Author Archives: Rob Howatson

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About Rob Howatson

The Pacific North West Rob Howatson blogs about the Pacific Northwest on MyWestworld. Rob Howatson is a freelance writer and a contributing editor for My Westworld magazine. He also writes for the Globe and Mail and Vancouver Sun newspapers, and B.C. Business and Vancouver magazines. His passions: travel, local history and arts and entertainment. Some of Rob’s memorable moments in the field include dangling from a fourth-storey balcony in Sydney, Australia (the balcony turned out to be a flimsy window box); paragliding in the B.C. Rockies; and discovering a 1950s time capsule in the wall of Vancouver’s old Sunset Community Centre just prior to the building’s demolition in 2008.

HIVE 3

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HIVE has got to be one of the strangest, most invigorating, chaotic experiments in the history of Vancouver’s live theatre scene. I missed the event’s 2006 debut at Chapel Arts, a former Strathcona funeral home that now serves as a cultural hub, but caught the show when it resurfaced in 2008 at its current venue, the Centre for Digital Media Warehouse at the Great Northern Way Campus. And beginning March 11, the HIVE will buzz again with 12 site-inspired, installation-based performance pieces from Vancouver’s coolest theatre companies.

The super-short pieces (none longer than 15 minutes) run in continuous, rapid rotation around a central lounge area. The audience wanders around the warehouse and chooses which performances they wish to see. It is virtually impossible to see all 12 bits in a single evening, but guests have a lot of fun trying.

Electric Company Theatre

HIVE: One of the strangest, most invigorating, chaotic experiments in the history of Vancouver’s live theatre scene. Photocourtesy The Electric Company Theatre

 

Two years ago, at HIVE 2, I saw four actors in a shadowy room perform a post-apocalyptic skit that cleverly morphed from frightening to hilarious. (Cozy Catastrophe by Rumble Productions & Theatre Melee.) I then stumbled into The Box Show by Felix Culpa, a play set, literally, inside a giant cardboard box. From there, I strolled across the warehouse to watch a surreal drama unfold down a narrow corridor (The Flannigan Affair by The Electric Company). The evening continued that way with small clumps of audience members bouncing from one bizarre vision to the next.

HIVE nights always end with live music, with this year’s lineup of eight Canadian indie bands including The British Columbians, Rich Hope and The Sadies.

HIVE 3 runs March 11-14, 17-20 at 577 Great Northern Way. Tickets are $25 for adults,
 $20 for students/seniors.

Lead photo courtesy The Electric Company Theatre.

Vancouver Island: Return of the Martin Mars Bombers

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POST-OLYMPIC UPDATE

Plane buffs advised to book summer Martin Mars Bomber tours now

by Rob Howatson

The award for most creative contribution to VANOC’s Paint the Town Red campaign goes to the marketing wizards for the City of Richmond. For two days in the midst of this Frebruary’s Winter Olympics, Richmond’s Lulu Islanders invited one of the world’s largest flying boats to moor its red-and-white hulk off the shore of Steveston’s Garry Point Park. The media was then invited to tour the Martin Mars bomber, while the public got to see this behemoth demonstrate its awesome wildfire fighting abilities as it dropped 27,000 litres of Fraser River froth into the delta – just a scant 50 metres away from the cheering crowds jostling for camera angles on the rocky beach.

Thirty years from now, I may not be able to tell you who won the Norway-Slovakia game at the 2010 Games, or what colour Jill Barber’s furry winter hat was when she sang at the Richmond O-Zone, but I will never forget the throaty growl of the Mars bomber’s four 2500-horsepower, Wright Cyclone engines as the plane drew a curtain of water that momentarily blotted out the sky.

 

Built for the U.S. Navy in 1945, the Martin Mars was originally conceived as long-range bomber bit was quickly reassigned for general transport when the prototype wowed Navy brass with its incredible heavy-lift capabilities.

 

Five Martin Mars aircraft were built for the U.S. Navy in 1945. The planes were originally conceived as long-range bombers, but were quickly reassigned for general transport when the prototype wowed Navy brass with its incredible heavy-lift capabilities. In 1959, Richmond volunteer firefighter, senior pilot and Burkeville resident Dan McIvor then envisioned converting these cargo cruisers to water tankers to fight wildfires. A consortium of B.C. forest companies subsequently purchased four of the Mars planes and the fleet went on to battle some 4,000 B.C. forest blazes.

Today, only two Mars bombers remain operational: both are stationed at Coulson Aircrane’s base on Sproat Lake, near Port Alberni. The Coulson Flying Tankers visitors centre is open to the public in the summer and plane tours are available for $10, assuming that the birds aren’t away on assignment. (Though with the word out thanks to this year’s Winter Games, early reservations may well be the way to go.) Check for  hours of operation.

>>Share your favourite sighting of these B.C. aviation icons

Lead photo courtesy City of Richmond

Pacific Northwest: Keep the B-Train?

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TRAIN TRAVEL

Is Amtrak’s Vancouver to Seattle No. 2 a train worth fighting for?

by Rob Howatson

Amtrak passenger trains have been running between Vancouver and Seattle since 1995, offering a scenic roll across the border. But it is only in the past six months that the service has become truly practical for British Columbians looking for a daytrip or weekend in Space Needle Town.

The original schedule had Vancouverites boarding at 5:45 p.m. and arriving in Seattle just in time to check into a hotel for the night. The next day, the only train home left at dawn, unless travellers settled for a bus or a second night in the Emerald City. But a new, second Amtrak Cascades train means Canadians can now arrive at King Street Station before noon, enjoy a ball game at Safeco Field or cruise the malls, then choo-choo home at 6:50 p.m. Better yet, rail lovers can overnight in Seattle and enjoy brunch the next day at Pike Place Market before  even thinking of heading home.

Photo: Cascades at Titlow Beach, WA/courtesy Amtrak

Also read: Vancouver to Seattle the Amtrak Special

North Shore: Best Vancouver View

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NEWS

Fanorama! As in, Grouse Mountain’s new “View Pod”

by Rob Howatson


The North Shore Peaks have always offered amazing vistas of Vancouver, but now Grouse Mountain Resort is putting a whole new spin on the gawk-from-above experience with the opening of “view-pod” – an enclosed observation platform located atop the Lower Mainland’s first commercially viable wind turbine.

The 65-metre-tall energy tower, dubbed The Eye of the Wind, is perched on Grouse’s highest point, 1,295 metres above sea level. Access is via the Skyride aerial tramway, the Peak chairlift and the world’s first wind-turbine crow’s-nest elevator, from which up to 36 thrill-seekers can squeeze onto the sky-high platform to appreciate the stunning view as three 37-metre-long blades sweep past the window. (The turbine’s 1.5-megawatt generator is expected to provide enough electricity to meet 25 per cent of the ski resort’s energy consumption.)

Guides are on hand to explain how the structure was built in such a lofty setting as well as how the resort intends to minimize the impact on birds and bats. 604-980-9311

Photo courtesy flickr.com/grousemountainresort