You're a Vernonite if you can remember . . .

[j-jock]

At one time Rubin owned one of those little cars that you could drive right into the water...Aqua Car? Maybe blue?

That sure brings back a 50+ year old memory of a little drama that played out on Kalamalka Lake back in the 60's. A guy drove his little amphibious car (that looked like this...) ...



... from a boat ramp and was driving it back and forth, past the Kalamalka beach. Seems to me it was a young guy and his girlfriend in the front seat. There was a boat in the area towing water skiers, and it made a deliberate run at the much less maneuverable car. The skier did a sharp turn just a few feet from the car, spraying and soaking the couple with a thick wall of water.

Then karma kicked in -- the skier wiped out, losing both his skies. One was right near the car, so the car's driver quickly pulled alongside, grabbed the ski, and made for the boat ramp. The boat caught up before he got there, but he wouldn't give the ski back, and drove up the ramp and out of sight.

There were actually people on the beach applauding, as he made his escape with the ski.

I had been away from Vernon, and while visiting one summer in the mid 60, and while out cruising with a friend of mine, Wayne Klippert, we bumped into a guy that was driving one of those Amphicars. I don't remember the conversation, but we went out to Kal Lake, rolled up all the windows, locked the doors ( a manual latch on the floorboard, just behind the doors), and drove into the water. With the three of us in the car, there was not much freeboard, and we were worried that the water would swamp the back of the car, where the air inlet for the engine was located.
It was quite an experience.

[Noisy Boater]

I was in Prince George from age 0 till about 11. Our neighbours across the street were Bob and Pat Kirshner(sp?) Their son was Alan. They moved to Vernon in the late 60s and ran a restaurant on the main drag east of hwy 97 on the south side of the street. Not sure what's there now. Not sure how I can remember that info from 50 plus years ago and I cant remember my postal code!!!

[j-jock]

Back in the 50's and early 60's I recall an irrigation flume that paralleled Old Kamloops Road (now Alexis Park Dr), and then headed towards the Bella Vista. It was located along the upper ridge of the hills, just west of Old Kamloops Rd. We used to hike it as kids. In some parts, it was built up on a wooden trellis (to keep it level). Looking at Google Earth, I can see trails in some parts of where it used to be.

Does anyone know the history of this flume? Where did the water come from and where did it end up? I can't recall any agriculture through the valley that Alexis Park Dr. travels through -- it was old range land. Was the water mainly for the Bella Vista? And when was it all dismantled?

It was built by the Vernon Irrigation District before WWII, to distribute stored water from a dam on Aberdeen Lake, (up above Lavington), to farms throughout the Valley.
It was an open ditch until the edge of the property on my Grandparent's farm in Lavington. Then it was funnelled in a large pipe to the hill on the north side of the Coldstream Valley at Lavington, and then it wound its way towards Vernon, to the hill on the east side of Vernon (we called it Vernon Hill). It was piped across the west side of the Okanagan Valley just north of Swan Lake, and then ran all the way down to Bella Vista. Farmers and orchardists bought the water to irrigate their crops.
We often used to hike along the flue, up to first, second, and third pond, up above the flue. We used to climb up to the flue in a field just across from the Stampede grounds, and walk south along the flue to Bella Vista.
I remember, we used to have to be very careful not to get pricked by the cactus that grew everywhere up there.

[j-jock]

Don Warner, now there's a blast from the past. Don was a really really nice guy. Great sense of humour. Had the opportunity to tip a few pints with Don .. what a character. Seems to me he used to play the organ to ..not sure if he played in a band or not.

Don, used to announce the Vernon Canadians hockey games, and in the early 50s, did a show on CJIB called "Uncle Don's Story Time", He played a variety of programs such as, Mighty Mouse, Lone Ranger, etc.
He was our neighbour, and I was often invited to watch Uncle Milty on the TV.
They had two daughters, Donna, and Gail.

[j-jock]

My memory is of a General Tire store in that location in the late 70s - early 80s, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Kal Tire. I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread by someone with a better memory than mine, possibly Fritz, but I don't have the patience to search for it.

Huh? Some one say my name? Kal Tire....I remember it being int he building that now houses OK SPring Brewery, back before all the expansions took place. well at least I rember the Good Year logo on that building.

I was reading this thread the other day and I can not for the life of me remember 1) when Kal Tire build the Kal Lk Rd store and where it was before hand.
Surplus Herbies was indeed a tire shop up until the early 80's and I'm talking possibly 1980 or 81! You can still see the spots in thefloor where the hydraulic lifts were (maybe still are?)
Prior to its current location, Surplus Herbies was in what now houses Club 21-21/Night Magic or whatever they are calling it today. I rember going in there with my Mommie at the old location and being blown away by how cool that place was: Everything you could imagine! And youknow what? It still smelss the same in there today as it did 30 years ago.

My first memory of Kal Tire, was that it was located just south of Galbraith's on 32nd St. That was just south of the original location of Vernon Motors.

[Catsumi]

That sure brings back a 50+ year old memory of a little drama that played out on Kalamalka Lake back in the 60's. A guy drove his little amphibious car (that looked like this...) ...



... from a boat ramp and was driving it back and forth, past the Kalamalka beach. Seems to me it was a young guy and his girlfriend in the front seat. There was a boat in the area towing water skiers, and it made a deliberate run at the much less maneuverable car. The skier did a sharp turn just a few feet from the car, spraying and soaking the couple with a thick wall of water.

Then karma kicked in -- the skier wiped out, losing both his skies. One was right near the car, so the car's driver quickly pulled alongside, grabbed the ski, and made for the boat ramp. The boat caught up before he got there, but he wouldn't give the ski back, and drove up the ramp and out of sight.

There were actually people on the beach applauding, as he made his escape with the ski.

I had been away from Vernon, and while visiting one summer in the mid 60, and while out cruising with a friend of mine, Wayne Klippert, we bumped into a guy that was driving one of those Amphicars. I don't remember the conversation, but we went out to Kal Lake, rolled up all the windows, locked the doors ( a manual latch on the floorboard, just behind the doors), and drove into the water. With the three of us in the car, there was not much freeboard, and we were worried that the water would swamp the back of the car, where the air inlet for the engine was located.
It was quite an experience.

Until I saw this post I had completely forgotten that my cousin (wealthy retired farmer) decided to spend and live a bit before parting with his mortal coil. This was one of the items he bought that turned out to be a ‘babe magnet’. It worked so fine he collected a new wife and much happiness before his demise.

I have no idea what became of his amphi-car.

Thanks for jostling my memory bank!

[gardengirl]

Magentic Hill. I can't remember exactly where it was, but I know we tried it out.

[digitalnemesis]

Ye Ole Fridays Arcade
OK, So this has been haunting me for the past couple years and I have no other outlet to share this info so here we go. I grew up in Vernon from 1983 -1994 and lived many places all over BC before and after including Lumby. During my time in Vernon as a kid I became obsessed with Ye Ole Fridays Arcade. I loved it there and I have so many wonderful memories of hanging with my friends there. Some of the things I remember were that when I would walk in the front door on Saturday morning, Steve Fonyo would be at the Dragons Liar machine with a row of quarters all across the machine and would teach me the secret to every level while he played for almost 2 hours. Me and my friend Kelly would play Mach 3 and hit the machine to skip the laserdisc and start playing the apocalyptic levels at the end of the game. We also used that trick on Dragons Liar to play the draw bridge level that couldn’t be accessed from regular gameplay.
The sounds, the smells and the joy I got from the world becoming an arcade heaven never ceases to make me nostalgic for my 12 year-old self. If you have any photos or information about Fridays Arcade or fun spots around town, I would love to see those 40 year old photos.

Games I would seek out around Vernon:
Ye Ole Fridays Arcade (games rotated often)
Dragons Liar
Cobra Command
Mach 3
California Games
Sinistar “I am Sin-A-Star! Aarrgh”
Hat Trick
PunchOut
Tetris
Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros
Donkey Kong Jr.
Joust
Hogans Alley
Crystal Castles
720 Degrees “Skate or Die!”
Marble Madness
Zaxxon
Turkey Shoot
Star Trek
Star Wars (sit down edition)
Tron
Millipede
Ikari Warriors
Rush’n’Attack
NeoGeo Metal Slug
Narc
Top Gunner
-Bubble Hockey-
-Pinball-
Attack From Mars
Comet
Funhouse
High Speed

K-mart Arcade Machines (rotated about every 2 years)
Wonderboy
Gladiator
Shinobi
Sprint 2 (2-player driving)

Henry’s Arcade (didn’t last long)
Monster Mash
Arkanoid

Ebenezers (so many more but can’t remember)
Rygar
Altered Beast
1942(?)
Two Tigers(?)

Lumby Laundry mat (early 80’s even 70’s)
Centipede
Missle Command
Bezerk

Atlantis Waterslide (Midnight Madness and waffle cones with Nikki were the best!)
Bubble Bobble
Popeye (Nintendo)
Tron
Food Fight
Burger Time

Klondike Arcade (old dirty and smelled like death but great place when dad was at the bank)
Bandido
Red Baron

7-11 (I think this was there but might be wrong)
Elevator Action

Wendy’s/McMini’s (good spot in summer after dinner and an Arctic Orange shake)
Mappy
Bubble Bobble

Macs (beside Burger King and sticky buttons from kids with Slurpees)
Rampage
Xenophobe

Silver Star Lodge (one downstairs and one in the bar)
Kung-*bleep* Master
T2 Pinball

Galaxie(?) Arcade (across from parkade and next to pet store very short lived)
Gyruss
Tempest
Battle zone

Soft Shop (Heard there were some piracy concerns but I loved that place)
River Raid
Lode Runner
Miner 2049’er
Ballblazer
Boulder Dash
Necromancer

…and can’t remember the name of arcade behind Irly Bird Hardware with all the pool tables.
Mortal Kombat was awesome!

Wow. I remember a lot of what you said. Maybe we are around the same age. I lived in Vernon from ~82-89. Went to Mission Hill elementary school. I found this page looking for information on Friday's Arcade. It was the "older kids" arcade. I was only allowed to go to the arcade at Ebeneezers. I spent a lot of money on comic books there and GI Joe's at Eatons. I lived on 29th street close to the Barracks and Armory Park. I have really fond memories....I've been in Vancouver since '95 but visit Vernon in summers from time to time. Sorry to hear it's changed. I wouldn't mind moving back with my family if it was anything like it was when I was a kid. I guess nothing is though...

Thanks for the memories.

-Shannon

The playground in front of Kmart.

RJs Chicken and Ribs on the corner of 29th St and 31st Ave before they moved into the "new" train station.

Sarge at People's Grocery (wonder if he's every gonna retire).

When season's passes at Atlantis cost $50.

When the line up for Return Of The Jedi at the Towne Theatre stretched past the train tracks.

The Keg on the corner of 29th St and 30th Ave.

Playing video games at Ebeneezer's and Ye Ole Fridays.

When Pizza Hut was actually good.

When the deep end at the Rec Center was actually deep.

The Fonyo's restaurant, then The Alamo (the best bbq beef sandwichs and baked beans), then The Roasted Chicken House, then The "Really" Roasted Chicken House.

When Chinook helicopters landed up at the DND grounds.

Having Sunday Brunch at the Vernon Lodge.

The mini golf place beside Wendy's.

When Kal Beach was so busy you couldn't even find a spot anymore come noon time.

Renting Atari video games at Vernon Video Shack when it was on the corner of 31st Ave and 31st St.

Playing Atari PC video games at The Soft Shop.

[digitalnemesis]

The only visual reference I could that possibly has the same building standing.

[BTDT]

I’m looking for some history on the Ernie’s/Al’s/Vernon (Keith’s) Esso.
Who ran it before Ernie?
What year was it built?
Was the old Dairy Queen on the same lot first or was the Esso first?
What year did the DQ move across the street? Probably when the Esso was enlarged from 2 repair bays to 3. I think the carwash was installed at the same time but not sure. Hopefully someone knows.
What year did Ernie takeover the Esso?
Al took over in 77 from his brother Ernie. Ernie moved up to the Self Serve on the corner of the VG mall property in 77.
Al ran it until Dec/80.
I took over in Jan/81 and was there 25 years 10 months.
7/11 bought it oct 2016.

We used to live just up the road from Ernies Esso in the early to mid 1960's - its now the Super Save Gas Bar. I think Ernies had a tow truck service as well. I remember going to the Dairy Queen then, white cinder block building now the Telus building.

[BillTarr]

The name of the original show from Kal Lake Lookout was "Welcome Traveler" produced by 94 CJIB.
It was hosted by Patrick Nicol & Don Weglo for quite some time and also my wifey, Danusia Tarr.
When we were first dating; I went up there and pretended to be "Sven" from Sweden.
Pretty good show that aired for quite a few years.
No shows like that on air locally anymore.
Too bad.

[southy]

Welcome Traveller was summer tradition on CJIB. I recall the late Ron Stanley being one of the main voices. That would have been in the early to mid 70s. Guests always received a small gift.