Memoir on iconic PNE amusement park chronicles coming-of-age story of Vancouver author — and the city

Much of what 12-year-old Nick Marino did when he worked at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver's Hastings Park back in the summer of 1980 involved inflating balloons. 

"And also avoid getting hit by darts," said Marino, now an elementary school teacher and comedian.

He wasn't always successful.

"My boss, a 16-year-old girl was mad when I teased her about a guy, so she threw a dart at me and it caught me in the forearm."

That encounter and other experiences from working at the popular Vancouver amusement park are detailed in Marino's first book, East Side Story: Growing Up At The PNE, set to be released on Aug. 8.

The book pulls the curtain back on the culture of carnivals and also serves as a coming-of-age story, according to Marino.

"The intention for [the book] was to be a parallel coming-of-age story of me and the city of Vancouver," Marino said.

"I came of age in 1986 and Expo 86 happened and that's when Vancouver really changed."

Once 'the cultural hub of the city'

As a teenager in the '80s, Marino watched the likes of The Clash, David Bowie, and Prince perform at the Pacific Coliseum in PNE. 

"All these huge shows happened there and the White Caps, the Lions and the Canucks, all played there."

Known as the 'Rink of Renfrew', PNE's landmark arena is known to have brought the NHL to Vancouver, and hosted international sporting events like the 2010 Winter Olympics and cultural events like the Miss PNE pageant shows. 

CBC's Gloria Macarenko, an award-winning veteran journalist, was crowned Miss PNE 1978, and is also one of the many local personalities featured in Marino's book.

"The old Miss PNE is something that is near and dear to my heart, and I can't believe we even did that," Macarenko said while interviewing Marino on CBC's The Early Edition.

"But that was something that brought together the whole province." 

The pageant has since been discontinued, and big concerts no longer take place at the PNE, Marino says.

"It definitely was the cultural hub of the city, and it's not really that much anymore."

One thing that has remained intact, however, is the amusement park's historic rollercoaster — which turned 65 last week and features on the cover for East Side Story.

"When you see the coaster, it looks chaotic, it looks dangerous, a little unsafe, and that's kind of how I want the book to feel," said Marino.

'Scamming and underground bartering'

During the six summers he worked at the PNE, from age 12 to 18, Marino says he met a lot of interesting people.

Among them are arcade bouncer Red Scardillo, who claimed to have gotten into about 200 fist fights, and his cousin Ed, who Marino says scammed his way to Canucks games pretending he was with the New Westminster Bruins.

"Scamming and underground bartering was just part of being in the PNE," Marino said. 

"There was a lot of, 'hey, I'll give you a hamburger and then you can come by and ride my ride and then later we can go over to this guy's place and we can play his game and he'll put in 100 quarters for the arcade for us,' kind of thing."

Marino says he chose not to sugarcoat the stories in his memoir despite his day job as a teacher.

"I wanted to tell it as it is," he said.

"Bad students make good teachers. So having been someone who didn't go to every class, who didn't hand in every assignment, I can understand the kids in my class and they get that in me."

Marino says he likes to take his students to the PNE, and that he likes the joy it brings to children.

"PNE or any fair just represents a suspension of the regular rules of society for kids," he said.

"The idea that there's a place where the rules are different, where you're allowed to run, be loud, overeat and overplay. It's just supposed to be fun."