Welcome to Vancouver, True Crime.
I'm with my very honored guest cinnamon and we are going to
talk about something different. Today, we're going to talk about
the things that we love about Vancouver.
I do a series and it's actually my most popular series, it's
called Vancouver, the beautiful and ugly and I'm rebooting it
and cinnamons gracious enough to help me reboot the series.
And we're going to talk today about the things that we love
about the city. The things that we were born and
raised and we so look forward and sometimes actually took for
granted, And you know, we these are the things that made
Vancouver and awesome place to the Natural Beauty, the beaches
the mountains, the access to Nature, you know, driving out of
the city and 1020 minutes. You're in a beautiful forest or
Island, you could be on Gambier island or what's the other
Island Red Cross from West Vancouver.
Well, when Island Bowen Island. Yes.
Yeah. Bowen Island.
You know, these are like amazing places like, you know, And
having Stanley Park, a big Cosmopolitan City and then you
have a rain forest, right? Right in the middle of the city.
Beautiful. See well, so let's get into it.
Let's talk about the positive, the wonderful things of
Vancouver. I summon.
Thank you so much for joining me and thank you for coming on
Vancouver. The beautiful and ugly and today
we're only going to talk about the beautiful in the positive.
Yay! Thank you for a nice.
Yeah. So you grew up in Langley, but
you spent a lot of time in Vancouver like what were some of
the things when you were like a young kid like that you looked
for to, in coming into the city? Yeah, so one of the first
memories I have was Expo, 86 because I was a big deal and we
called it like the Expo Ball but which is never Science World.
But it's pretty big shiny object, right?
So and when you would come down first, Yeah, First Avenue like
came down the hill and you approached me and in terminal
and you saw this giant shiny object.
So that was really exciting for me as a kid and like my dad had
this Toyota 4x4 from the 1980s. It was bright red, and it had a
white orange and yellow stripe on it.
And of course there's only two seats in the front.
So all the kids piled up in the back, the cousins, everything we
piled up in the back and you know, Had seatbelts, I think, I
don't know but it wasn't like anything back in the eighties,
but I just remember being so fun.
Like we're going to the big city and actually V6 was awesome.
And I remember my dad saying, like there was nothing here
before there was nothing. It was all industrial area.
So it was actually, it was all like, would Mills.
It was machine shot because back in the day, Vancouver was a
logging town and that's where all the wood, the wood Mills and
the lumber where the There was no real Seawall at the time
there was no Olympic Village. No, it was an apartment like
there was literally just like roads.
And then put this big exhibition that you've got like a passport.
And so, you can walk around and get stamps from all the
different exhibits that Kris. And I remember a billions, right
Pavilions and I think my favorite place in Egypt.
I remember Egypt because they had S.
Yes, so I just, I did really stands out in my mind about
that, and that was, it was really cool.
And my parents weren't always like, it was a fart.
Like, that was a commitment to come to Vancouver.
So, right. It was fun.
And it was positive, and it actually, you know, they were
paycheck-to-paycheck, middle-income family that we
were and B were even on the lower scale.
But, you know, I remember being affordable for them to come
like, it was important was in a It was affordable and we were
able to do it. And I just remember that was one
of my very first positive experiences with Vancouver, and
then my mom, she would work at whatever I think it wasn't
playing, but it was like peony. So she would have boots for
work. And she actually, there was this
like, tram thing and she said, you can find me if you get lost,
just follow the tram. And I'm like, at the end of the
tram, almost like end of the rainbow, right?
And she would let E between six and eight years old because we
want every summer wander the peony by myself.
Imagine letting her eight-year-old do that now.
Yeah, and I'm talking these were overprotective parents like my
parents were very strict but for some reason they felt totally
safe there and I would just totally check out all these.
It's like I remember going into like a marine ship and getting
like a Polaroid photo of me with like some Navy.
Oh yeah. I think I went on some.
It was like you know when those armored vehicles I think it's
called a Grizzly. It has like Wheels.
Yeah, like kids playing kids being free like and that was
good for my mom because she didn't have to tote me around.
She could do her job and then like, I just totally wandered
around. And I'd I don't think I even had
money or anything. Like I just walked around like I
don't remember I didn't know how to pay for self.
You don't have a phone, you don't have a Tracker.
I just like I remember saying just follow the tram and I never
got lost. I had provider.
That's today's to say oh if you get lost go talk to an adult
until you go. See it?
Yeah, that's what my mom would do to.
My mom was really strict and, you know, little bit on the
uptight scale but she was the same thing.
Okay, I want you back here in an hour and if you get lost, just
go talk to find yourself an adult and they will help you.
How did we even tell the time I didn't have a watch.
Like we didn't have phones so but you knew you knew what an
hour was or whatever and you. I don't even know how I did
that, but I remember just like, wow, I'm on my own and I could
go look at whatever I wanted to go.
Look at, I could explore. So we don't have that now.
No, it's a different time but I remember like we were talking
about the Expo land. I remember when Granville Island
was just being built and before it was built, we should go
fishing there. My mom would take us and go
fishing off the porch. They're like, you know, this off
the dock there, we catch the statements and stuff would be,
it'd be clean because it's going, well, we wouldn't eat
them like a fun activity to do. Like I could imagine they taking
my kids but it was a different city though.
It was it was it was a very open people were more friendlier.
It was, it had a whole different vibe.
Vibe. And like you're saying, what
Expo for people who don't know Expo. 86 is a Expo. 86 was like
a world fair. Exposition it lasted for six
months, right? Exotic.
Six months and every country had a pavilion and you get like a
passport and go to the Ontario provincial Yin, the Nova Scotia
Pavilion, the American Pavilion American when had a moon landing
one, which was cool and that you mentioned, the Egyptian one had
Ramsey, the sack and that had a big impression.
And I remember going to the Saudi Arabia, when was kind of
cool. My mom took a picture of this
lady and her full kind of Hub jib.
As she looked, very beautiful. And she had like, it was very
like elaborate had like Pete, like, gold and stuff.
And so it was cool to see get experiences with all these
different countries and there's all these African ones, and
Southeast Asia. It was really cool and you can
go multiple times because he couldn't see everything in one
day. Oh, absolutely.
And they had fireworks like all the time.
So you would stay waffle cones are really good.
I'm sorry but you had to stay late, right?
Right? So you co in the morning to make
all day, but then it's like, they even encourage you to stay
longer to watch fireworks. Yeah, the Giants watch watch.
Oh, I love swatches. That was so, that was the first
time where swatches were really cool and trendy and everyone had
one. And then they came out with the
Expo, Swatch watch. And it was probably a
collector's I have now, and then also my mom.
Did your mom collect like, little spoons.
Oh my God, she made me. Yeah, my mom had a spoon
collection and and she would and then that was the one thing that
expose. You got all these little spoons
and pens the pins were popular. They must be like the same age
because my mom's like you need a collection and I'm like, I don't
want to collect anything, and she's like spoons.
Yeah, that was big back then though my mom had like spoons
from around the world. Had to be made a rock.
Yeah yeah yeah. It was even funny.
She made a rock with the like a map of beasts.
See, but the spoons were from everywhere.
It's just, yeah, it's kind of funny.
I have that hens were popular like all the different pens like
you get from all the different Pavilions, how they still had
those pins. But yeah, you know that that was
like one of the things, right? And then and then the Expo land
became the track for or Molson Indy.
Yeah. Do you ever go to in the most in
Indy, event know, I didn't. But you know, when I became a
young adult I heard it. It was always pretty cool but I
thought well why would you go there and it just whizzes by so
fast like weird. But I guess it's the whole
experience. Yeah.
It's experience and there's different races and then you can
go to the to see the pit Crews and see the cars, and it's a
huge area. So you're walking around.
I'll actually tell you a funny story.
I do. It was probably early 2000's.
It's probably about 2003. And I started this job and it
was like not, I wasn't even there for like a week.
He was like, you know, you're that you're out there, you're a
newbie and you don't know who's who and, you know, just trying
to be polite and not spit when you talk to people, you know, I
mean just trying to be on your best behavior and it was like my
first week there and it was like this lady.
She was the assistant manager. And at the end of the day, she
walks over and she kind of let you know, using her soul her
manager or kind. Like tonality and approach to me
so Mark we're having a party. Okay.
Oh where oh it's going to be at my place.
Oh that's cool. What kind of Parts the Molson
Indy party and she lived across the street at one of the condos
right across from Science World actually.
So right on Main and terminal there's these great big giant
buildings right across the street.
One of the first ones that went up.
Yeah, we're a hundred thousand dollars each I remember.
Wow, So anyways, I go to this party was in the, it was a
Saturday and it was show me to come over around noon because
apparently the owners of the condo is all got tickets to go,
see them Molson Indy because of the noise level, but her
balcony, she said her balcony actually overlooks the trucks.
He says, oh, we could watch it from the balcony and then we can
walk over and go to the, you know, Molson Indy and see the
exhibit and everything. Right?
So when someone says we are having Wiggy, right?
You're suspecting all the whole office going to be.
Then I thought, well, sure, I'll go.
I didn't want to say no, I want to make a good impression and I
got there, but 1:00 and nobody's there.
That's why I also think I'm the first one to arrive, so I decide
to us. Oh, when's everyone's coming?
Oh, it's just me and you, I just invited you.
Oh, a party for me. And you, oh, that's a really
nice lunch and spread and She was Italian.
So she had all this food and wine and there was beer and we
are except for all the new people, you know.
Yeah. But a whole different like a
whole different Persona wearing a very different outfit that she
would wear like for, you know, at the workplace workplace.
She was pretty button down there.
She was wearing a pretty much. I think she was like what's that
buttoned up? Well so you know, coughs, you
know Blazer, you know Certain that dress pants or maybe a
skirt that kind of, you know, kind of business steal a
business like skin-tight jeans and a halter top and her hair's
all teased and, you know, thick mascara.
And I'm like, oh wow, you're right.
And this drinking like crazy and then more, like, kind of, like a
pretty intense, you know what I mean?
We went and saw there was different exhibits are like the
Vancouver fire departments are. Of course she got pictures with
the Vancouver fire department which made her really happy and
you know, you could see like the diff, they had different cars on
this plate but it's a it's a it's a law, it's a huge area,
right? And then of course it's most in
Hindi, so Bolson beer everywhere. so, I And, you know,
now she is hammered and and, and pretty like, out in the open
water intention is and I feel kind of awkward, I guess I would
like to do it as I am. I fired is going to be, you
know, you know I mean is she, you know, it's just lucky.
Lucky ring a doorbell rings and it's her older brother and he
has a whole bunch of Yahoo friends.
Hey, what are you doing here? Because it was her parents
place. Bright was our parents play.
So I kind of like, oh, thank God, kind of see it.
Oh, wow. Okay, whole bunch of people I'm
gonna get going now. She looks so pissed off and
she's in the room with her brother and they're screaming at
each other and Italian. And, you know, I kind of like,
well I think I'll get going. Thanks for the invite.
Thank you for the tickets and then when I went back the work
that day and I know that following Monday.
She's going. I'm so sorry.
My brother's. Alright, maybe you could come
over for dinner and I'll make you a nice dinner and this
entire time Like, well, I just uses his well, I was kind of
very found that your brother coming over really angry, very
awkward. And so either, I promise he
won't be there. So yeah, that was like, most
everyone in her life Mark. Yeah, everyone's life.
Yes. He was God.
He came these days, what's that? Yeah.
Place, right? It's kind of awkward and if you
do damned if you don't kind of thing, you know, and then it's
just super awkward because that because I think of in the shoe
was on the other foot, if I was a manager in their new woman,
right? All right.
I've tickets. Oh my god.
Did you ever go? Like a lot of a concert like
member at BC Place? Have a mass of constants?
Like a Remember that Playland peony the
Barenaked Ladies before they were famous?
Did a free thing like they were just like up-and-coming not was
in the 90s. So I saw them, of course, I
nobody knew who they were at the time, but then thinking back,
right? So that's cool.
But my very first Like, official concert that I bought tickets
was Red Hot Chili Peppers in the eighth.
It was so good and you can fight your way to the front because it
was just like general admission the first row and it was like so
fun. It was so fun.
Good there were good. Bad back in the day.
There were light actually liked her music and stuff.
That was good energy and yeah, there were still a lot of
security though, right? There still was a lot of big I
remember security guards, because all these women again?
Yeah, teased hair. Just climbing your way.
They just wanted to get backstage.
Well, we were, when I lived in, he's fast and we were, you know,
maybe a little bit more Rowdy or back then and we still, we still
go to the Pacific Coliseum and it was super easy to get into
the concert you can look and you go in the neck, the back of you
could actually pop up the you know the safety.
Yeah. And so from that, I saw a Motley
Crew I actually saw Tina Turner and you know what?
She was amazing. Yeah, the who was cool?
I got I remember, I used to go to the summer camp, my mom's
side of the family or like basis, send me to this kind of
elite summer camp on Gibson. It's in.
It's a cold YMCA the camps called camp elphinstone.
And they have like sailing and skiing and tennis.
And, and my friends parents who are from North Vancouver, there
a code. You want to go see the whoso
with their family was Like for four rows from the stage and it
was a day. I was amazing concert like it
was really amazing concert. So yeah, I got to see a lot of
really great concerts and I kind of miss that a probably more
recently. I'm kind of remember the last
time I do a concert I've been going to probably more to
smaller venues I can't remember the last time I did it like a
big Stadium concert but those were big like in the in the 80s
and 90s that at BC Place Pacific Coliseum.
GM Place. These were like big like yeah.
I think I think the last big concert I went to was Guns and
Roses but he didn't show up and there was actually a bit of a
kerfuffle outside. It was got it wasn't a bad
right? But people are pissed off
because Axl Rose's little crazy he just he was just like a
no-show and everyone everyone was pretty upset for obviously
we have different tastes in concert so like I've been to
Backstreet Boys like quite a few times you probably have it.
Within These that term metrosexual.
Yeah, these guys were the most metrosexual tone, but not really
big spiky frosted hair and perfectly getting them out of
trouble, all incredibly irons, their girls and Fort st.
John, you're going to get your ass kicked.
Oh sure. Enough some guys running off the
girl Mark more. Come get me.
I'm in trouble. Oh my God.
Yeah, these guys using, the guys are pretty Savage up in Fort st.
John so yeah. So, it was kind of funny.
Yeah. So, yeah, I do, I do, I do.
I do boy bands and then I did go see Ryan Stewart.
Yeah, I think Jackson was always a good concert.
Which one sorry to hear Janet Jackson
outfit and they did like the coordinated dancing account was
the entertainment of it, right? It was like, what your value for
your money. But you know what, I remember
the cost of those things being like, 50 bucks.
Yeah. $100. If you go I remember like if you
got like for example, those who tickets and those are but yeah
there's a lot of hockey and listen to one of my old, lots of
free hockey. Yes.
And I course I didn't. I didn't understand the source
of the tickets, but, anyways, I got to go see lots of hockey
games because of that. Anyways, I cease to see the San
Jose Sharks, quite a bit interesting because I really get
into it. Embarrassing.
But, anyways, she was able to get lots of tickets is
specifically when the San Jose Sharks sharks came into town.
Always had free tickets, you know, for me heard ago, you
know. So I But the, but the tickets
were good, like, they were good tickets, like they were right on
that, like Center ice right out, like, right, like, right on the
Ice Center. I so he did when they hit the
boom, they're right in front of you, you know what I mean?
Banging on the ground coat. So I got to see like, amazing
like athletes because I own Pavel Brewery was in town.
Trevor Linden was a captain, there was a great team right
there was that was a really good team.
I got to see em be a lot. I dated a girl, her dad.
He owned. He was a part owner of a large
Car Lot. Jim car lot in Kelowna, so he
got season tickets, but he lived in Kelowna and when he so he
would mail us the tickets. So we got to see every team, New
York Knicks, Houston Rockets out LA Kings, and then when he came
into town, he upgraded the tickets to the Chicago Bulls and
we sat right behind the bench. Get behind the truck.
I could have tapped Michael. Odin on the shoulder, I'd
Scottie Pippen. Oh, what's his name?
The guy with, you know, if the earrings and the piercings and
muscle dies and it's Robert Dennis Rodman.
So yeah he wasn't playing, he was he wasn't playing as he was
injured but he was sitting right in front of me.
And but yeah, that but that was like the All-Star Chicago Bulls
when all that's all the championship.
So yeah, because you know, this this is Vancouver used to be
like this is when it was an actual world class City, when
something Chicago Bulls in town, the LA Kings like wild.
Like it's just not like that anymore.
And yeah, you could probably bump into them into in a bar or
like walking down the street or something.
Well, the Canucks used to like the Roxy.
Oh, they did. Yeah, you know, careful Brandy's
to, they still go to bed. Like actors liked going there.
All right, I didn't know we had a Hard Rock Cafe.
Hollywood. Right.
That's where the library used to be before they built the
Colosseum. Did we have hard rock, or am I
thinking of Planet Hollywood? We, I don't think we had the
yeah, we did. We did hit Hard Rock Cafe, the
Hard Rock Cafe, I believe was on West Hastings.
Really? Yeah, it was like, yeah.
I didn't last very long. There was a Hard Rock Cafe.
It was. Do you remember where?
Okay, so there used to be be a bar with a gay bar and was
called The Odyssey. Yeah.
See the Odyssey moved and that used to be the Hard Rock Cafe, I
don't, but they ought to see end up closing down, but we had the
Soft Rock Cafe that was in kits. But is it not really feel for
this kind of thing? But we had Planet Hollywood
Planet Hollywood is where I think it's Victoria's Secret now
is change was hmm? Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
Yeah, yeah. And they had a lot of
celebrities when that when it opened up all the you know?
Celebrities came out for that but you Sabella run into lots
of. Oh I got to tell you a celebrity
story. It is it is horrific and it's so
exciting and I truly was like one of my most like oh you know,
for the love of God moment, right?
So I dated a woman miss your game if you want to roll the
piece and she was a legal secretary and she had a very big
personality so we were what we solidify.
On Richards Street. And we're walking up to
Milestones, as a Friday evening. It was summertime, we walked
from Richard Street, we're walking up to Robson to get the
Milestones, that Berard and the cross street.
Berard. And where were the the library
is? And there was like a hot dog
because I've hot dog stand there.
It's not a problem. Don't ya rocks and Street
Roxanne. Roxanne And that's where
Victoria's Secret is now. But at the time it was, hm
music. You really know this location of
Victoria's Secret. I'm just saying
And he's trying to buy a hot dog.
At the hot dog stand. And, and he's small, he's
probably like five to like what? I've three.
He's very petite. Yeah, he's right.
She was a woman. She was 510.
Mom's house, so matter. But why do you have to be so
rude to him and stuff? And she didn't care.
She got her prize, she got her picture and what and then and
then when we got home, like she would always like, every Friday
evening. Should she had three sisters?
And every, every Friday evening was me, listening her talking in
Portuguese, at level 10, all her sisters, and no raw at all.
I hear is blah de da Portuguese, and Robin Williams, Robin
really? Robin Williams, Robin Williams,
It's like that poor guy and then you know, probably traumatized
them. I think how many times that poor
guy had to go through that, you know, are just crazy, lunatic,
you know, fans, you know. Yeah, I was at Bridges
restaurant with my, to Auntie's in their 70s beside us, was
Harrison Ford. So I said to my auntie's don't
look now, but Harrison Ford is like right there.
And what do they do? But it was pretty cool.
What am I more funnier? Celebrity moments.
And so I still live on Thurlow Street and there and I had a dog
and there was this dog park on Thurlow, this fucking called
Thurlow Park and I take the dogs there and it was Billy Baldwin.
Oh yeah, yeah, he was skinny and had spiky hair and I knew who he
was, he wasn't, he had a little Cocker Spaniel.
And he kept saying, I do, we know what's eating?
He's wanted me to say, oh, What where are you from?
Like and I knew exactly who he was and I was walking the dogs
and, you know, playing with the dog.
I mean know, what city I am in, he kept saying that over and
over again. Oh, I've been in so many cities
and I'm supposed to say hobo. How many places have you been to
pay? When I just kept ignoring it
because ignoring it was kind of like I was getting irritated
because I did say, oh, you look familiar.
You, you know, it was kind of a funny you know what, the other
one that I had and this is like, it's such a weird encounter, but
There was Fletcher's, dry cleaner in Arbutus area.
Oh yeah and I was the passenger so my husband was dropping off
the dry cleaning but he took so freaking long.
So I remember just like kind of staring like and looking at the
front doors like where the hell is he?
So who's walking by? And then he goes like this.
Hmm. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm
looking at the front door, not at you, you know who it freaking
was Brent? But from Corner Gas.
What the hell is this guy giving me like the googly eyes?
Like rude. Right and then I you realize
because he's so identifiable I'm like oh my God he thought it was
staring at him even though I'm waiting for my husband and
pissed that my husband's taking so long, like the eagle of some
people hearing at him, I did some extra work and you know,
I'd gets like sometimes to get upgraded to the special skills
or they there was one they called Silent on Cinema.
So I was always cast. Cop a lot or uniform has on X
Files. I told the story I had I won't
tell it again but I had the very bizarre experience with Julian
Anderson. That was a very bizarre
experience which are lucky. I think she's a great actress.
Thought she was great in the crown and stuff but yeah that
was a strange one. The coolest celebrity I met on
set was actually Tommy Chong. He was super cool.
Looking we worked on this set. It was actually at Riverview and
it was a small set and he was funding it out of his own.
Own pocket. So it's kind of very independent
film Phil and we had lunch together.
We all sat together at the table laid off, China of his white
like after nice. Porcelain China and stuff was
like a nice beautifully set table.
Like if you're having dinner with him and his wife was that
era, she was very beautiful and gracious.
And who's this hilarious? He kept.
And so in this store, in this film, I was a Border guard who
and he was growing marijuana and them in my scene.
There's a strike. Norma's pot plant and it was so
big that I couldn't believe it was a big pot plant because it
is big and it is in. The funny thing was his
directorial debut of directing me for the scene, he comes up to
me and he has kind of a funny voice because okay man, this is
what I want you to do. I want you to walk in and then I
want to chat you to check the bottom of your shoes like this.
See if he stepped in dogshit because it smells so bad from
the pot plant. So what you go check your shoes
that he was very big specific of even how to check the bottom of
my shoe nice stuff. So it was hilarious.
He was absolutely funny but the actual director on that set was
getting was driving was drive. He was driving him crazy because
he kept coming in and redirecting and kept okay, don't
know this do it this way, this way, but he was super cool.
Like I can't emphasize like this.
So nice and humble and there was no attitude and and the other
cool one was aliens. Hi, Bishop okay.
Remember the guy was a robot. He puts his hand.
He does a nice thing to do to, you know, he was a he was the
end Droid and Aliens. I mean, he said, I just remember
the Grim Reaper last Henderson is his name.
Okay, he's to do a show in Vancouver, it was filmed, it was
a spin-off show off of X-Files was called millennium.
Okay. Yeah, he that was his show and I
was casted in a lot and will usually as a cop and I remember,
I had the scene. Where was this pouring?
Rain? Like it was a, it was a house
and Shaughnessy and it was a crime scene.
And my scene was standing in the pouring rain guarding the crime
scene with this metal clip board, and it was like that
freezing cold, slush rain. So my fingers are literally
turning blue from holding this metal clip board and just
shivering but just do they Everything rights.
But he was cool. He was a super cool guy or
strangest acting. I think was probably Carl
Weathers, but from Rocky Rocky Balboa.
Oh, the trainer guy. Yeah, Carl Weathers was his
first and then the rocky series, he was his first one.
He was Apollo Creed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And this old lady was on the set and she goes up to him and says,
oh, hi. I'm a big fan of your movies and
what he says to her. He's animal snarling, you know,
you're not supposed to talk to the principal and then remember,
Dennis Miller. Yeah, yeah.
He was Saturday live guy. Yes.
Yeah. So we're were on the scene and
was like all it was all these big dudes and stuff from was
like this and this guy who was like a, I worked with him as a
bouncer and this club, this guy was a big dude, right?
And we're talking we're stuck. Almost between SATs we're just
talking amongst ourselves and Dennis Miller came right up to
us and said to my friend. Hey how does it feel like you're
going to be a meathead bouncer for the rest of your life?
He just looked at him casuals, how does it feel to having your
show counseled and in less than a month and these blocks?
Wow. Your back to her saying though,
but this was Vancouver he was ready to celebrity and stuff
like that, right? Oh good, the bad, the ugly since
the name of the this podcast Series right.
You know, thank you for the beautiful.
Doug didn't soak a restaurants. What were some of your favorite
restaurants that you miss are no longer here?
Well, you know what? There was one called Penny Ling,
Penny Lane Cafe, on Robson Street.
Okay, I remember that one. And it was just fun inside, like
it had. I don't know if it was the
Beatles theme or like, yeah, yeah.
It had a bike like that. That bike thing.
It cool things. That was very It was like a
second floor and backwards celebrities when we went there a
lot me and my boyfriend but it was Doogie Howser was sitting
there, all right? Okay cool.
So that was cool but no I enjoyed that restaurant, it was
affordable and it was fun and it was like then it wasn't a chain
or anything. So, that was cool.
And then also again, on Robson Street, there was a sushi place
and I camera was called, but it had floating boats that.
Let her out. Yeah.
Yeah, the boat that would float around and they had that under
that one, he grabbed, whatever you wanted, right?
And that was also like I was probably 18 or 19 so I was just
starting to eat sushi, right. Like in lady we didn't have
sushi restaurants. So this is like you go to
Vancouver. You get sushi.
So it was like Micah to back then those new.
Yeah, and like well this is the thing to the boy.
And here put a lot of the green stuff on.
You'll love it. I'm like, and then your nose
would flare. And you're like, thanks.
Yeah, that's why we're not dating.
That's why I didn't marry that. We could be harsh.
Like it is thicker ice into what it is.
You got to think back when was the first time that you had
Wasabi. Nobody, tell course not
horseradish, right. Yeah.
Like nobody tells you how bad it is.
They kind of look at your reaction, like their futile.
Places I had Miss, there was a breakfast place where I live
downtown, and when people would from, would come from out of
town, we do the night of time ago.
I'm gonna take you guys out for breakfast.
I'll never tell them, it was called the Elbow Room.
I know this place. Bring that.
Okay, talk about it. I remember room was small but
they had amazing eggs Benny, but they had service with an
attitude. Like recently, I've been seeing
this new Karen restaurant, but they were the original care and
rest, I know I must have gone. There you guys.
They would just bust your. You know what?
We need to walk in there and if you didn't finish your food,
that make a big spectacle and sometimes I'd bring like a macho
guy. That didn't expect it and
there's all said, it's like you didn't finish your food.
You know, you're a waster, you're gonna have to confront
some donation to The Loving Spoonful like they'd be like so
into the the guys like what kind of place would you take me
there? And they were very very tiny was
been 941 and been 94 to in the West End.
They were so good. They had little red.
Yes, it was very dark, so good and this is gone.
It's amazing. Whoo.
Yeah, but I remember that bread that was like that hot pocket
bread. It was fresh out of the oven
Brett. I'm the other one too.
I miss. It was actually it's kind of
funny was a late late, late night plays.
There's a couple of those there was this one place it was like a
Greek place in kits and the menu was a like it was called The
Vineyard that was like that. Seriously the menu was a size of
a phone book that breakfast. Did this did Stakes had Greek
food. They had, you know, pancakes are
there any time you want? It was 24 hour restaurant but
the thing was they served after hours and if Ordered a beer
after hours. They put it like a tea cups and
stuff so you're drinking like Claire is.
Yeah. And then there was a place on
Granville and Davey was a, it was a thing called Sing Village.
You had to take out window. It was really like that, a
takeout window and you go in there, but the trick was, you
you'd go to the you do you go to the front, where the coach Huck
was and say, oh, I'd like to, I'd like to take have an order
takeout and they would I'd hand you have a brown paper bag and
it would be a six pack of beer and their what
Can you come 6.0 here? You know, you're hot, the hell,
did you get that right? But now for crazy culture,
someone probably rat them out, they doing, you know, on social
media, these people are serving whole call late.
We should get their liquor license for who they think, you
know, this is the culture now. They'd be like totally ratted
out and expose exposed selling alcohol after out, you know what
I mean? Like there's the the you know,
the fun of the you know, the fun parts of the city, sometimes I
miss. Right?
But that you know, I wouldn't have let you get away with that
now, you know, Probably not your the other fun memory I have
because I did. Did this, every year is the
monster truck. Show that calculus, like, I
don't, do they still have it? Like, I don't know because those
trucks are just fascinating how big they are the Pini.
Had them. Last time I saw like the big
monster was probably the peony but I'm going to be C place
would have it and you'd like, destroy your ears because they
were so pretty loud. But it was like, again, an
experience that You're just like sat there and you were amazed
and you did it once a year and it was it was fun when I live
downtown this is what it was like for me, right?
I were close to where you say we're close now.
He's been a walk to my job. Walk home for lunch, right?
Always stuff going on the dog, show at BC Place the RV boat,
show it be AC place, then they would have liked.
Remember, I'd watch like, it was like it was like, you know,
member the plaza of Nations, they had Stuff going on there,
use it. Yeah.
Music there's always like stuff going on or Stanley Park.
There's always stuff going on there.
And so it was always like you didn't really have to plan
anything, just so just leave the house.
Yes. And something's gonna happen.
Seems, you know, especially people came out of town.
So what you want to do, I will find something great.
Right? And that's awesome.
And I think that's so important too, because you shouldn't have
to plan everything all the time and you shouldn't have to pay
for everything. All the time, we should be
having these things all the time which Then stimulates the
economy, like people are buying drinks, buying food paying for
parking. Then you let you know going for
dinner after and, you know? Yeah, totally.
Totally. I actually almost funny, one of
the funniest ones was a one of those unplanned.
Once I said, because I lived out of town, I used to run the sea
wall or do you eat if I didn't feel like running?
I would do like a power walk or rollerblade.
I used to rollerblade like Christmas.
Yeah. I used to love rollerblading
anymore. Rollerskating the other day, but
yeah, I don't really see rollerblading more, but I I so
rollerblades. I used to rollerblade the
seawall cross to the can be bridge.
And then I do the other side, the Expo, land, the sea wall
there, you know, like the false Creek Falls, Creekside you false
Creek. All they do false create across
the can be Bridge through downtown and then all around the
seawall, right? But I remember I was doing one
of my Bleeding adventures and the member the Harry Krishna
Harry. Yeah, we still say it was kind
of fight, very spectrally had an actual cow like a big giant and
and this woman she was actually pretty attractive.
She's here you ever read about of agita here, I want to read
the part of the Gita with you, it's like, okay, sure, and she
gave me a call. And then I took her phone
number. Stuck my phone number and
thinking, oh, he's kind of hot, right?
And then, I just got call after call after call Dot from her,
not for her, but for like a temple in Richmond and we offer
free food, it's coming, but it'll end up just being you.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it's almost got
recruited for the being very Chris.
Yeah, but it was kind of funny. It was fun, it was kind of like,
and but they, what was it that they had this big thing.
It was like this. I was it was, I think, was that
second Beach. It was that second Beach where
they had their big set up this big massive set up in there.
I don't know how they got the lights that have this big giant.
There was a huge couch who was probably an 800 pound cow.
But yeah. And the whole cruel people want
to kill these lovely animals, like, you know, because I get
her vegetarian right but but isn't Not that cruel.
Dragging a big giant cow around in the city on.
Hey. You know what did you ever go to
Body Works? The exhibit that had preserved
bodies like real hot. Yeah, yeah.
We had, we had a legitimate one here, okay.
But when we went to Seattle, there was like a different
version of it. And they said that the Bodies
came from Chinese prisoners. Oh my God.
Yeah, so I'm glad I went to one of them.
I think I actually went to the one in Seattle, but yeah, and I
was thinking, oh, this isn't the same one that we had in
Vancouver. But the one in Vancouver, they
had to show like the death certificates and all that kind
of stuff and it was I think a German lead thing but yeah.
But the one that was controversial was like they
think the bodies were from Chinese prisoners, isn't that
crazy? The foul and gong to prisoners?
Probably, who knows? It was.
Just yeah. But I remember that was pretty
fascinating that we had like a show like that.
So, and then I'm trying to think other things, you know what?
Even when I was younger, like a teenager, we'd go to first
night. It was right?
Yes, December 31st and you bring all your friends.
And you know, I there must have been SkyTrain back then but it,
you know I don't even know how the hell we got out here, to be
honest I gotta tell you a hilarious story is about a
concert and I got so friend zone like this.
The worst friend zone I've ever gotten My legs only girl you
want you wanted to date the okay can I tell you?
I met him so I cleared him. All right.
We'll go to Lenny, Kravitz mazing concert like one of the
best concerts I've ever been to right after the concert she
goes. Oh, Mark, that was awesome.
Well, maybe maybe I'll take you to a concert sometime.
Thank you, I think something. Oh, that kind of sucks, but
whatever the concert was so good.
I almost didn't care, right? And then, and then Noble almost
like two weeks later. She calls me up and says, hey,
remember you took me Lenny Carlo?
Yeah, of course, I remember. I got to pass.
Each mode tickets, I wasn't really a big fan like oh cool
right thinking. Well maybe maybe I'll get out of
the friend zone, okay, so it was at Sam and she's with a big
group of her girlfriends are all dressed up and stuff and I'm the
only guy right? Which should have been a red
flag there and we're walking up to the gate, right?
She's pulling up the tickets. All here's your ticket Mark,
right? I look at my big cool and they
go through the gate. All going one way.
And then the guy says, oh no, no, you are going up there.
So she bought me a ticket. I guess she felt bad because,
you know, these these Lenny. Kravitz tickets were so awesome.
She felt location to do something in return.
Who bought me a Depeche Mode ticket where I was waking up at
the nosebleeds by myself here, whatever, you'd like, it was
like, even hardly even why anyone around me and it was the
worst concert. So from going from one of the
best concert he was like, oh my God, this is so like us.
Listen, Applause from the audience constantly know
covering his dear. Come on.
Come on look, it wasn't like filler.
You'd sing huge sing almost for about 3 minutes.
Okay, let's get some energy. You be here, you can cooperate.
And so after, like, the 10th time being, I'm so God was
actually one of the concert. So so I lie.
I leave, right? And then I never talk to her
again. I think she called me a few
times in this, like looked at my phone.
Oh, yeah. So anyways so weird.
Oh well, it happens to the best of us.
I guess we every guy gets friend zone where, you know, once or
twice in their life. Maybe I could maybe happen to me
more times, I wish to admit, but it is what it is, right?
I do admit, I had to apply the friend zone thing many times.
Well, some guys are clueless and they, you know, I've seen where
I could see where some guys will kind of force the hand of the
friend zone because they're so aggressive.
And you know, not as you know but yeah but you know you again.
But Cooper used to be fun for dating if you want gear.
Yeah, I'm going to be doing a series of you got, it won't
really get into it here. But I that's one of the things
I'm going to because I see so much good really straight and it
also gives me a break from talking about cases.
That involve murder. I do want to do more cases on
narcissistic abuse and the dark side dating.
And course, I have tons of Plenty of Fish stories and And
other dating apps stories like that.
Yeah. Some of the Plenty of Fish
stories are actually pretty funny actually, but no one
really good. It was like a phone.
This is like early 90s. It was like those things are
back on. Again, I was up late the other
night and it was on again lava life or something.
All in call for your free. Yes, the people who are on there
again, the girls are on their den laying on the couch and
their tank tops and stuff. I was like, he's this well,
there was that one guy. Was he late night back in the
day? We wound cable TV, was still a
thing really be late at night. It was like the party's own
Girls Gone, Wild and OU these hot chicks.
Are just waiting for you to call me please.
Pour hot girls are just so bored out of their mind and is waiting
for random dudes is to call them up.
So Oh, they can, you know, have a night of the town right at ten
bucks a minute or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly,
exactly. I'll never turn off slow charges
on their parents phone bill. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Totally. But oh, speaking of which,
because he lived in Langley, was it like someone made a
long-distance call? Who made a long-distance call
couldn't call Abbotsford? You couldn't?
Yeah, it was like, there was is owns and then that would have
affected. So many relationships couldn't
happen. Totally.
And like I said, what was so embarrassing that this like this
summer camp? My mom was so Her saying that
she drove a Chevy Nova that there was okay.
There was a paint Place back in the day, it was called.
Earl shibez, Earl shibez and it was like, 199 dollar paint jobs.
Yeah, so my mom bought this secondhand Chevy Nova and then
got it painted a robin egg blue color so it was just god-awful
like just the most embarrassing car.
So imagine this. I'm going in this fancy rich
summer camp. Everyone has Where's Mercedes
and cheeks are hurting, remember like those cool TR7, a British
of convertible, few of those because we're like the cool car.
Yeah yeah yeah. Totally.
And then my mom's robin. Egg Nova pulls up yo-yo.
Super embarrassing. Only, there was a girl there who
super nice to me and I really liked her and she was she was
German but their family was From South America.
She was very blond and blue eyes.
And there are from Uruguay and her dad moved from bar very
after the war, if you get my drift to the South America and
super nice, you know, spent every summer there and one day I
had the Kahuna's to ask her out and she's like, I'm like, hi and
I call her up. And I say, I would you like to
go for a coffee or coffee would be nuts.
But, you know, Don't think I'll be available because this other
guy named Jason was a legitimate Rich, Caicos.
Oh he's going to be taking me to Pub Club Med.
Oh ramudu. So I can be available for the
coffee Mark. Yeah.
So my mom had which became my first car, which I was so
embarrassed to drive but it was a 76 Camaro.
Oh cool, white vinyl interior. Yeah, light lose know, I know
light blue and no fin on the back.
But I had to drive this thing and I was like super preppy.
So here I am driving to sing but when my mom used to drop me off
at school, she's a terrible driver.
I'm sorry. I'm totally throwing her under
the bus. She ran over the pylons at high
school so she begged them all. Yeah, no.
So we went to work with these pylons.
She worked in Abbotsford, something she drove with the
pylon stuck underneath her car to Abbotsford and back and ended
up in the driveway with the pylons.
How embarrassing is that? Yeah, that's pretty
embarrassing. Yeah, so you said your preppy,
this to you this old brand names been eaten, absolutely.
All the rich kids at the summer, count War, though.
Of course, I wasn't Rich. I just had like 11 a spree
shirt. One mixture one Benetton sure.
Ralph Lauren. I remember maybe the perfume the
Little Crocodile and I had the Benetton perfume Club Monaco.
Just the one sweater what other brands were there.
Jimmy Jimmy Z that was kind of cool skaters kind of
off-the-wall. Yeah.
Yeah Bootleggers remember what was the other one?
That was really big Ocean Pacific was huge.
Yeah, big star. Germany.
Japan, I used to go to summer camp.
One of the kids. His dad was vice president of
Coca-Cola and he lived in Atlanta.
Georgia. It's so cool.
Is that so you know super rich kids, right?
It's Mexican kid. Who was a from his really
wealthy family in Mexico. Name was Angel and he went up to
me, said, Mark, do you know where I can buy a Taxidermy
grizzly, bear? Oh, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I just, you know, and then, you know, he said that
No, my mom said the family were wealthy and they, and she for a
long story, got cut out of the will from all her hippie 60s BS,
but they would pay for a certain things like summer camps and
write, my grandfather was a surgeon at st.
Paul's Hospital name was dr. Martin sent, his full name was
brander. Herman Martinson.
Wow, I slanted it. Yeah, so yeah, she she went
through this real rebellious hippie.
And that's how she met my dad. My dad was a Vietnam, vet and
American, and they wish met him at some Vietnam protest.
And yeah. So that's how anyways that also
got Kerr cut out a lot us. Yeah.
But anyways, yeah, this this, that was, that was a trap.
That was a trip like oh, you have thirty five thousand
dollars. Cool.
And then they would go, they'd go on a shopping spree.
And we just be like, Joe's buying member.
Remember those Santana jeans A bags and stuff, and it's just
like everything you you wanted, but it's like, you could never
get. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Are these kids this like buying
all the expensive Santana jeans a Guess jeans.
A polo shirts? Yeah.
The troubles. A the memories, the memories.
But yeah, I know the whole point of the podcast is this, you
know, the nostalgic, the fun things about Vancouver.
The restaurants the, you know, there were 60 so many amazing
restaurants. Like there was actually this
restaurant, it was kind of a hole in the wall place and I
don't know how they stayed in business for So long.
So it'll work out this gem. That was a 24 hour gym on ground
Wall Street was called neighborhood gym and and up the
street side work out and then up the street they had these 99
sorry, 999 steak sandwiches, its right on ground will Street and
it was right by where the movie theaters.
What? And it was like a good solid
like a good quality steak like to this day that's take, I could
probably order somewhere now and it'd be a fifty dollar stake
like a good sirloin steak and and I'd go in there and be
nobody in And if he does board kind of glasses of water to try
to look for things to do, but anyways, yeah, there was so many
places like that in Vancouver that were like, been around
forever and had all these, like, amazing food and, like, under
$10, you could eat like, just yay food, you know?
Like there's just a lot of Greek and kits.
There were lots of great places like that, like getting like a
big Greek Souvlaki dinner for there was one place for 9.99,
I'd get three chicken breasts, a good quality chicken, Huge
things of rice a Teriyaki, 10 Zeki pita bread I'm big 999.
So you should be affordable to eat out east before W.
No to go out and have a good time and stuff, right?
So your hamburgers $15 or more. Well, I'll tell you a story.
I had a hamburger. Once it was a feeny's hamburger.
Oh yes, my Lord. What was on this thing dummy?
It was really big, but it had too much spicy knee in.
It was it was actually pretty gross.
It. Tasted it actually.
Tasted like it. Tasted like really spicy Meat
Loaf in a bun. Well, try it once I guess.
No, but that's I think what it went from.
Like I remember when Restaurants were good and family in there,
like you're saying, the atmosphere is a fund or so many
kind of themed places. And then it went from that to
very pretentious, the food got smaller.
Because I remember when I was working in construction, I had
an another life I work as an iron worker and you know, you're
pretty hungry at the end of the day and I went on this date,
this woman, I'm starving. It just could probably eat a
whole pot roast those so hungry. You know, burn a lot of calories
and we went to this fancy little place and kits.
I ordered ravioli I could count how many they were the worst of
them. And 35 seconds, I ate all my
tiny little salad and then or this blueberry pie I swear to
God it was like this. So thin.
It was like I ate before bites. So Mel, hey, do you want to go
to Burger King? You know what I kind of had so
many of those kind of experiences to like it's just
like it's more about the pretentiousness like, rather
than quality of food or being full.
I like when I mean, yeah, laughter.
Perfect. Kind of, that's kind of a good
expectation to have when you go to restaurant it's not amazing
Chinese places like amazing Chinese food and it's probably
still are. But there Is Hans orsola is
order on zot stickers on rocks and straight.
That place is amazing. I hope it's I haven't been on
Robinson Street for a little bit so I hope it's hard to say
what's there. Yeah, I haven't, I haven't, you
know, I haven't really since the pandemic I haven't really gone
out to eat a lot, but that place was really good.
There was a nice house. Amazing.
Potstickers, lots of Japanese places are really good.
They refused one number, the capital six.
Yep, it was right across the capital sex, I don't remember
that, but they cook in front of you, not not, not like Kobe's,
but great and ahead, open kitchen.
When you go in, they all cheer, you know how you think.
Oh, great. Yeah, yeah, I have some crazy
Kobe stories. I actually said, if the Mets,
he's this crew, there was this creepy.
Swinger couple. That was just like, oh my God.
Yeah. That place, you know, I don't
know. Yeah, I know, I miss the old
Vancouver very much and and I kind of like these memories and
stuff. I want other people to have the
Mi want ya, enjoy the city. That's why you live in the city
look. But anyways, I'm going to wrap
it up here. Thank you so much cinnamon and
will continue. All right, thanks, Mark by