There are plenty of treasures at Value Village thrift stores that can't tell much story of place and history, but when you land on an old Super 8 film that focuses--in its grainy way--on Vancouver in 1971, that's a pretty awesome find.
A Reddit user shared the digitized version of the film he found and uploaded it to YouTube. The lucky treasure-hunter says they were able to spot some credits in the footage, and made out a name, Taik Koo Wang.
"I was able to track down his son, who paid to have it digitized," adds the Redditor.
Called "Shape," the film contains footage of the city, particularly buildings, CP Rail trains, freighters in the bay, boats on the water, vehicle traffic, and the Lions Gate Bridge. It's pretty incredible to see so many familiar places (and a sweet pair of bell bottoms!) as seen almost 50 years ago, and yet so much has changed.
This is a Vancouver before SkyTrain, before Expo, before so much of the glass-fronted high rises that now shimmer on the landscape. It's even a time when the White Spot logo was still the chicken!
Related:
- Never-before-seen video of driving through Vancouver 50 years ago
- The oldest known film of Vancouver
- This vintage White Spot Pirate Pak ad comes with a big side of nostalgia
