Hobbies take centre stage at Coquitlam Heritage exhibit

It started as a word for someone else’s home.

Gradually, the Japanese term “otaku” came to mean someone who harbours a pop culture obsession. The rough equivalent of nerd, otaku were folks who, collected, cultivated and obsessed in their own enclosed worlds.

Opening today, the new exhibit at Coquitlam Heritage is about opening those doors and exposing those worlds.

“I wanted to show how multi-faceted our community is, from sci-fi to bookbinding to the Chinese junk (boat),” explains Coquitlam Heritage exhibits manager Markus Fahrner.

Stepping into Mackin House on Brunette Avenue, visitors can step past Edwardian sewing patterns before heading up the stairs to the golden age of science fiction.

Contributed by Geoff Scott, the collection features rows of robots, toys that helped sell puffed rice, and a whole galaxy of space operas set in nearby planets and galaxies far, far away.

Among the comic books there’s Space Ace, captains Video and Rocket, square jawed heroes fueled by Post Raisin Bran, braving forbidden planets alongside female companions who opted to brave the terrors of outer space in their shiniest swimsuit.

There’s Flash Gordon, who was played by Buster Crabbe in the movies. There’s also Buster Crabbe, who ended up playing Flash Gordon in the comic books.

Fahrner seems particularly intrigued by a 10-cent Space Helmet Mask that appears to be a plastic bag.

“I wouldn’t encourage my kids to put a plastic bag on their head,” Fahrner confides. “I feel like nowadays you’d probably end up in jail if you marketed this to kids.”

Down the hall there’s a line of vintage cameras, a life-sized porcelain doll, and a quilt rippled with crosses. Each cross contains signatures of the quilters, Fahrner notes.

“There’s all these signatures of these local women,” he said. “Often in history, women’s names are erased.”

Besides hobbies that arose from necessity, like baking or sewing, there are also hobbies that flourished despite necessities.

At a time when Fraser Mills was booming and there seemed to be more work than people to do it, there was always time for baseball at Mackin Park, Fahrner says, noting Henry Mackin tended to be more likely to hire a millworker who could hit a curveball.