The location for today’s then and now shoot is Crescent Heights High School in Calgary. The old photo used (from about the 1960s) comes in from an associate and shows a group of students participating in some sort of demonstration in front of the building’s main entrance. On our visit things were a bit quieter and no protesters were seen.
The then photo was supplied by a friend at the Calgary Board of Education. Thanks Evelyn, it’s great! It came with no accompanying information as I guess there is none – the file we’re told was blank. It’s just a photo with no notes or other data attached. We don’t know the year it was shot (but can guess), the photographer or even specifics of what exactly is happening in the scene. Nothing! Oh well…
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Guessing the date of the photo seems easy enough – the style of dress suggests it’s from the mid to late-1960s. We’re pretty confident about that.
Just what is being protested is a bit unclear. We can easily read much of what’s seen on the large sign, but the message seems a bit odd and cryptic and does little to lessen the mystery of what exactly is happening. As best as we make out it reads: “Don’t Mind $ For Social St. But What Do Union Do?” Just what the heck does that mean? Regardless, the person holding the sign seems quite passionate about his feelings. He was captured mid-shout. Down with this! Up with that! We’re not sure what he’s saying, but he’s doing it loud!
The people seen, save for one or two, are all male. Not sure if that’s significant or not.
If any of our readers were at this protest or even know about it, we’d sure love to hear from you. We’re curious as heck to know what’s going on.
The trees have grown up a lot since the old photo was captured. They’re huge now! The fence has changed somewhat, but it’s instantly recognizable. The section of the building seen in back is the gym and is much higher today (the school has been renovated and added to over the years). Just to the right in both scenes is the main entrance.
Crescent Heights High School was built in the 1920s. Enrollment is close to a couple thousand students covering grades ten through twelve.
The community where it stands dates back a hundred years or so and is one of Calgary’s longer established neighborhoods. It’s on a high bluff across the Bow River, just north of downtown core.
The aspect ratio of the original photo was 1:1, so we did the same with our shot. Shooting square, for some reason, seemed really odd and weird to us. As is always the case, we lined up our now shot in camera using special techniques we’ve developed over the years. Post production is limited to small distortion fixes and the like and nothing major. Most of the work is done at the time the photo is captured.
The majority of then photos used by us in this ongoing series are supplied by our readers. This one was. If you have an old image you think we’d be interested in, email us. We’ll revisit the location seen, shoot a similar picture showing what things look like today and post it on this website for all the world see.
If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!
Date: November, 2015. Location: Calgary, AB. Article references: Calgary Board of Education. The building exterior can be viewed and photographed from public property.
My Brother inlaw is in the picture, he is the very small fellow wearing the trench coat. He was all of 16 on that day and he quit school the following year so he could go to work.By the way, even he is not sure why they were protesting. I do remember in the day back in Victoria our Jr HIgh would protest some silly cause, but most of just wanted a day off of school, so we would all bugger off and enjoy the rest of the day running free.
A family connection. Cool! While I suspect the cause is lost to time, you are no doubt right that a good protest, even if made up, was a fine excuse to ditch class.
I graduated in 62. My brother graduated in 65. I remember him saying that there had been a demonstration about student union fees and he was about to join it with his friend Gordon but was intercepted by Mr. Cooper the principal who pointed out that they had both got student union scholarships so they thought better of it.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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Class of 1971. The place hasn’t changed.
Heard from a good number of former alumni. Almost all of them say the same thing!
My Brother inlaw is in the picture, he is the very small fellow wearing the trench coat. He was all of 16 on that day and he quit school the following year so he could go to work.By the way, even he is not sure why they were protesting. I do remember in the day back in Victoria our Jr HIgh would protest some silly cause, but most of just wanted a day off of school, so we would all bugger off and enjoy the rest of the day running free.
A family connection. Cool! While I suspect the cause is lost to time, you are no doubt right that a good protest, even if made up, was a fine excuse to ditch class.
I was there 72 to 76.
I graduated in 62. My brother graduated in 65. I remember him saying that there had been a demonstration about student union fees and he was about to join it with his friend Gordon but was intercepted by Mr. Cooper the principal who pointed out that they had both got student union scholarships so they thought better of it.
Student union fees? That sort of makes sense given the message on the one sign. Thanks for commenting.
Mr. Winston H. Cooper is my grandfather and this sounds like something he would say. I sure love and miss him.
Thanks for commenting!
(via Facebook)
Graduated from Crescent in 1969.
Nice school!
Good story Chris…
I went to CHHS in 75-76!
Sheet Metal Shop (12 & 22) with Mr. Pritchard was my best subject.
I’m thinking we’ll hear from many former students. Just sayin…