More than 60 years ago, the City of Vancouver got together with the local tourism association and some businesses to put together a video that, at the outset, seems to target honeymooners.
It opens with a 'Just Married' sign as a happy couple heads to Vancouver for a jazzy vacation in "Canada's third city."
However, a lot of what it focuses on probably wouldn't be considered part of a honeymoon vacation, at least by today's standards. After setting the scene and showing off a local gas station, the narrator jumps straight into...residential towers and municipal politics. Just what newlyweds are into.
If you were worried the clip would stick around in city hall too long, don't worry. They just recount the prayer and move on.
"There's a saying in the west that when a tree falls anywhere in B.C. its echo is heard in the financial district of Vancouver," the narrator states as the film continues on.
Catchy.
The film, now with the City of Vancouver archives, also touches on "the silver horde" aka fish, and other industrial pursuits like shipbuilding.
By the 8-minute mark, it starts to meander its way to a travel video, as the Vancouver International Airport makes an appearance, and to some extent it does, with a look at local sports, including a look at the BC Lions, and an incredible clip of a flipping orange cat (just after the 11:30 mark, if you want to fast forward).
It's just before the halfway mark that more traditional honeymoon activities are shown, with lovely walks through parks around the city, beach trips, and sailing around the Salish Sea. It's at this point we also get to see the couple we were introduced to at the beginning again, as they fish.
The rest of the travelogue focuses on more touristy ideas (with some problematic clips of local Asian heritage and complete erasure of local First Nations presence), though the tone seems more like it's trying to get people to move to the city instead of visiting. But they do acknowledge it's a tourist video at the end.
"Seasons change, but there's one thing here that never changes," states the narrator over swelling music. "Winter, Summer, spring or fall, the visitor is always welcome in Vancouver, British Columbia."
