As a kid, I think my first realization that Star Wars was culturally (or at least cinematically) significant came from going to our local cinema at the time. On the outside of the theatre there was a backlit sign resembling a filmstrip, and in each of the four frames was the image of a different Hollywood icon: Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, and Darth Vader. Although I was young, I knew who the other people were and that they were iconic, and I always thought it was interesting that someone as contemporary as Vader would be included there alongside them.
On a side note:
zombie84 said:
Ah, I see you're familiar with the finer exports from Canada's capital :)