Enjoying a cup of tea is a sanctified ritual for many… and Whistler’s past is steeped in its own lore and tradition with two pioneering tea houses (both with a twist!).
Before the advent of Whistler Mountain being developed as a ski destination (officially opened in January 1966), many early residents of the area predominantly lived on the opposite shores of Alta Lake. The Pacific Great Eastern railway line began running lakeside in 1914 and Rainbow Lodge, the first vacation destination, opened in 1915 as a fishing resort.
In the 1920s, Bert Harrop purchased the point of land in the middle of the west side of Alta Lake. He had originally come to the area as a guest of Rainbow Lodge, whereupon his asthma improved greatly during his short stay. Enamored with the place, he and his wife Agnes first moved into a rented cabin and then into their own home – which Bert framed on the shores of Rainbow Lodge (with the help of the proprietor’s father) and floated it on a raft of cedar logs down to his new piece of land. It was secured to the shore and became a floating cottage.
On the water’s edge, Bert built a building with a large porch which was supported by log piles in the lake. Harrop’s Tearoom was born and Agnes went into business.
Guests, made up of visitors and locals alike, would, arguably, come more for the gossip than the tea… and the fortune telling. Agnes had a designated indoor tea-leaf reading room (the accuracy or aftermath of her predictions remain undocumented!), infusing the experience and take-away of customers. Outside, people would gather on the floating verandah, enjoying afternoon tea amidst expansive views.
The Harrops Tearoom came to an end in 1948, when the couple sold the venture and moved on.
Six years later, in 1955, a new tearoom opened in Cypress Lodge (the site of the current Point Artist-Run-Centre). The lodge was built by Richard (Dick) Fairhurst, in the late forties/early fifties as a fishing camp. The buildings boasted electricity supplied by a generator and then later were powered by waterwheel, a novelty at the time.
Dick’s mother, Elizabeth Alice, came up from Vancouver to run the tearoom. Noted as being a ‘colourful character’, Ma Fairhurst was equally famous for her beloved butter tarts. Besides baking, Elizabeth Alice cleaned the cabins, did the laundry and took care of the cooking for guests, while Dick was either tending his traplines in the Spearhead Range or logging with one of the nearby operations.
A trademark of the tearoom was its ‘Hot Dog Friday Night’ which gathered many. Friday was synonymous with the once-weekly delivery of fresh food and meat by refrigerated train car to the community, and the occasion was worthy of celebration.
Cypress Lodge also boasted the first tow-rope in the area. Built in 1960, a Ford V8 motor was used to pull 259 metres worth of rope through four pulleys affixed to four towers. The first downhill-only ski course in Whistler had been created on the slope directly behind the camp of cabins. Guests could come in from skiing for something sweet or grab tea and then go for a tow!
The Cypress Lodge tearoom closed 7 years after its inception, in 1962 to make room for more buildings, much to the dismay of the community.
In the still-standing, main building of the original Cypress Lodge, the tradition of meeting over tea and treats, is being continued by the Point Artist-Run-Centre with its weekend Creative Café (www.thepointartists.com) … where, undoubtedly, here too, a few gems of local gossip get shared in fine, long-standing community fashion!
I had the fantastic butter tarts when I was a little boy. Every bit as good as advertised. I remember Patches the Springer Spaniel as well. Dick Fairhurst was one of those guys who helped everybody, especially us!
What a lovely memory Steve!
My family first stayed at Cypress Lodge in 1956. At the time, the cabins were housekeeping units. While the tearoom was open in the afternoons, there was no actual catering of meals for guests. That would come later, in the 1960s, when Dick Fairhurst fulfilled his dream of building a real lodge, with a kitchen and dining room. Along the way, he tore down the old cabins, which were fairly primitive, and built the ones that stand today. The new cabins were intended to be duplex housekeeping units, with a different family staying on either side, sharing the bathroom and kitchen in the middle. I believe the original cabins on the point, where we stayed, were all built by Billy Harrap. However Dick had moved them around and built new foundations after leveling the land on the point, which had previously been quite hilly. Billy Harrap was also responsible for building quite a lot of “primitive” furniture — tables, chairs, whole dining sets — which quite a few people around the lake had in their cabins. They were constructed of tree branches, bark on, held together with cedar-bark webbing. Cut ends were varnished. Rainbow Lodge had quite a collection, including one large dining table and six chairs, plus a couple of armchairs. They, of course, were all consumed when the lodge burned down.
We have some of Harrop’s furniture on display at the Museum in our Rainbow Lodge exhibit!