The Slice: Fair enough, it was a long time ago

Diamond Lake’s Barbara VandeVanter discovered an innovative way to recycle old newspapers.

She mailed them to me.

These were special sections from a May 5, 1974, souvenir edition of The Spokesman-Review celebrating the opening of Expo ’74.

As is sometimes the case, the ads might have been the most interesting content.

The Crescent welcomed the world’s fair with a full-page ad featuring drawings of four slim women with impossibly long legs, all outfitted in “active sporting wear.”

Maybe women in Spokane really looked like that once.

Metropolitan Mortgage touted its “safe and sure” investment opportunities.

Ahem.

Northwest Orient airlines crowed about “Service from Spokane to half the world.”

To get to the other half, you have to come up with another plan.

You could “preserve your Expo images” with a Kodak camera from Kmart, starting at $11.74.

They required something called film.

Amtrak invited fairgoers to come “see what today’s train travel is all about” in the Joy of Living Pavilion.

Was it about joy?

The downtown Holiday Inn touted its Library Lounge. “Mr. and Mrs. Tony Pasco are here for your dancing and listening pleasure.”

Interesting name for a lounge.

An ad for Hamer’s menswear posed a question: “What goes with a navy harvest gold-white light blue sportcoat?”

Give up? “Buttercup yellow slacks.”

It was the ’70s. You had to be there.

The defending 1973 Pacific Coast League champion Spokane Indians promoted a home baseball schedule that included games against Phoenix, Tucson, Hawaii, Tacoma and Sacramento, among others.

In case you wondered, Montreal was already using the name “Expos.”

An ad for A La Parisienne (Riverside and Washington) claimed it was “Spokane’s first authentic French restaurant.”

I wonder if it was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

As an Expo ’74 special, General Tire offered a clip-out coupon for an $8.99 front-end alignment.

Potholes are not new in Spokane, after all.

Trudeau’s Marina billed itself as “In The Expo City.”

In the county of the land of Oz.

General Electric ran an ad featuring the relentlessly wholesome Up With People group. “Join the fun! Sing along! Celebrate!”

Or not.

Safeway’s ad suggested relatives will be flocking to Spokane to visit the fair and predicted “This is apt to be your most entertaining summer.”

So, you know, stock up on groceries.

Today’s Slice question: What’s your claim to having a perfect record when it comes to Bloomsday?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. One of my regular correspondents said she became a hugger when she saw a church usher with whom she had shaken hands picking his nose.