With the Olympics happening until Sunday, what better time to tell the story of the Miracle Mile which is commemorated on the corner of Hastings and Renfrew.
At the main entrance to the PNE grounds stands two figures mid-stride. The statue, unveiled in 1967, displays two men racing each other. One of them has his head turned, looking back, as the other powers straight ahead.
In 1954 Vancouver hosted the Empire Games (now known as the Commonwealth Games) were held in Vancouver at the new Empire Stadium sporting facility – the largest in Canada at the time.
The mile event came down to two racers who had both already made history for their record time: Roger Bannister of England and John Landy of Australia. The statue at the PNE commemorates Landy, who was in the lead for the first few laps, looking over his shoulder while Bannister passes him on the other side – winning by a hair.
File footage is available on the CBC archives website, “be prepared for Bannister’s famous burst of speed at the end of the fourth lap.” You can also learn more at the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in BC Place.
The “Miracle Mile” was not only the first sporting event televised live to all of North America, it was also the first time two runners ran the mile in under 4 minutes. [Source: VancouverHistory, 1954]
Tanya, Me, Jenny
Last month I published a personal post about the loss of my friend Tanya’s brother.
As he left behind two young sons there have been ongoing fundraising efforts to help cover the cost of his funeral and everyday expenses the family has incurred. Also, since his celebration of life ceremony was held in Calgary, many of his friends back in Surrey were unable to attend and pay their respects. Tomorrow’s benefit concert will serve to raise funds for the family as well as give an opportunity for those who knew Randy to meet up with his loved ones in this time of remembrance. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Yesterday it was announced that a new Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition will be released by Hasbro and it will feature three Canadian cities.
Montreal will occupy the dark blue property traditionally owned by Boardwalk, the most expensive one on the game board.
Toronto will occupy the magenta property traditionally owned by Virginia Avenue and Vancouver will occupy the orange property traditionally owned by New York Avenue. [CBC]
When I was young my brother had Vancouveropoly, an entire version of the boardgame dedicated to the city. We’d head to the Sun Yat Sen gardens and visit Monk McQueens – all without leaving Whalley.
From:
Amazon.com. More than likely the 90’s version of the game that we had
Looking up some images online I came across another version of Vancouveropoly. The abundance of flatlands around False Creek along with a lack of Science World suggests it was pre-1986 (and not 1993 as noted on the source website). However, the Molson Indy Vancouver did start in 1990 and I do see some hot cars in its location. Regardless, I don’t think they were going for accuracy in the depictions – unless the Burnaby Village Museum is “still” located somewhere on the downtown peninsula.
In this classic version of Vancouver Richards on Richards is in the prestigious Park Place spot, the BCTV news hour reigns supreme, Dueck on Marine takes up two spots, Save on Foods exists without Urban Fare, and the Big Bam Boo is the hottest club in town.
We enjoyed passing McDonalds time and time again, but I have to admit that our favourite game of buying and selling assets has always been Poleconomy: Canada. Regardless, I would still be interested in seeing what an updated version of this game would look like.
Last winter I was interviewed by one of Steve Jagger’s companies, Reachd, and once again in June on his real estate blog, Ubertor. Since then Steve has been keeping me up to date on their events and workshops (like the five that are coming up in September).
He is one of the biggest success stories when it comes to industry-specific blogging in this town so I decided to find out why and how he does what he does:
Who Are You? Interesting question. I would say that I’m a family oriented guy that is focused on starting and running businesses. Currently I’m involved in 2 business; Ubertor.com and Reachd.com. Prior to that I started a company call i-LevelMedia.com that was focused on ferry and taxi cab advertising which still operates today.
Where do you blog? I began blogging on the Ubertor blog in August 2004 and have not stopped. I also write for the real estate blog created by Zillow.com called the GeekEstateBlog.com as well as the Reachd.com blog. I’m also active in our video blog at blog.Reachd.com.
With Gary Vaynerchuk
Are you originally from Vancouver? Nope. I was born in Hong Kong and lived there for a couple of years, then lived in Calgary Alberta for 12 years, and Vancouver for the rest with a long summer where I lived in Seattle Washington with the Ubertor team.
Why do you blog? I blog because I love it. I enjoy writing my thoughts, feeling and theories about real estate and business. Blogging has been the best thing I have done for my business and personal life. It has gained us business, created speaking opportunities for me, communicated to our clients and potential clients and created exciting opportunities to meet outstanding people. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
You may have noticed a new addition to my sidebar’s sponsored section this month. The badge represents the New Forms Festival, which will showcase media arts in Vancouver from September 4-27.
This year’s New Forms Festival will explore media arts from all corners of the earth through the theme of Mosaics. Works at the festival will examine cross-cultural media through video, sound, internet, print and writing.
“Anyone who uses digital technology – even a cell phone – will relate to the performances and exhibitions,†says Jennifer Maksymetz, the festival’s new Artistic Director. “New Forms has become the largest new media arts festival on the west coast, and has something for everybody.â€
Part of a worldwide, multi-media festival movement, New Forms Festival 08: Mosaics explores the latest developments of new media art – including music, film, the internet and technology-based installations. [Source: NFF Press Release]
They have released the official schedule today, which includes exhibitions and music events like ArtCamp08, Open Mobile [see also Facebook event and EventBrite registration], and a special get together for National Digital Media Day (September 25th).
Check the New Forms Festival website for more details about events and venues.
