Today in Expo 67 History: July 11
posted by Jason Stockl @ 9:05 pm
expo 67 lounge
Mid-century fashion, vintage pop culture and retro cool... from Expo 67 and beyond.
11 July 2007
Mid-century fashion, vintage pop culture and retro cool... from Expo 67 and beyond.
2 Comments:
I hardly remember this pavilion at Expo 67 because I thought it was a boutique or kiosk rather than a pavilion. THE PROBLEM WAS THAT IT LACKED A FORMAL APPROACH SPACE OR A NICE ENTRANCE. That seems to be a major problem with some of these convention style Expos where the countries do not build individual pavilions. Expo 2005 was a good example of this. Thou committed to
cultural exhibitions the BIE has been weak in assuring that each country is properly displayed. I found no coherent approach to the Expo except passport stamping either. There was no organized approach to the stamping and they became chaotic things. In school we had approached geography more coherently, and I give credit to my teacher a professor Wilson who was much better in presenting the world than Mr. Guy Dupuis. However this was a party not a museum of nations so rightfully, and out of circumstance hurridly put together
it was a hoot! Lets not make Expo to be more than it was forgetting the tens of thousands of wonderful educators who passed through the Expo. Was there a building for teachers? I think that any future fairs should have one.
In elementry school my teachers gave me the chance to choose a subject of interest. I chose Expo 67. I copied out the guide book with pictures and maps and I built a model of the fair including the American pavilion, the minirail, the Ethiopian or Mauritius pavilion (a pointy thing) and Habitat out of a lego-like toy I had that was then even more popular and American, mini-bricks.
A few years later my dad bought me a girder and panel building set from a place called the Farmers Market IN lAVAL. It was way ahead of its time offering weekly wrestling. I saw Little Beaver there. It was also recycled a Cott Cola plant. However in the days before all the new malls recycling wasn't appreciated I guess. I also got animal cards and an animal sticker book at the time which were very common. Red Rose tea had many types of sticker books also. At about this time the ladies of the house were getting pinky stamps from Steinbergs. If they collected enough of those they could pick from choice objects at Miracle Mart. There was a miracle mart in Chomedy and at the CDN plaza where one of the Expo sculptors had another one of his works monumentally displayed beside the bridge that once was at the entrance. The bridge was removed
and the entrance was brought right up to the street, better for kiosks, but not necessarily for pavilions. A proper public space was never constructed in this mall and none of the malls have since given any consideration to such except for movie theaters.
Sometimes where they are too poor to build an individual pavilion they have built collective facilities which provide countries with kiosk or capsule like spaces. Africa place was one such exhibit. Quebec industries also had such an exhibit on Cite du Havre. It was a planned tour and a guide took you around. That wasn't so bad and might have been a good thing to better aquaint us with the positions of African countries. Tours were not easily come by at the Expo. I don't remember whether any headphone apparatuses were yet available. Guided tours seemed to be limited to dignitaries and were not purchaseable. The guidebooks made up somewhat for the lack of such things. Remember these were the days before we had organized institutions such as Heritage Montreal.
The military museum existed but it was downplayed in this age of Quebequois nationalism.
The modernists relegated the military to zoo-type infrastructures, doing marches in the autostade. A more suitable Remembrance Pavilion would have recalled the great wars we had fought as Canadians and the great concept of peace we had brought forth for everyone. Ending the fair on November llth rather than HalLoween might have been more appropriate and Canadian!
Seems like this was just a summer break from the condition of wars fought and wars lost or won. The end of the Viet-Nam war would mean a new nationality for the Vietnamese
according to THICH NHAT HANH who lectured on August 6th 1967 at the Youth pavilion in La Ronde. There seems to be some confusion as to the nature and plan of this youth pavilion since there were two at Expo. The one sponsored by Steinbergs was at the south east corner of La Ronde. The Jeunesse Musicales which was for youth interested in music was a building with a well defined entrance made out of prefabricated panels next to the wooden hospitality pavilion on Cite du Havre. It also had theatres! Gilles Lefebvre
took this building to Mount Orford after the fair.
Years later I organized the Montreal Cartoon Club in Kent Park using the old soccer practise facility that had been built for the Olympic games. We held a very successful city parade and festival there in 1984. We entertained kids from garderies in a wonderfully air-conditioned summer pavilion with Co Hoedman films from the NFB. No permanent facility has yet been established for the Cartoon Club thou information was taken for my needs back in 1986 but used in creating further gymnasiums and other city facilities.
A new Club is proposed for the Quartier des Spectacles.
Wow!
Thank you for your comment, rich in information and memories!
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