If You Grew Up in Burnaby, You’ll Remember These 16 Things

Burnaby had about 400 people in 1900. By the 2021 census it had 249,125. A lot changed in between, and much of what people remember happened at a mall, a tram stop or on the lawn at Deer Lake.

This list is for anyone who remembers Woodward’s at Metrotown, the Bay at Lougheed or the old indoor Brentwood. It also reaches further back, to a tram line through Central Park in 1891, a 1912 carousel that nearly left town in pieces, and a mansion that was a frat house before it was a gallery.

Each entry has the documented history, most of it from Heritage Burnaby, the City’s shared online collection launched in 2008. You’ll also find what’s still standing, what’s gone and how to reach the parts you can still visit.

16. Burnaby Central Railway (Confederation Park)

The Burnaby Central Railway opened in Confederation Park on Canada Day, July 1, 1993. It’s a ride-on miniature railway built at 1/8 scale.

The B.C. Society of Model Engineers built it and runs it with volunteers. Plenty of North Burnaby kids took their first train ride here.

The 2026 season ran from April 3 to October 12, with rides at $5, so it’s closed until spring. Check the 2027 opening date before you promise anyone a ride. Confederation Park is at the north end of Willingdon Avenue.

15. Hats Off Day (Burnaby Heights)

Heights merchants started Hats Off Day in the 1980s as a customer appreciation day. The parade was added in 1989 and became the part everyone talks about.

It takes over Hastings Street from Boundary Road to Gamma Avenue on the first Saturday in June. The 2026 edition was held on June 6. The 2027 date isn’t posted yet.

The Family Fun Dash starts the day off. Entry is free. Watch hatsoffday.com for next year’s details.

14. Burnaby Blues + Roots at Deer Lake (Deer Lake Park)

The festival has run on the Deer Lake lawn since 2000. Over the years it has hosted the Neville Brothers, Johnny Clegg, Colin James and Buddy Guy.

It nearly ended. In 2024 City staff recommended retiring it. It carried on as a free event, and the 2026 festival on August 8 marked its 25th year.

The 2027 date isn’t posted yet. Bring a blanket for the lawn. The City’s festival page will list the next one when it’s announced.

13. Kamui Mintara, Playground of the Gods (Burnaby Mountain)

Ainu sculptor Nuburi Toko and his son Shusei carved Kamui Mintara in 1989 and 1990. It marks 25 years of goodwill between Burnaby and its sister city, Kushiro, Japan.

The work is 29 hand-carved bare-wood poles set in 12 groups. Its English name is Playground of the Gods.

The area is fenced for now. The City is protecting and assessing it for age-related damage. Updates are on the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area page.

Sunset is the best time to see it. You’ll be viewing from outside the fence. Head for 100 Centennial Way; the poles are near the Mintara restaurant parking lot.

12. Brentwood Shopping Centre (North Burnaby)

Brentwood opened to the public in 1961. Its first big tenants were Eaton’s, Loblaw Groceteria and Zellers. That lineup dates it about as precisely as a photo would.

The old indoor mall spent its last years surrounded by something much larger. The Amazing Brentwood went up around it. The original building, latterly called the Interior Centre, had been mostly empty for a while and closed for good on May 5, 2025.

The developer plans towers on the site. When last reported, that change to the master plan was still under review with the City. Whether the old building has come down yet isn’t confirmed, so check before you go looking for it.

Take the Millennium Line to Brentwood Town Centre station.

11. Eaton Centre Metrotown (Metrotown)

Eaton Centre Burnaby opened in 1989, next to Metrotown Centre and Station Square. For a while the area had three separate malls side by side.

The Eaton’s store lasted about a decade. In 1999 it was photographed preparing to close, and those photos sit in the Heritage Burnaby collection. The space later became part of Metropolis at Metrotown.

The Burnaby Beacon notes that remnants of the old Eaton Centre still survive inside today’s mall. Walking overpasses once connected Metrotown Centre to the Eaton Centre and Station Square.

10. Swangard Stadium (Central Park)

Swangard Stadium sits in the northwest corner of Central Park at 3883 Imperial Street. It officially opened on April 26, 1969.

It’s named after a former managing editor of the Vancouver Sun. Private donations paid for it, along with civic and provincial grants.

Ticket prices depend on the event. Take the Expo Line to Patterson and walk through the park, or come in off Boundary Road. A game pairs well with a loop on the Central Park trails.

9. Interurban 1223 and Vorce Station (Burnaby Village Museum)

Tram 1223 was one of the B.C. Electric Railway’s electric interurban cars. The Burnaby Historical Society acquired it in 1958. Volunteers restored it between 2001 and 2007.

Vorce Station is a 1911 shelter from the Burnaby Lake interurban line. It’s the last interurban station left in Burnaby. It was moved to the museum in 1977.

Together they’re the closest you’ll get to the tram era without a time machine. Both are on the museum grounds at 6501 Deer Lake Avenue.

8. Fairacres mansion and the Burnaby Art Gallery (Deer Lake)

The Burnaby Art Gallery lives in Fairacres, a mansion built as a family estate on Deer Lake.

The house had a long run before the art arrived. It was used as a monastery and a fraternity house, among other things. The City bought it in 1966 for Burnaby’s first art gallery, which was dedicated in 1967 to mark Canada’s Centennial.

It was also Burnaby’s first civic heritage conservation project.

Walk the Edwardian garden behind the house. Admission is free, with a suggested $10 donation. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 4:30 pm and weekends noon to 5 pm. It’s at 6344 Deer Lake Avenue, beside the Village Museum.

7. The C.W. Parker Carousel (Burnaby Village Museum)

The carousel is hand-carved. C.W. Parker built it in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1912, and it ran at the PNE for years.

It came close to disappearing. In 1989 came the announcement that it would be sold off horse by horse at auction in New York. Instead, it was bought with help from the Province and the Municipality, and Burnaby built a pavilion to house it.

Rides are $2.86 plus tax during Festive Village. The carousel doesn’t run during Haunted Village, so plan a return trip if a ride is the point.

6. Lougheed Mall and the first mall-based Hudson’s Bay (Lougheed)

Lougheed Mall opened in 1969 on the Coquitlam border. Its Hudson’s Bay opened in August 1969, as the mall was opening. It was the Bay’s first location inside a shopping centre.

That run ended in 2023. The store held a six-month closing sale, and its signage came down around the end of the year.

The mall is now being redeveloped as The City of Lougheed. The former Bay space is set to become part of later phases of that project.

Lougheed Town Centre station connects directly to the mall. It’s a transfer point between the Expo and Millennium lines.

5. SFU, the ‘instant university’ (Burnaby Mountain)

Simon Fraser University held its opening ceremonies on September 9, 1965. Classes started that same month.

Erickson/Massey designed the campus. It went up fast enough to earn the nickname ‘instant university’. It picked up a radical reputation almost as quickly.

Walk the covered mall and the academic quadrangle to see the original design. Drive up Burnaby Mountain Parkway or Gaglardi Way. SFU Archives has more on the architecture.

4. The Central Park interurban, and SkyTrain on the same route (South Burnaby)

Interurban service started on June 3, 1891. Cars ran on 12 miles (about 19 kilometres) of track between New Westminster and East Vancouver, cutting diagonally across south Burnaby.

The line closed in 1953. The neighbourhood around it stayed busy with shops and homes. The corridor came back into use when SkyTrain’s Expo Line opened along it on December 11, 1985, starting with eight days of free rides.

You can trace the old route yourself. Ride the Expo Line between Joyce–Collingwood and Edmonds stations. On the stretch west of Patterson, the train runs through Central Park on the old tram right-of-way. Regular SkyTrain fares apply.

3. Central Park and its Kingsway gate (South Burnaby)

Central Park was proclaimed a public recreation ground on January 14, 1891. The land was a military reserve set aside in 1860 at the highest point of the New Westminster–Vancouver road, now Kingsway.

The Kingsway entrance is the part people remember. Under a 1912 agreement the B.C. Electric Railway built an ornamental stone wall and gate there, completed in 1914, with an iron arch and an illuminated ‘Central Park’ sign. The stone pillars survive, but the decorative ironwork was removed in 1968.

Entry is free. Patterson station sits at the park’s northeast edge.

2. Burnaby Village Museum, originally Heritage Village (Deer Lake)

Before it was Burnaby Village Museum, it was Heritage Village. It opened on November 19, 1971, as a project for B.C.’s centennial.

The City took it over in 1990. After that the museum shifted its focus to Burnaby in the 1920s, which is the town you walk through today.

Haunted Village runs Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31, from 4 to 9 pm. It’s ticketed, and the City lists advance adult tickets at $12 ($15 at the gate). Trick-or-treating is October 31 only, and the carousel doesn’t run. Details are on the City’s Haunted Village page.

Festive Village follows from November 25, 2026, to January 3, 2027, from 2 to 9 pm, with free gate admission. Days and closures are on the Festive Village page.

1. Metrotown Centre opens with Woodward’s and Sears (Metrotown)

Metrotown was an idea long before it was a building. The concept was first floated in the 1970s. The mall opened in September 1986 as Metrotown Centre, with Woodward’s and Sears as its anchors.

It didn’t stay a single mall. Eaton Centre opened next door in 1989 and was merged with Metrotown Centre in 2005 to form today’s Metropolis at Metrotown. Station Square next door, once linked by overpasses, was left out of the merger and has since been rebuilt as towers. Today it reads as one long building on the Expo Line.

If you remember the original, the 1986 anchors were Woodward’s and Sears; Hudson’s Bay was added as an anchor in 1992.

It’s free to walk through. Take the Expo Line to Metrotown station.

This weekend: Haunted Village

Haunted Village runs Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31, from 4 to 9 pm at Burnaby Village Museum, 6501 Deer Lake Avenue. Trick-or-treating is October 31 only. The carousel doesn’t run during the event. Tickets and details are on the City’s event page.

Festive Village 2026 to 2027

• November 25 to December 13, 2026: Wednesday to Sunday, 2 to 9 pm.
• December 16, 2026 to January 3, 2027: daily, 2 to 9 pm.
• Closed December 24 and 25.
• Gate admission is free. Carousel rides are $2.86 plus tax each.

Confirm before you go on the Festive Village page.

Getting around by SkyTrain

• Metrotown station (Expo Line): Metrotown Centre and the old Eaton Centre side.
• Patterson station (Expo Line): Central Park, the Kingsway gate and Swangard Stadium.
• Joyce–Collingwood to Edmonds (Expo Line): the old interurban route, through Central Park west of Patterson.
• Brentwood Town Centre station (Millennium Line): the Brentwood site.
• Lougheed Town Centre station: connects directly to Lougheed Mall.

The Deer Lake sites share one stretch of Deer Lake Avenue, so the Village Museum and the art gallery make an easy pair.

Burnaby Mountain: what to know

The Kamui Mintara area is fenced while the City assesses age-related damage. Stay outside the fence. The conservation area is open dawn to dusk, so plan to leave as the light goes if you come up for sunset. Bring a warm layer and a light, and know that black bears and cougars occasionally visit the area. Check the conservation area page for current advisories.

Dig into it yourself

Heritage Burnaby is the City’s shared online portal, launched in 2008, that puts Burnaby’s combined heritage collections in one search. It’s where you’ll find the 1999 photos of the Eaton’s store and the records behind most of this list.

Where each one stands now

Place	Current status	Access
Metrotown Centre	Free to visit; now part of Metropolis at Metrotown	Metrotown station (Expo Line)
Eaton Centre Metrotown	Eaton’s closed 1999; now part of Metropolis at Metrotown	Metrotown station (Expo Line)
Brentwood indoor mall	Closed May 5, 2025; demolition not confirmed	Brentwood Town Centre station (Millennium Line)
Lougheed Mall	Being redeveloped as The City of Lougheed	Lougheed Town Centre station
Central Park and gate	Free	Patterson station (Expo Line)
Interurban route	Now the Expo Line; fares apply	Joyce–Collingwood to Edmonds
Swangard Stadium	Event-dependent	Patterson station or Boundary Road
Burnaby Village Museum	Haunted Village Oct 30 and 31; Festive Village from Nov 25	6501 Deer Lake Avenue
C.W. Parker Carousel	$2.86 plus tax during Festive Village; not running at Haunted Village	Village Museum
Interurban 1223 and Vorce Station	Included with museum entry	Village Museum meadow
Burnaby Art Gallery	Free admission (suggested donation $10)	6344 Deer Lake Avenue
SFU	Free to walk the campus	Burnaby Mountain Parkway or Gaglardi Way
Kamui Mintara	Fenced during assessment	Centennial Way
Burnaby Central Railway	Closed for the season; reopens around Easter 2027	North end of Willingdon Avenue
Hats Off Day	2027 date not posted	Hastings Street, Boundary Road to Gamma Avenue
Burnaby Blues + Roots	2027 date not posted	Deer Lake Park, off Canada Way

Some of these you can walk into this weekend. Some exist now only as an old tram corridor or a line on the Expo Line map. The Village Museum is the easy place to start, since the carousel, the tram and the last interurban station all sit on one site. Then ride the train west of Patterson and look down at the park.

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Photo credits

• Church in Burnaby Village Museum (7869053454).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Ice Cream Parlour, Burnaby Village Museum (7869090034).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vorce Station, Burnaby, BC 01.jpg by Xiao23, CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Schoolroom at Burnaby Village Museum (35912105273).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Metropolis at Metrotown (32458694567).jpg by GoToVan from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Metropolis at Metrotown (32458694337).jpg by GoToVan from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Brentwood Town Centre Entrance.jpg by Bsiloveyou, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Lougheed-town-ctr.jpg by Arnold C, Attribution (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Central Park Gate 3.JPG by Xiao23, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Two coupled interurban cars at station on the B.C.E.R. Central Park lines.jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• USL First Division Championship 2009 leg one, Swangard Stadium, 2009-10-10.JPG by Gump Stump, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Druggist’s store at Burnaby Village Museum (11594773005).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• And theyre off! (7492800662).jpg by Kenny Louie from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vorce Station, Burnaby, BC 02.jpg by Xiao23, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Fairacres Mansion 04.JPG by Xiao23, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Simon fraser university.jpg by YIXdeecee, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Kamui Mintara Totems.jpg by Jeff Hitchcock from Vancouver, BC, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• CP 1920 miniature train at Burnaby Central Railway, 13 October 2013.jpg by Mike W., CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• 1964 GMC TDH-4519.jpg by Richard Eriksson, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Matt Andersen entertaining the Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.jpg by EricaHargreave, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.