Calgary Tower leaps back to the 1960s with 50th birthday bash this Saturday
Tricia Lo | CBC News | Posted: June 27, 2018 9:14 PM | Last Updated: June 27, 2018
Original construction crew members share untold stories in new film for observation deck theatre
Gasoline was $0.35 a gallon, a cup of coffee cost a dime and Doug Wagenaar was making $2.65 an hour installing drywall for the elevator shaft of what was then called the Husky Tower.
The year was 1967, and work had begun on what would soon become Western Canada's tallest building.
Doug Wagenaar was working the night shift with Alpine Drywall at the time. Some of his best memories are of the jolty exterior elevator trips, often caused by strong winds tangling the overhead cables.
Wagenaar recounts how the crew would ride the lift maybe 100 feet (30 metres) at a time, stopping frequently so the operator could climb to the top of the cage with a long pole in hand, poking and swinging to untwist the cables.
"The thing would drop maybe two or three inches," said Wagenaar, now 75.
He tries to recreate the ghostly white expression on his brother's face the first time it happened, but a bubbling chuckle overtakes him.
"I can still feel his hand squeezing my arm off, almost," he exclaimed.
To this day, Wagenaar has nothing but fond memories of that time.
"It was just awesome working here, working on it. I'm very proud of my part of it."
To him, it doesn't feel nearly as long ago as it sounds. But much has changed in the 50 years since.
The building was renamed the Calgary Tower in 1971. A massive Olympic cauldron was installed for the '88 Olympic Winter Games. A glass floor was added to the Observation Deck in 2005.
Now in 2018, to mark the 50th anniversary, the tower has added a theatre room with 21 screens, each measuring 55 inches, mounted on a curved wall.
It will screen a new documentary about the tower's history and its construction process, as told through the lens of people who, just like Wagenaar, were involved in its earliest days.
On Saturday, in celebration of its 50th birthday, the Calgary Tower will host a family-friendly block party.
The 1960s drive-in themed event will feature free ice cream, food trucks, a vintage photo booth and half-price admission all day.
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