Expo 67 - Dad

Dad didn't take all the family pictures at Expo 67. Here's a shot of him on the site probably taken by mom.

Expo 67 - American Pavilion

The iconic American Pavilion, Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome. Or a Buckyball, if you prefer. This seems to be the only picture dad took of it.

Expo 67 - La Ronde 5

I might be cheating a bit here. These undated photos are the only colour photos of me that Dad took on the Expo grounds -- the La Ronde amusement park area, to be precise -- but I'm wondering if they really were taken during 1967. The grounds and pavilions at Expo 67 continued for a number of years after 1967 as an exhibition entitled Man and His World. I seem to be a year or two older than in the other Expo pictures I've found, so I suspect that these are technically not Expo 67 pictures, but perhaps taken in 1968 or 1969. Of course, the clincher is the hats -- the Montréal Expos didn't start playing until 1969. The franchise was not even awarded until 1968, so this picture must be from 1969, maybe even 1970. Interestingly, these were the only Expo (or Man and His World) pictures on the roll of film. My Dad took his camera, with colour(!) film in it on this particular trip, all the way to the Expo site and only took these two shots.

Expo 67 - French Pavilion

The French Pavilion.

Expo 67 - Canadian Pavilion

The iconic Canadian Pavilion, probably the second-most famous pavilion after the giant golf ball that was the American pavilion.

Expo 67 - Fountains

Just what it says. Fountains. I'm thinking this shot was taken from one of the mini-monorails. I remember we were at Expo one evening and were riding one of them out over the water....when it stopped. We were stuck. I'm not sure how long we were stuck over the river. It was probably only minutes, but I recall it seemed liked hours. All's well that ends well, the monorail started up again and we disembarked at the next station.

Expo 67 - La Ronde 4

Clearly, I was born to be a train engineer. Dad took this photo of me tearing down the track at La Ronde. This appears to be the same ride as the one I was on in the August 17 photo I posted. And I'm wearing the same clothes, too. Clearly, it was a favourite of mine.

Expo 67 - Burmese Pavilion

The Burmese Pavilion.

Expo 67 - British Pavilion 2

Here's another angle of the British Pavilion as the Expo train zips along beside it.

Expo 67 - Algerian Pavilion

This photo is starting to convince me that maybe some of my dad's Expo 67 photos weren't taken in 1967 at all. Combing through Dad's negatives can be a frustrating experience. Some are recorded meticulously; others are the proverbial negatives in a box.
 The white building in front is the Algerian pavilion. The green things that look like abstract trees is the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry Pavilion, standing in front of the green Toblerone-shaped Steel Pavilion. However, our crack research team (me and Google) has found evidence that the Steel Pavilion had signs along its apex that spelled out "STEEL" in 1967, signs that are noticeably absent in this photo. So perhaps some of his pictures, particularly the colour ones, date from the years after 1967, when the site was run as an exhibition called Man and His World.

You can see the STEEL signs above the pavilion in this photo he took in 1967 (and probably taken from a monorail).

Expo 67 - La Ronde 3

I loved riding in these cars. I probably would have spent half a day in them if I had my way. I have no idea who's driving the cars. Yes, my parents put me on an amusement park ride with total strangers. Hey, it was the 60s.

Expo 67 - Ontario Pavilion

It took a little research to figure this one out. It's the Ontario Pavilion.

Expo 67 - British Pavilion at Night

Last week's picture was the British Pavilion. This week's picture, the British Pavilion -- at night! Exciting, eh?

Expo 67 - British Pavilion

Here's a shot of the stately British Pavilion. You can see the Expo train just entering on the left side. I loved riding the trains and the monorails. Dad clearly has some elevation for this picture -- perhaps he was riding a monorail when he took it...?

Expo 67 - La Ronde 2

Here I am at La Ronde, riding something called....Toonerville? I have no memory of this at all. And what the heck is a Toonerville? It may be a reference to Toonerville Folks, an American newspaper comic strip that ran from 1908 until the mid-1950s. The strip often centered around a trolley called, naturally enough, the Toonerville Trolley.

Expo 67 - Pavilion of Thailand

The Pavilion of Thailand was clearly one of Dad's favourite Expo subjects. Maybe he liked the funky spires or the little pool with the boat in it. Whatever the reason, it caught his attention.

He photographed it a number of times, and on different trips to Expo.

Expo 67 - The French and the Brits

This nice shot of Dad's shows the round French Pavilion and the towering British Pavilion. The French Pavilion is one of the few remaining pavilions. These days, it's a casino.

Expo 67 - Île Notre Dame

Dad at some point either owned or borrowed a 2x3 film camera, as this shot is scanned from a 2x3 negative. I think it's borrowed because all the 2x3 negatives in his collection seem to in quick bursts -- a quick bunch of photos at one event, then none, then a quick bunch there. We can only find six 2x3 Expo negatives in the collection, all taken at the same time and at more or less the same place. This one is a wide view of Île Notre Dame, the Canadian Pavilion on the right, to the tower of the British Pavilion on the left.

Expo 67 - La Ronde 1

My favourite place at Expo? Well, duh. Every four year-old's favourite place, La Ronde, the amusement park area. Here I am riding a water ride.

Expo 67 - Hovercraft

The Expo Hovercraft. Why there was an Expo hovercraft, I'm not sure. But I remember lining up and going for a ride in it.