'A beautiful thing': In 1967, Sparks Street Mall reopened to almost surreal optimism
'And almost everyone who saw the mall thought it was wonderful,' reporter says
Buckets of ink, and more than a few web pages, have been dedicated to the demise of Ottawa's Sparks Street pedestrian mall in the decades since its inception. And it's precisely this context that makes this 1967 archival footage of the grand reopening of the Sparks Street Mall so entertaining to watch.
The optimism is downright remarkable, even on the part of the CBC reporter who put the black-and-white piece together.
"For seven years there had been experiments with temporary malls but now it was permanent, poured in concrete," the reporter says.
"And almost everyone who saw the mall thought it was wonderful."
A square of sidewalk with diamond chips inside?
The tape then cuts to the mayor of Baltimore at the time, Theodore McKeldin, who was one of 17 planners and officials from the Maryland city who travelled to Ottawa to get a glimpse of the shiny new pedestrian walkway and take notes.
"It is a beautiful thing, and we are going back to Baltimore and we are going to start immediately to duplicate what you have up here in Ottawa," McKeldin says.
One thing I really need to know: is the World's Most Expensive Square of Sidewalk™ — with 1,000 diamond chips apparently "seeded" inside by then jeweller Jack Snow — still kicking around? Anyone know precisely where it is?
Now that's something on the mall I might actually stop to take a selfie with.
Watch the Sparks Street archive segment on Our Ottawa, CBC Ottawa's local current affairs program that tells stories about people and places in our city, and what's happening in music, arts and on social media. Watch it on TV Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 11 a.m. Mondays at 11 a.m.
Find Kristy Nease on Twitter @kristynease.
