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