Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.

Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.

Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.

Eldergays - tell me about EXPO '67 - plz.

50 million people attended.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 59March 26, 2023 10:51 AM

It was boring and the poutine was frozen-thawed.

by Anonymousreply 1February 12, 2023 2:15 PM

It celebrated Canada's centennial.

It was meant to have a deficit from the start, but the deficit turned out to be much less than expected because of good attendance.

by Anonymousreply 2February 12, 2023 2:20 PM

As noted below, while culturally significant for Montreal at the time, Expo 67's leftover debt legacy, when paired with the calamitous cost-overruns of the 1976 Olympics, left Montreal saddled with a terrible and long-lasting debt problem.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 3February 12, 2023 2:29 PM

I was a kid in Chicago at the time and this post reminded me of the radio jingle advertising it that we heard all the time even in Chicago. No wonder it was so well attended.

by Anonymousreply 4February 12, 2023 2:40 PM

It didn't hold a candle to the New York World's Fair three years earlier, even though Montreal was an "official" World's Fair and NYC's wasn't.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 5February 12, 2023 2:45 PM

When I was a kid I was obsessed with worlds's fairs and expos, I wanted so badly to go to the NY World's Fair of '64, to Expo '67, and I would have settled for Disneyland. Other kids went and I eagerly hung on their every word and snapshot.

by Anonymousreply 6February 12, 2023 2:50 PM

^^^ I'm right there with you in that "obsession".

In fact, my earliest World's Fair memories are of media coverage of the one held in Seattle in 1962 but it's only a relatively sparse & faint memory for me.

As a child I also desperately wanted to attend our state fair which was and still is considered to be among the so-called 'grand daddies' of state fairs.

by Anonymousreply 7February 12, 2023 3:14 PM

I was 6 yrs old, just started 1st grade at St.Bridgets in East Falls.

by Anonymousreply 8February 12, 2023 3:24 PM

By the time I got to it, it was demoted to “Man and his World”

by Anonymousreply 9February 12, 2023 4:29 PM

I went with my parents in early August 1967. I was 18. So I was allowed to do what I liked. I only met up with them once during the 3 days we were there, at the Disney CircleVision 360 degree travel movie promoting Canada. The audience stood in rows separated by strong railings. The movie, kind of like Cinerama on steroids, was shown on an ofd number of linked screens in a gigantic ring up above us. The effect was sometimes dizzying, especially during carreening aerial shots. You needed those railings to hold on!

Expo ‘67 was famous at the time for the many ways film was used in different combinations. Labyrinth had sections of huge curved rooms 4 stories high, where people stood on walkways to watch a 4-story high film on the far wall interact with another screen the same size 4 stories below. Kaleidoscope had films that seemed endless, because all the walls and floors of the screening room were mirrors. The Czech pavilion had films of actors who’d step off the film and onto the stage! Several other pavilions had film presentations, with multiple images in different sizes shown at the same time, a technique later copied in the features, “Thomas Crown Affair” and “Boston Strangler.”

Buckminster Fuller’s U.S. pavilion was a spectacular geodesic sphere, with different sections celebrating U.S. culture, including a celebration of film, with different viewing boxes, where you could stand and see compilations of famous types of scenes from classic films. The U.S.S.R. pavilion was a glass box, filled with all the modern appliances, supposedly enjoyed by their citizens. But I did enjoy their restaurant, where I dined on Chicken Kiev, as I was entertained by what seemed like a full orchestra, with a pretty lady in an evening dress, singing “Midnight in Moscow,” of course in Russian!

I had a grand time, running around from morn till night. I still have my official guidebook, stamped by representatives in various pavilions. (You’d think, at 18, I’d have gotten laid, but not only was I too busy, trying to see as much as I could, I was also terribly closeted and self-hating.)

I even went to see a new Jean Luc Godard film at the Montreal Film Festival! It was very confusing…

by Anonymousreply 10February 12, 2023 5:01 PM

My parents took my older brothers and sister but left me at home (I was one year old). They came back with an ashtray that sat on the living room coffee table for the next 20 years. A friend who was older later told me there really wasn't much for kids and that the live sturgeon in a glass tank at the Russian pavilion was the highlight.

by Anonymousreply 11February 12, 2023 5:10 PM

[quote]The Czech pavilion had films of actors who’d step off the film and onto the stage!

So why can't Bel Ami employ that technology?

by Anonymousreply 12February 12, 2023 5:38 PM

I remember visiting the site years later (the '80s, probably) when the casino was housed in one of the old Expo buildings. What is the site being used for these days?

by Anonymousreply 13February 12, 2023 5:39 PM

R13, it looks like the France Pavilion and the Quebec Pavilion from Expo 67 are still part of the Montreal Casino.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 14February 12, 2023 5:59 PM

[quote]I went with my parents in early August 1967. I was 18. So I was allowed to do what I liked. I only met up with them once during the 3 days we were there

Did you stay in separate hotels?

by Anonymousreply 15February 12, 2023 6:16 PM

I was 6 when we went. I remember the geodesic dome, also one pavilion where we walked on super strong glass panels which had live fish in water swimming in, one I remembered had sea horses, very neat. There was an exhibition of telephones where you pushed a number (maybe first push button phones?) but also a photo (or video) of someone you were speaking to came up on a big panel. I remember loving La Ronde, which was the amusement park at the fair, which someone mentioned is still operating today -- or was at least a few years ago. I remember taking my first flume ride there. I don't know if it was an adult flume or one for kiddies, but loved the ride splashing into water along the way.

The fair was a big thing, and I remember the theme song, especially as it seemed to be featured nearly every week on the kid's tv show "Wonderama".

by Anonymousreply 16February 12, 2023 6:27 PM

I've been to the Champlain Valley Expo, in Essex Juntion, Vermont. That's it.

by Anonymousreply 17February 12, 2023 6:34 PM

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell filmed their hit song there.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 18February 12, 2023 6:48 PM

Over the years I've heard about Habitat which is still there. Apparently they didn't take into consideration the Montreal winters when they were built and this has led to maintenance problems.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 19February 12, 2023 7:15 PM

I was 14 that summer on a family trip and had a great time

A lasting memory I have is going to a contmporary photography exhibit, and my family suddenly coming upon a black and white photo of a group of drag queens and gay men.

I thought it was a group of funny costumed women, and couldn't understand my Mom and sisters reaction......

I somehow put it all together,,,,,,,,, disturbing to this day for some reason.

I

by Anonymousreply 20February 12, 2023 7:20 PM

[quote] I somehow put it all together,,,,,,,,, disturbing to this day for some reason.

[quote] I

Did you faint?

by Anonymousreply 21February 12, 2023 7:35 PM

^^^ LOL R21.....I think I knew I was headed down a road from which there was no return.

by Anonymousreply 22February 12, 2023 8:58 PM

I went with my family. I was a little boy. I got lost and went into a German beer tent which in fact was the entire German Pavilion. I hung around with some adults who handled the problem but it took awhile to get my folks to collect me. I wasn't panicking cause I liked Germans and had been in beer tents before. I don't remember so much about the Expo. I remember driving past Habitat. I remember the subways.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 23February 12, 2023 9:04 PM

I went with relatives from Albany.

I was 12.

Expo '67 was my first exposure to Belgian waffles and Swiss fondue.

But really, I don't remember too much about it.

by Anonymousreply 24February 12, 2023 9:08 PM

[R15]: My parents and I stayed in adjoining rooms at the Chateau Champlain, a new hotel with rows of scalloped overhang over the windows, earning the local nickname of the “Cheese Grater.”

Though our rooms were next to each other, I was always up early and back late. So, until our departure, the only time I saw them was to attend the CircleVision attraction.

by Anonymousreply 25February 19, 2023 5:28 PM

I wouldn't know, OP. I was born over twenty years after it ended!

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 26February 19, 2023 5:42 PM

My parents took me and my older sister. My sister refused to go unless she could bring a friend because she hated me so much. So they took her friend Sandy. My mothers and father went off and left me with my sister and her friend who promptly “lost me” every day. So I was a 12 year old girl who looked 9 years old roaming this fairground in a foreign country by myself with no idea where I was, or where I was going, or if I’d ever see my family again.

So….it wasn’t great.

by Anonymousreply 27February 19, 2023 6:26 PM

R25, Okay. That's still a little different - going on vacation together and having rooms next to each other, yet completely avoiding each other the whole time. I was an only child and if I went away with my parents (I think we went to Niagara Falls, when I was 18) we hung out together and ate dinner together, etc. Maybe not 24/7 but after all we were on vacation together. I guess I never heard of anything like your situation.

by Anonymousreply 28February 19, 2023 6:53 PM

Did the trauma lead to your most annoying "so" habit, R27?

by Anonymousreply 29February 19, 2023 9:54 PM

As a gayling, I desperately wanted to go to the New York World's Fair of 1964-65 from the moment I saw Carol Channing singing at the fair on television. But I had to settle for Expo '67 a couple of years later. It certainly didn't live up to my imaginary visit to the New York fair. It seemed very Canadian.

by Anonymousreply 30February 19, 2023 10:01 PM

Gone in 15 minutes...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 31February 19, 2023 11:45 PM

It wasn't well attended. Let's face facts....who in their right mind would ever Want to go to Canada.

by Anonymousreply 32February 20, 2023 12:33 AM

R32 You go in summer.

by Anonymousreply 33February 20, 2023 1:06 AM

R29 Senator Elizabeth Warren, when answering a question, almost always starts a sentence with "So", too. Ever notice?

by Anonymousreply 34February 20, 2023 2:16 AM

[quote]It wasn't well attended. [quote]

It holds the record for largest attendance per capita. over 50M visitors for a country of 20M

by Anonymousreply 35February 20, 2023 9:11 AM

All of the big stars were there.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 36February 20, 2023 7:45 PM

The photo of the Biosphere Dome posted here earlier from when it was on fire is curious to me in that it does not reveal any firefighting equipment on the scene. How at that point of the advanced state of the fire could that have possibly been the situation?

And does anyone know what was the cause of the fire?

p.s. Via 4 or 5 visits, to Montréal, I must offer that some of the most handsome men I've ever laid eyes on were to be found in that city! On a per capita basis, their overall attractiveness was pretty high.

by Anonymousreply 37February 22, 2023 3:50 PM

R37 the design looked great on paper but apparently in reality it had many issues due to metal and plastic expanding/contracting at different rates and leaking all over the place (local temperature varies from -29 F to +98 F) . They were doing some maintenance work involving welding on the metal structure when the whole thing caught fire. Being on an island in the middle of the St Lawrence, guess the closest fire station was far enough for the whole acrylic shell to burn to a crisp, leaving the metal frame.

by Anonymousreply 38February 25, 2023 9:14 AM

Some Canadian political commentators consider EXPO '67 to have been the birth of modern Canada. They identify the patriotic mood coming out of it as one of the things that led to Pierre Trudeau becoming Prime Minister in 1968 (Justin Trudeau's father).

by Anonymousreply 39February 25, 2023 9:44 AM

I see posters up in NY about Montreal currently with pictures of --- the geodesic dome, so they either rebuilt it or were able to salvage most of the original.

by Anonymousreply 40February 25, 2023 4:46 PM

R40 it's still there but only the steel structure remains, the clear acrylic shell (hundreds of triangle-ish panels) that burned/melted was never replaced.

by Anonymousreply 41February 26, 2023 6:04 AM

Canada? Can you imagine?

by Anonymousreply 42February 26, 2023 7:28 AM

It was the greatest of the world's fairs. Except the distances were huge and there was endless walking involved.

by Anonymousreply 43February 26, 2023 8:41 AM

I was 12 and went with my family. Not only was I excited about seeing Habitat mentioned above, I also got a chance to use my grammar school French and to see the Alfa Romeo Montreal introduced at Expo. I was crazy about that car...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 44February 26, 2023 9:00 AM

[quote]It was the greatest of the world's fairs. Except the distances were huge and there was endless walking involved.

That didn't bother me at all when I went there as a kid. Now, as an eldergay, you couldn't pay me to go anywhere that involves endless walking.

by Anonymousreply 45February 26, 2023 5:51 PM

Habitat is absolutely worth visiting -- it's one of those places that is more impressive in person than it is in pictures, even with it having been photographed thousands of times over the years. You have to make an appointment and take a tour with a guide, but they do a great job explaining the history of the project, the extraordinary circumstance that allowed Safdie to get this commission when he was barely out of college, and you even get to tour a unit that has been left empty specifically so that people people and students can get a complete tour experience. R67, I hadn't heard about upkeep issues, and the complex is pretty much fully occupied all the time; units that come up for sale are rare and sell quickly for high prices (comparatively to the rest of Montreal). There is a lot of common space that requires the residents to have to work together, which apparently fosters a very close community. It's a little 'remote' in that it's at the end of a peninsula, so there's a little shop on site for conveniences and they run a shuttle in to town for people who live there. It's totally worth visiting if you are in the area.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 46February 26, 2023 6:02 PM

Some background info and a tour of a Habitat 67 unit.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 47February 28, 2023 6:58 AM

They made sure they had big attendance by inviting choirs and choruses from all over Canada whose families had to travel to the Expo to see them perform.

by Anonymousreply 48March 4, 2023 5:37 PM

No one speaks of pavilions anymore -- and that saddens me.

by Anonymousreply 49March 4, 2023 5:49 PM

Come one/Come all/Come one and all/to Expo '67 Montreal.

Gotta admit, it was catchy.

by Anonymousreply 50March 4, 2023 5:54 PM

Yes, we travelled by the family Pullman, its last journey. It's now rotting in a barn at our camp on Saranac Lake. My governess Stéphanie Félicité du Crest de Saint-Aubin distrusted the Québecquois and stayed in her room at the huge and then modern Queen Elizabeth Hotel. I was free range at the Expo, as my parents were smack-addicted San Fransisco jet-setters who spent their time partying with Jefferson Airplane and Harry Belafonte.

by Anonymousreply 51March 4, 2023 5:59 PM

No one speaks of "pavilions" anymore, and that truly saddens me.

by Anonymousreply 52March 4, 2023 6:13 PM

^^^dammit!

by Anonymousreply 53March 4, 2023 6:17 PM

R5, the 1964-65 New York World's Fair was a flop. Despite all the hype, Walt Disney and the other guy lost a lot of money. Attendance was poor up until the very last couple of weeks. Some of the attractions didn't work right (or at all) in the opening weeks - Abe Lincoln being the most talked-about of them. People bought lots of advance tickets but given the dreary weather at opening, they kept their tickets until the 1965 season. But those advance tickets went on the 1964 books.

Video below tells the whole story well.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 54March 4, 2023 6:34 PM

Expo 67 helped US citizens realize, at last, that Canadia actually existed beyond "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" in TV reruns and the answer to the question, "What's worse than North Dakota?"

Personally, I'm still not sure if "Toronto' isn't the Lone Ranger's sidekick.

Were they Canadianians, too?

by Anonymousreply 55March 4, 2023 6:42 PM

The NY World's Fair did well enough to put Freedomland Amusement Park in the Bronx out of business. My older brothers loved it.

by Anonymousreply 56March 4, 2023 9:12 PM

I had this 45 when I was a very little boy

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 57March 4, 2023 11:00 PM

It's because they are inbred R37. Not unlike the whites in South Africa, though perhaps with fewer inherited diseases than say the Cajuns of Loiusiana. Very beautiful or very ugly: those are consequences of cosanguinuity.

by Anonymousreply 58March 25, 2023 12:30 PM

The crossroads of time

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 59March 26, 2023 10:51 AM
Loading
Need more help? Click Here.

Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.

×

Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!