who was that guy, in the 80s, who would always be screaming “Five hunnert dolla!”? Some kind of real-estate or investment “guru”. Had a TV show, lasted about a year or so before everyone started watching something else.

Anyway. I thought his name was Stanley Ho. So I looked that up in good ol’ inaccurate and buggy but don’t we love it Wikipedia. Turns out he’s a rich dude from Hong Kong with lots of casinos in Macao. Probably not the same guy. From his page, I find a link to a bunch of other rich guys, and who should I spy but Vancouver’s own car-sellin’ two-watch-wearing’ Jim freekin’ Pattison . Believe it or not.

He ran Expo 86, all of 20 years ago (how to make Jurgen feel old). So I took a trip down memory lane, and checked out this site with pictures of the thing . The monorail really pissed me off. “This train is not stopping at this station”. Damn. Would have been quicker to walk, even through the human sardine can which is the Plaza of Nations.

I was a bit too young to appreciate the lead-up to Expo the first time around – it kind of marked the beginning of my understanding of Vancouver as a place that changes. Before Expo, I didn’t know the place. All my understanding and knowledge of the place as a living, growing city started with Expo. I still remember driving across the old Cambie bridge, BC Place’s roof inflating, and that fantastic strip of weirdness that was Highway 86.