This morning it was announced that the Rosewood Hotel Georgia will officially open its doors on Saturday May 7th 2011, exactly 84 years to the day that the hotel first opened its doors in 1927. While it has been under construction and major renovations for the last few years, it was still an icon during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics with its larger-than-life 15-storey Canadian flag wrap.
1930 – Hotel Georgia. Photographer: Leonard Frank. Vancouver Archives Item #Hot P2
Over the last century the Hotel Georgia hosted everything from Board of Trade meetings to guest like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and the Rolling Stones. However it was not only accommodation for dignitaries and Hollywood’s glitz and glamour crowd; the pub was also a favourite hangout for UBC students who even protested its closing in 1962.
The new Rosewood Hotel Georgia will feature close to 10,000 square feet of deluxe banquet and meeting facilities, the Rosewood Spa, a fitness centre, and a 54’ indoor salt water lap pool. There will be 155 rooms and two Penthouse Suites, the Lord Stanley Suite and the signature Rosewood Suite, both featuring a private rooftop terrace complete with city skyline views, outdoor hot tub and fireplace.
Hotel Georgia writing room VPL Accession #: 26310
Chef David Hawksworth will also open the 2,800 square foot ‘Hawksworth’ Restaurant including a seated bar and lounge area and a first floor private dining room, overlooking the Art Gallery.
With TripAdvisor recently announcing the “Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Canada” and 8 of them being in BC, it sounds like the Rosewood Hotel Georgia is poised to fit right back into the legacy of luxury accommodation that it created in Vancouver.
For more history, check out The Hotel Georgia: A Vancouver Tradition by Sean Rossiter that was published in 1998.
My weekly history series has been rebranded for “Vancouver 125” with a focus on specific dates, landmarks, and events throughout Vancouver’s history. This series is dedicated to the tremendous life and work of Chuck Davis.
Update May 2011: I had a preview of the hotel today.
Update July 15, 2011: The Rosewood Hotel Georgia welcomed its first guests this morning.
Tales of the Cocktail has been bringing mixologists, spirit enthusiasts, professionals and suppliers together for the last eight years with their festival in New Orleans. For the first time ever, the festival is going on tour and they have made Vancouver their very first destination — with plans to make the Vancouver edition an annual event.
“This is a Vancouver-based event because we’ve done some great things that have been noticed,” said Jay Jones, Consulting and Founding member of the Canadian Professional Bartenders Association (and new Lead Bartender at Market by Jean-George at the Shangri-La). Jones has been in the industry for 15 years and he told me that this event will showcase the work of our local cocktail community and bring some much-deserved international recognition which can benefit the city as a whole.
Jay Jones
The micro-festival in Vancouver will reflect the same high-standards of the New Orleans event, but highlight the Pacific Northwest, and more so Canada’s position on the world cocktail stage.
“It can help drive tourism and people will soon visit the city for its cocktail culture,” added Jones. “We’re known for our hospitality, natural beauty, restaurants, chefs, wine, and environment, and now you can add ‘great cocktails’ to form a complete package.”
Bringing the event here was the first step, the next was filling up the festival’s schedule with seminars and events that would showcase Canada’s spirit culture from coast to coast.
Seminars recently announced on the schedule include: Famous New Orleans Cocktails, For the Love of Gin: How the Historic Spirit is Making a ComebackThe Birth, Death and Rebirth of Canadian Whisky, The History and Importance of Ice in Cocktails, The Science of Cocktails: New Techniques Behind the Bar, and Who’s Your Daddy? A Mai Tai Paternity Test.
Special events include a tribute to the Caesar (“Canada’s Cocktail”), and a BC bar crawl. “A big part of the event is bringing the global community to Vancouver and getting them into our bars,” added Jones who praised the creative and innovative bartenders in our local establishments.
Tales of the Cocktail Vancouver will kick off with a welcome reception at the Vancouver Aquarium, a place Jones says is very fitting. “It will showcase our sea life, tourism, and some of the most beautiful things in our part of the world.” The theme of the event is “Gibson’s Finest Canadian Whisky presents “True North” and cocktails will be inspired by various regions of Canada. Attendees will also be able to taste Vancouver’s new signature cocktail — the Dalhousie by Jonathan Smolensky of George in Yaletown — that was determined in a competition earlier this month.
Recipe for the Dalhousie
Start by taking 6-8 Canada plums, which have been dehydrated in coarse sugar, and steep them in Gibson’s 18yr Canadian whisky for 4-5 days. Then use these ingredients:
60 ml (2 oz.) Canada plum infused 18yr Gibson’s
15 ml (1/2 oz.) Domaine de Canton liqueur
10 ml (1/3 oz.) Zwack Unicum
1-2 dashes of high quality rendition of Boker’s bitters
Lemon peel
1. Chill a coupe glass and a mixing/Boston glass.
2. In a mixing glass, add the Canada plum infused 18yr Gibson’s, the Domaine de Canton, the Zwack Unicum, and Boker’s bitters. Stir until heavy and properly diluted.
3. Remove the pith of the lemon peel and rub the peel on the inside edge of the coupe glass, then toss the peel.
4. Double strain all mixed ingredients into the coupe glass and garnish with a small Canada plum fan.
The entire 3-day festival will wrap up with a Mardi Gras style closing reception and the finale, “Good Bye Vancouver, Hello New Orleans” Cochon de Lait. Tales of the Cocktail Vancouver runs March 13th until the 15th and tickets are now on sale.
The festival will return home to New Orleans July 20th – 24th, 2011 with its spirited schedule of seminars, dinners, competitions, parties and special events. Follow @TOTC on Twitter for festival updates.
It’s another big year for Vancouver as the city celebrates 125 years since its incorporation and to boot, it has been designated a Cultural Capital of Canada for 2011. This means we can expect public celebrations, exhibits, performances and more throughout the year (many of which are already listed on the CelebrateVancouver125 website). In honor of this recognition and designation, local blog VancouverMom is putting the call out to find the “30 Best Family-Friendly Places to Explore the Arts in Vancouver”.
Some of my picks would be…
The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
Museum of Anthropology
Vancouver Art Gallery
Public art walking tours (on your own)
West End or Coal Harbour Community Centres
Granville Island for the Carousel Theatre
Granville Island for the Arts Umbrella
Public can submit their favourite places online until January 31, 2011. VancouverMom then will have the task of putting together the ultimate list for family-friendly art destinations in Vancouver. Follow on Twitter for updates about the poll and everyday family resources.
For the third year in a row, the Food Network has partnered up with local chef and program host Anthony Sedlak to present the ZANTAC® Chili Challenge. Over the last few months recipes have been submitted and today, the top three finalists will cook up their chilis for a panel of judges (including myself) at The Dirty Apron Cooking School.
The winner from the Vancouver competition today will join other regional champs for the national finals in Toronto, February 3rd, 2011. There, the regional winners will square off against two-time reigning chili champ, Mike Callaghan, in a live chili cook-off challenge hosted by Sedlak.
Vancouver isn’t quite known for its chili (however the Gastown Blues Festival hosts a competition each year as well) but it is known for its creative culinary talent. And, while my competition judging experience in the past has involved beer pouring, chowder, and mixology, I’m looking forward to sampling a warm bowl of chili (or three) on this blustery morning.
After the event, I will have photos, recipes, and hopefully the winner’s name so that we can cheer on our local champ when the Food Network finals air.
Update We had a great morning and early afternoon at The Dirty Apron. Three chilis were prepared and sampled, and only one contestant was victorious.
Lori from Invermere with her “Jubilee Whiteout” (chili #1 below) will be heading to the national finals in Toronto. Each was different from the next with ingredients varying from peanut butter and coffee to beer and beef bone marrow.
Contestant meeting with Anthony pre-game
Chili #1
Chili #2
Chili #3
Winner & Anthony
@cwistal showing @anthonysedlak how to add Twitter contacts during a break
It was great to meet Anthony Sedlak and hang out again with Erin Ireland. More photos from the event can be found on Flickr.
It may just be my English blood, or the fact that I saw a great movie recently, but I have become increasingly interested in the visits of British royalty to Vancouver throughout the last century.
May 1939 – King George VI & Queen Elizabeth greeted by Mayor & Mrs. Telford at the C.P.R. Station.
Archives Item# Q P3.2
It was in the summer of 1939 that His Royal Highness King George VI toured across Canada with his consort Queen Elizabeth, “to bolster trans-Atlantic support in the event of war, and to affirm Canada’s status as a self-governing kingdom sharing with Britain the same person as monarch.” Vancouver was included in the trip by rail and the regal pair stopped at the CPR station in Gastown, City Hall, New Westminster, and Surrey.
May 1939 – King George VI & Queen Elizabeth arrive in Vancouver. Archives Item# CVA 371-100
While parks, theatres, and schools bear the name Elizabeth or Elizabeth II today, King George VI has but King George Boulevard (formerly King George Highway & Peach Arch Highway) and subsequently King George SkyTrain station in Surrey named in his honor.
May 1939 – King George VI & Queen Elizabeth. Archives Item# K and Q P8
King George VI passed away in 1952 and was succeeded by his daughter, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. His wife Elizabeth – or as I she was referenced when I was growing up, The Queen Mother – took kindly to Canada and visited more often than others on official and private trips. She was even quoted as telling two war veterans in Quebec, “I am a Canadian!”
May 1939 – King George VI & Queen Elizabeth on viewing stand at City Hall. Archives Item# K and Q P2
His Majesty’s name may not be emblazoned on the title line of plaques or building names in Vancouver however his visit in 1939 was monumental. George IV and Elizabeth II officially opened the Lions Gate Bridge on May 26, 1939 and in 1958 a statue was carved of the king, which now stand by the Woodward Biomedical Library at UBC.
If you have some extra time one day, and if you search very carefully, you may even find the King George VI oak tree that was planted near Brockton Point in Stanley Park on May 12, 1937 on the day of his coronation.
