Throwback: Sex, Drugs and Roller Rinks

For Vancouver magazine’s 50th year, we’re taking a look back through the archives and sharing a few classic covers each month.

March 2007

Ten years ago, our Sex issue was so scandalous that some of the magazine staff were worried about putting their names on the masthead. Inside, there were confessions of a porn shop clerk, intimate portraits of sex workers and a double-page spread on erotic toys. But it’s the tamer details that shock us today—a survey revealing just 26 percent of single Vancouverites were using online dating at the time, and a roundup of clubs that shows a surprising trend of longevity in our local nightlife: Republic, the Roxy, 1181 and Caprice managed to ride out a volatile industry through the decade.

March 1997

There’s an undercurrent of worry about the future of marijuana users as a new crackdown law is introduced. “It’s going to make the country unrecognizable from what it was. A lot of my friends and the people I know will end up in jail. It’s scary.”

March 1987

A profile on famed CFMI host (and former RCMP officer) Terry David Mulligan has a strangely Teen Beat vibe: “He has an affection for hot foods. He wears size nine Nike Airs. Hobbies: tennis, fishing.” Elsewhere in the issue: a 3,000-word salute to redheads.

March 1977

The author of a cover story profile on a roller-rink-turned-club was enchanted with the North Van spot: “When the Burrard Inlet ferry goes into operation, many of us will find it romantic and cosmopolitan to sail across for dinner and listening.”

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