Vancouver Skating Club and the Connaught Skating Club also shared both ice surfaces with the hockey teams. Beginning in the late '50s, the VSC named the Forum its home rink until moving to the Agrodome in 1980. The 1960 World Figure Skating Competition was hosted at the Forum as were other high level events in the skating world. Ice Capades and Ice Follies performed here as well.
The building became Vancouver's premier indoor sports facility in 1936 when the 10,500 seat Denman Arena burned to the ground and was not rebuilt. The arena had seating for 5,050 spectators for hockey and box lacrosse. Some of the other major spectator arenas in the area besides the Forum included the Kerrisdale Arena (Vancouver) and Queen's Park Arena (New Westminster).
The Vancouver Burrards of the Intercity Lacrosse League later known as the Western Lacrosse Association played at the Forum from 1938 until 1949. The team left for Kerrisdale Arena for the 1950 season.
The building was refurbished as a concert and exhibition space in the early 1980s. The hockey boards were removed to create more floor space. Much of the hockey seating remains however along with one of the original press boxes which is still in place. The ice plant has since been removed from the building. The various ice activities that used to take place in the Forum are now held in the Agrodome which is also located on the P.N.E. grounds next to the Pacific Coliseum. The Agrodome had a new separate ice plant installed when the move took place but now shares one with the Pacific Coliseum after the renovations that took place in that facility for the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Olympic Winter Games.
It has hosted several concerts during its lifespan, before but mostly after the renovation.
Jimmy Durante played in the Forum during the 1930s. Bing Crosby on the invitation of Vancouver boxer Jimmy McLarnin played a fundraiser for the Sunset Memorial Centre. Crosby staged his radio show in September 1948 in front of a crowd of 9,000 which was a record for the facility.[1]
The PNE says Pink Floyd played the Forum, although the band's online record indicate five concerts at the neighbouring and smaller PNE Gardens between 1968 and 1974. Frank Zappa and his band, The Mothers of Invention played a concert on August 25, 1968. A recording of this concert was released in 2012,[2] titled Road Tapes, Venue#1.
In the 1970s it hosted local acts like Prism in 1977 and Triumph in 1978.
There have been issues surrounding the staging of all ages concerts in recent years. In 2007, a 20-year-old man died in a mosh pit at a Smashing Pumpkins concert.[4]
