THE HOTEL VANCOUVER AT 80 AND REVISITED AT 25
EIGHTY CANDLES: The Hotel Vancouver had no Fairmont in front of its title for its May 1939 opening. There was plenty of hoopla, though, including a visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The Vancouver Sun, which called itself “the only evening newspaper controlled and operated by Vancouver people,” weighed in with a special 10-cent edition marvelling at the Depression-delayed hotel’s “heady cocktails, three-channel public-address system, gearless elevators and spring-filled mattresses.”
At a recent opening bout for next week’s birthday celebrations, blow-ups of that edition’s pages were laid on the Pacific Ballroom’s floor much as current newspapers are in bird cages. Perhaps motivated by her canary-yellow gown, city photographer Christine McAvoy perched on one beside an item extolling 1939’s “graceful one-piece frocks, so enchanting with a huge hat.” Vertical displays included Collective You principal Dennis Gocer’s photo interpretations of such past hotel visitors as Sun fashion editor Marie Moreau and western-movie star Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger. Operations manager Chris Vick said that an upcoming lunch will echo the hotel’s opening by costing $19.39. A Sun page on the floor revealed that 1939 dinners included “concert music” for $1 or $1.50.
CHANGES MADE: The Hotel Vancouver at 80 looks as it did in its 20s. But its neighbourhood sure has changed. In the accompanying photo’s foreground, the 1912 Lyric theatre has gone but the same-year Vancouver Block remains, albeit without its B/A (British American Oil Co.) sign. The 1906 courthouse soldiers on as Vancouver Art Gallery. The ever-enduring 1895 Christ Church Cathedral almost hides behind the since-demolished-and-replaced 1929 Georgia Medical-Dental Building and 1925 Devonshire Hotel. The still-standing 1927 Hotel Georgia peeks around the right-side clock face. Fullsized domestic cars — no imports or pickups — are parked on the 1916 Hotel Vancouver’s former Granville Street site where the TD Tower and Nordstrom store now stand. West Vancouver slopes await dramatic westward and upward spread by British Pacific Properties and other developers. The photo’s viewpoint has vanished, too. It was atop rooftop telecommunications tower on the then-B.C. Telephone Co.’s Seymour-at-Robson William Farrell Building. Although still there, the brick-faced 1947 building, now called Telus House, was encased in glass in 2007 to provide “green” sustainability. Happily, the Hotel Vancouver has escaped that.
PLAYING ON: For much of the Hotel Vancouver’s existence, its principal music purveyor was Dal Richards. His smiling face appears in a sidewalk mosaic near the Georgia Street entrance. Richards’ big band played for dancing in the Panorama Roof (nicknamed Panorama Rumour Roof during former Howe Street traders’ three-martini lunches there). Richards died in 2015, but not the music. At the recent reception, Million Dollar Dreamer bandleader Tilden Webb and singer Gina Hetland belted out tunes that sounded like back then. In fact, they were modern but scored in the older style. Paul Anka did the same in 2005 with his Rock Swings album. Richards would likely have approved.
ARIA READY: For full-bore singing, Vancouver Opera Guild’s upcoming tours will be to London/ Glyndebourne, Paris, Santa Fe, Wexford and the New York Met.
IN THE SWIM: As 98-year-old Kerrisdale Lumber’s third-generation principal, Mark Perry knows all about conservation and continuation. Fittingly, he and son Kyle were honorary co-chairs of the 27th-annual Teck-sponsored Pacific Salmon Foundation gala. With numerous programs entailing regional fresh and salt waters and some $131 million raised in cash, the 32-year-old organization addresses “the many mysteries about factors that reduce Pacific salmon abundance.” The gala represented a watershed for Brenda McIntyre who has staged it and 10 others for 20 years. In the spawning tradition, daughter Christina has adopted her duties.
GETTING JOBS: The Regency Lexus showroom filled recently. Not with tire-kickers, but folk reportedly raising $135,000 at Dress For Success Vancouver’s 20th anniversary gala. The organization provides interview-appropriate garments for job seekers and second ensembles for successful ones. Celebrants were greeted by executive director Amy Robichaud and board chair Carla Wood who heads the ALL Strategy business consultancy. Plastered with sponsor decals, a $100,000-plus Lexus LC 500 may supplant a 2007 SC 430 as dealer Amir Ahamed’s Palm Springs runabout.
HI ZIYA: Times have been rosy for Green party Leader Elizabeth May. She gained a marital partner in Victoria April 22, then a House of Commons partner in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith byelection May 6. Changing colours, she’ll be at Capilano University’s BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts May 23 to partner TV anchor-science journalist Ziya Tong in the varsity’s speaker series finale. Sino-Macedonian Tong should soon release her book The Reality Bubble: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World. The shape of her world included anchoring the Daily Planet series and hosting PBS’s Wired Science show following a stint at CBC’s city-produced national culture program, ZeD. DOWN PARRYSCOPE: Labour through No Dirty Dishes Day May 18. Should your sink overflow, it’s also Learn To Swim Day.