The Rink on Renfrew at 50

Rink on Renfrew our ‘own enchanted castle’

It’s certainly not as big as B.C. Place or as flashy as Rogers Arena, but for half a century the Pacific Coliseum has held a special place in the hearts of Vancouver sports and music fans.

It isn’t as big as B.C. Place or as flashy as Rogers Arena. But the Pacific Coliseum will always hold a special place in the hearts of Vancouver sports and music fans.

After all, it was the first home of the Canucks’ NHL franchise, and a beloved concert venue where Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie all appeared.

It has also been quite versatile. Over the years the Coliseum has featured in movies like Best in Show, Slam Dunk Ernest and Miracle. It has hosted car shows, boat shows and home shows. It’s even been the site of Jehovah’s Witness and Amway conventions.

It opened on Jan. 8, 1968, a 15,016seat structure that cost $6 million to build (the equivalent of $42.5 million today). It was paid for by the Pacific National Exhibition, which tore down the old Dog and Cat building to make room for the arena.

In an opening-day ad, the PNE boasted the Coliseum was “an exciting building for a great city,” and “one of the finest all-purpose exhibition and sports buildings on the west coast.”

The press were just as effusive. Lorne Parton of The Province hailed it as “sumptuous,” and The Sun’s Denny Boyd dubbed it “Vancouver’s own enchanted castle.”

Not everyone loved it, of course. It could be so quiet when the Vancouver Canucks were losing it was nicknamed “the Pacific mausoleum.” But in the main, the Rink on Renfrew was popular with the masses.

To mark its 50th anniversary, we decided to take a trip through some of the Coliseum’s misty watercolour memories.

YURI KADOBNOV, GETTY IMAGES FILES Feb. 12-28, 2010: After a $23.7-million renovation, the Coliseum became one of the prime venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics, hosting figure skating and short-track speedskating. She may not have won gold, but Joannie Rochette’s bronze-medal...

RALPH BOWER/PNG FILES Jan. 3, 1968: Six-year-old Doug Bower is the first person to skate on the new ice at the Pacific Coliseum after his father, a Vancouver Sun photographer, set up the shot

GLENN BAGLO/PNG FILES June 22, 1972: If you wanted to see a radiant Cher (with her thenhubby Sonny Bono) at the Coliseum on this night, you had to shell out $4, $5 or $6 for a ticket. At least, that’s what the KVOS-sponsored concert promotional poster said.