Museum Musings – Page 111 – Whistler Museum and Archives Society

Creative Solutions to Whistler Living: The People Who Lived in WallsCreative Solutions to Whistler Living: The People Who Lived in Walls

January 21, 2017 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Living in Whistler has always come with unique challenges, whether its’s a lack of housing, money, employment or easily accessible transit (walking three days from Squamish with a packhorse at the beginning of the 20th century was not for the fainthearted). Despite these challenges, however, thousands of people have chosen to call this valley home.

Though many stories of unorthodox living arrangements have become well known (think Toad Hall or Lot 4 in the mid-to-late ’90s), there is one story that surprisingly few people have heard: the people who lived in a wall. (Please note that the Whistler Museum neither condones nor encourages such practices as follow.)

Adapting accommodations to fit your own needs is common practice - the Jardine-Neiland family built additions to the original cabin of Ol' Mac. — Adapting accommodations to fit your own needs is common practice – the Jardine-Neiland family built additions to the original cabin of Ol’ Mac in the 1920s.

It happened in the early 1990s, in an unnamed Whistler hotel, in the four feet of space between the fifth and sixth guest floors. A small service hatch in the stairwell meant to provide access to the plumbing and electrical wiring in the space instead provided two very determined young men access to a crawlspace-like room kept warm and cozy by the hot water pipes.

As the entry was located in a little-used firewall stairwell the staff at the hotel had no knowledge of their new residents. The pair lived somewhat comfortable, if a little bent over, until a search for a water leak led maintenance workers to discover their living quarters. This discovery explained some odd footage on a recently installed security camera that caught one of these unsuspected tenants stealing the cushions off of a couch in a hallway.

In the 1970s accommodations could be found in Whistler by building your own or taking over an abandoned cabin.

Unfortunately for the young men living in the wall, their identities were easily discovered from the Hard Rock Café pay stubs that had been left sitting in the open. It was soon revealed that they had been making full use of hotel amenities; they slept on clean sheets taken from housekeeping carts, ate in the staff cafeteria where they were such a common sight that it had been assumed that they were hotel employees, and showered in the hotel health club where a monthly payment provided access to the pool and gym for far less than the cost of rent.

Needless to say, once discovered the two were quickly evicted from the premises and forced to find lodging elsewhere.

Celebrating Peak Chair’s 30th BirthdayCelebrating Peak Chair’s 30th Birthday

January 7, 2017 Whistler Museum 3 Comments

To most non-advanced skiers Whistler’s Peak was completely inaccessible before 1986.

No panoramic view, no glimpse of the vast expanse of Garibaldi Park and no feeling of being on top of the entire mountain. This past month marked the 30th anniversary of the Peak Chair opening on Whistler Mountain. In 1986, the 1,000-metre lift was imported from Grand Junction, Colorado, at a cost of $900,000, costing $1.48 million overall.

Since 1980, Whistler Mountain had been struggling to make ends meet and part of the strategy behind adding the new lift was to broaden the appeal of Whistler to Lower Mainland skiers. Additionally, Whistler Mountain intended to keep pace with Blackcomb Mountain, which had opened their new T-Bar System and 7th Heaven in the high alpine in 1985. Just a year later, Whistler Mountain countered this opening of new high alpine terrain with their opening of the Peak Chair on December 22, 1986.

The first poster advertising the new Peak Chair.

The official opening of the Peak Chair was attended by a few big names: Premier Bill Vander Zalm, Mayor Drew Meredith, Female Athlete of the 20th Century Nancy Greene-Raine, Mount Everest climber Sharon Wood, Whistler Mountain president Lorne Borgal and the event’s master of ceremonies Jim McConkey.

“For years, people have been climbing and skiing off the peak and hiking to the peak in summer,” said Nancy Greene-Raine in the original December 24, 1986 Whistler Question article. “It’s wonderful that now they’ll be able to ride up and ski it, with a little caution.”

The mayor cracked a joke at the idea of quick access to all those steep new runs: “I think this is something Lorne dreamed up while riding the Scream Machine at Expo (’86) last summer.”

As we know well today, there are some intense line choices available from Whistler’s Peak, some having gained legendary status in this town, like the cliff drop visible from Peak Chair known as “Air Jordan” and the Peak to Creek run, the longest groomer in North America at 5.5 km.

The chair was first opened only to advanced skiers due to the steepness of the terrain and the early season rock hazards. More than 70 skiers eagerly awaited the opening of the chair that day. Unfortunately, intermediate and beginner skiers still missed out on most of the runs coming down from the Peak; the only run accessible for non-advanced skiers was aptly named “Last Chance”.

Today we take for granted the opportunity to zip up to Whistler’s peak as easily as taking a seat on a chair. Give a brief pause to take in the stunning panoramic vistas when you’re up on Whistler’s peak this winter, and perhaps remember the work that went into making those views possible for every skier and snowboarder to experience without a treacherous hike up.

Christmas at Rainbow Lodge: The MusicalChristmas at Rainbow Lodge: The Musical

December 24, 2016 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

If you take a walk along the Village Stroll in December you’re sure to notice signs of the holiday season anywhere you look; there is snow on the ground, tree are lit up, wreaths have been hung, and beneath the voices of crowds of people strains of holiday music can be heard. As in many communities, music plays an important part in Whistler’s holiday traditions, many of which began in the 1980s when the Whistler of today was still developing. Events such as the Bizarre Bazaar (now the Arts Whistler Holiday Market) would not be complete without festive music in the background and for thirty-three years the Christmas Eve Carol Service has brought local residents and visitors together to sing carols as one community. Though rarely performed, Whistler even has its own Christmas musical.

Molly Boyd with Myrtle Philip at the first performance of "Christmas at Rainbow Lodge". — Molly Boyd with Myrtle Philip at the first performance of “Christmas at Rainbow Lodge”.

“Christmas at Rainbow Lodge” was written by Bob Daly and Molly Boyd and first performed by the students of Myrtle Philip School in December 1984. Daly was the principal of the school from 1981 to 1985 and returned to head the school twice more before retiring in 2002. During her twelve years living in Whistler, Boyd was heavily involved in Whistler’s music scene and its holiday activities – she founded the Whistler Children’s Chorus, was involved in starting the Christmas Eve Carol Service and directed the Whistler Singers. During December she could often be spotted leading the Singers caroling through the Village with her battery-operated keyboard balanced on a shopping cart. The two were inspired to create a musical by Myrtle Philip’s stories of her life as an early European settler in Alta Lake as told to them over tea and Myrtle’s famous rum cake.

The musical tells the shortened and somewhat fictionalized story of how Myrtle and Alex Philip came to build Rainbow Lodge, beginning with Alex’s chance meeting of John Millar in Vancouver in 1911. The story includes their first three-day journey to Alta Lake and meeting with loggers, trappers, railroad workers, miners and hunters who already lived or were working in the area. Each group of people the pair meets helps them in some way as they begin settling and building. To thank all these people for their kindness, they all are invited to share in the Philips’ first Christmas at Rainbow Lodge.

The dining room at Rainbow Lodge decorated for Christmas.

Unlike many holiday concerts, most of the music in “Christmas at Rainbow” is not about Christmas. Instead, the majority are folk songs from the Pacific Northwest such as “Acres of Clams” and “The PGE Song”, many of which were collected by Philip J Thomas, a composer, singer, teacher and folklorist who founded the Vancouver Folk Song Circle and was instrumental in collecting and preserving the folk music of British Columbia.

Since its inaugural performance in 1984, “Christmas at Rainbow” has been performed only twice more: once by the students of the current Myrtle Philip Community School in the 1990s and once by the intermediate students of Spring Creek Community School in 2012.

Happy Holidays from the Whistler Museum!

A Trailer by Many Other NamesA Trailer by Many Other Names

November 23, 2016 Whistler Museum 3 Comments

Portable buildings are not a new or uncommon phenomenon in Whistler. Since the formation of the municipality many civic and social institutions have been housed within these portable buildings, shifting, adding and removing spaces as the community has grown. Before the construction of the village, Whistler’s bank, liquor store and post office operated out of trailers (leading to one of the most straight forward bank robbery attempts – hitch it up in the night and drive away). The Whistler Health Care Centre also began in a trailer located at the base of Creekside. In the 1990s some municipal departments were located in trailers outside Municipal Hall and before the opening of Spring Creek Elementary in 2004 Whistler’s growing population meant that more students at Myrtle Philip Community School were taught in portable classrooms on the school grounds than inside the building.

Here at the Whistler Museum it’s natural for us to have an interest in the histories of these scattered portables; after all, we call one of them home. The current space occupied by the museum began its journey in Whistler as the Canada Post building. After the post office moved into its current location in Market Place in 1993 the trailer sat empty until its revival in 1995.

Moving the trailers to Main Street, 1994. Photo: Whistler Public Library

In 1994 the Whistler Public Library was searching for a new building as the lease on their space in the basement of the municipal hall was nearing its end. After examining several options the library board decided that the WPL would move into the old Canada Post trailers that would be moved to Main Street (at the same time the museum moved into an adjacent trailer on the current site of Florence Petersen Park). When Canada Post had vacated the trailers they had left behind the counter and cupboards. These were reconfigured to be used in the library and for the thirteen years in which the trailer housed the library the circulation desk bore the colours of Canada Post.

The library in the trailer. Photo: Whistler Public Library

The library operated out of this trailer from January, 1995, until its move up the road to its permanent building in January, 2008. Locals coming into the museum today may remember attending story time where our offices now sit and can wander through our exhibits as they once wandered through the stacks.

flpark — The trailer in its current setting in Florence Petersen Park.

After the library moved the Whistler Museum took over the building in 2008. Some major renovations were needed to rework the space (time had not treated the portable well; carpets needed to be removed and leaks addressed, as well as more structural and cosmetic changes) but by the end of 2009 this trailer had reopened its doors in its third reincarnation. The removal of the adjacent trailers, the addition of a large mural and the development of Florence Petersen Park have made the space almost unrecognizable as the former library parking lot. To those who have not yet visited, though, the washrooms might still seem eerily familiar.

Category: Museum Musings

Creative Solutions to Whistler Living: The People Who Lived in WallsCreative Solutions to Whistler Living: The People Who Lived in Walls

Celebrating Peak Chair’s 30th BirthdayCelebrating Peak Chair’s 30th Birthday

Christmas at Rainbow Lodge: The MusicalChristmas at Rainbow Lodge: The Musical

A Trailer by Many Other NamesA Trailer by Many Other Names