Places to go and people to see in Calgary

[r.morrison]

Well....lets just see here. Some spare time? 48 Hours? Size of Holland 16,485 square miles.....size of Alberta 255,541 square miles. Hmmm, I guess if you don't sleep, don't eat and absolutely no potty time, ya might just make it. Yee Ha!!! Robert

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks Robert, for pointing out just how diminutive our patch of sodden land is....

And yes, I looked up on the map to see how far Vancouver is from Calgary..... but it is too far to go on my Dutch push bike or wooden clogs

Maybe next time, eh?

H.

[r.morrison]

If I knew you were coming to Calgary earlier, I would have probably taken a wee trip there and had that beer and done the tour with you. IF...you get a eeny teeny weeny bit of time, stop into CROWN SURPLUS (Gordon Cummings), about 5 to 10 minutes out of the downtown core and check out some of the "backroom stuff"....Bofors, CMP'S Ferrets etc etc. I used to buy WW11 camo nets off him for almost next to nothing compared to today's prices. AND that's if you can find them!!! (I'm dating myself!)

The odd thing Hanno was....Gordon had a museum in the back with 5 or 6 military tanks and/or vehicles way before any of the other museums got even close to thinking about a museum. One of them was a Churchill Tank, which he eventually sold and the "Museum of the Regiments" had to buy one from the UK and have it shipped over here for display.

AND pray tell....what are you doing in Calgary work wise? Do let us all know.....Robert

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Robert,

I will be visiting the SKF bearing factory in Calgary for a project start-up.

Am hooking up with Bill Miller to go to the Reynolds Museum. Will try to check out Crown Surplus

Anyone else available for a beer? Coffee?

Cheers,
Hanno

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Am hooking up with Bill Miller . . .

. . . Hanno, don’t let Bill lead you astray . . .

[Michael Dorosh]

I will be at the rifle range in Edmonton, unfortunately.

If looking for other military themed attractions in Calgary, you can also try:

Battalion Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_Park

Peacekeeper Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeper_Park

The latter two have the virtue of being free and without restricted access. Battalion Park has some good interpretive boards and a fine view of the mountains as well as the old Camp Sarcee.

Mewata Armouries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mewata_Armoury

Visit the Sherman, Bailey Bridge and Universal Carrier out front - walk right up. Another one of our many M4A2E8 (?) gate guards. Not a whole lot to see inside the armouries, and may be closed if there are no units training on the weekend, but there are a few historic photos on the walls inside.

Central Memorial Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Memorial_Park

Where the civic cenotaph is, plus two war memorials (one to the South African War and another to the First World War, on the opposite end of the park from the cenotaph, outside the public library).

[Michael Dorosh]

Oh, regarding surplus - Crown Surplus is mostly a camping supply store now, though admittedly I haven't been there in a couple of years. The "museum" in the back had been off-limits the last time I was there. It was not a museum, but a collection - an impressive one - of equipment, small arms, uniforms, etc., though not much of it was labelled or well-displayed. I don't know if this has changed since I was last there. The staff is friendly, relatively young (second generation) and willing to help customers but the business is not centred on military surplus as the days of cruising the bins there for mint 37 Pattern webbing, wartime battledress and inexpensive wartime badges are probably gone. They do have decent contemporary military-grade clothing and adventure gear and the occasional bargain on vintage 'stuff'.

There is a place on 9th Avenue called Shoulder to Shoulder (which is walking distance from Crown, so you can probably still squeeze in a visit to both) which seems to have more in the way of actual militaria, with a good collection of badges for sale (for those interested in that) and a number of Second World War era uniforms (I suspect some on consignment), though the place is small, cramped, and dirty (perhaps the way some would want it) and the owner seems to hold a number of stereotypical radical right-wing views which he will gladly share with you if you ask.

These are naturally my own opinions based on my experience. In its heyday, Crown Surplus was a mecca for militaria but I do believe the business had to grow beyond it. Sad for those of us who would as kids beg our fathers to take us down there on Saturday mornings just to cruise through the musty smelling G.I. issue pistol belts and Vietnam War clothing and dig through rain barrels full of Canadian Army shoulder titles, but they must be doing something right to still have such a large parcel of land so close to downtown.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Tonner

. . . Hanno, don’t let Bill lead you astray . . .

Ah yes, I may have used the wrong words.... It's teaming up, isn't it?

H.

[rob love]

The backroom of Crown has been open for the pubic in the last few years. Nothing like it used to be, but still a few treasures to look at. I was just there a week or so ago myself. They still have one of the Triumph TRWs in the crate. There is one fully set up just 2 yards away, so you barely notice the crated one. You have to ask them to go behind the crate where it has been opend and you can see the packing method. Apparently, the DND opened the crate before disposal to sand the CFR off the fuel tank. There are still a few treasures there, although the majority of their stock is the more recent surplus offerings. I did pick up a bunch of Cdn rifle slings there at a reasonable price.

With regard to the Ford Pilot truck at the old Reynold's museum, a contact of mine told me the remaining vehicles were supposed to go to the Reynold's Wetaskiwan museum. It will be interesting to hear if this vehicle is still "up for grabs".