Cruising 33 years ago

Today's trip down memory lane does not go back as far as other adventures, but it still offers a look at days gone by.

Vernon historian and videographer Francois Arseneault has footage in and around Vernon from 33 years ago.

Vernon had a population of around 23,000 people in 1991 and Arseneault said despite the relatively short time span between the video footage and today, there are still “plenty of changes to note.”

Some of the footage was shot at Kal Beach in Coldstream.

While the beach itself is pretty much the same the hillside above parts of Westkal road were still undeveloped and Okanagan College was a lot smaller.

There's a look at the Vernon Army Camp which has been hosting cadets since 1949.

Driving down the hill on Highway 97 into town, the footage shows Vernon Jubilee hospital did not yet have its second tower.

Arseneault had identical footage of driving into town from 1958 (episode 800 in his collection), showing just how much that area of the city has changed.

“One can see the remarkable changes in that 33 year period. Those trees in Polson Park were a little shorter. Highway 6 did not yet exist, nor did the NOCA milk building which would already be gone by 1991, the railway tracks still crossed the highway on their way to Okanagan Landing and of course the Vernon Fruit union packing plant still stood,” Arseneault said of the 1958 footage.

“The Texaco service station may be unfamiliar to some as the brand has been gone since 1989. Sigalet brothers in 1958 operated out of the ESSO station, with so little traffic, one could still park on the roadway.

And back to 1991 where the Vernon fruit union had been replaced by the new mall, Sigalet brothers dodge dealership still had residency and the Schell Motel’s neon sign still stood.

“A banner proclaiming the annual Vernon Racing Days at Kin Park hung over the main intersection. BC Transits’ Orion buses were still common, these Ontario built buses were in operation until the late 1990s. The colloquially named ‘suicide hill’ was now eastbound only. Many Vernonites will remember their teenage years cruising 30th Avenue on warm summer nights up suicide hill and back to the Safeway store at the west of downtown and repeat, storefront neon lighting the street,” Arseneault said.

Arseneault is always looking for more information on the vintage footage he digs up, and he encourages people to add their input in the comments section on his Youtube page.

Arseneault has an extensive collection of vintage footage, and he is looking for more.

Anyone who may have old 16 mm or 8 mm film footage of the Vernon and Okanagan area is invited to email Arseneault at stockshooter.yyc@gmail.com.