Tag: Alta Lake Inn

The End of the Alta Lake InnThe End of the Alta Lake Inn

July 16, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

When the Christiana Inn was opened by Sandy and Puddy Martin in 1967 it included lodging, a heated outdoor swimming pool, a beauty salon, gift shop, lounge area, and dining room. By the time they sold the property in the mid-1970s, they had added a second dining room, a tennis court, and poolside dining and dancing. The decor and menus changed over time, though the physical structure appears to have stayed more or less the same until the 1980s. The name did not change until the early 1980s, when the Christiana Inn became known as the Alta Lake Inn.

The Christiana Inn with the lagoon behind. George Benjamin Collection

In May 1985, a Vancouver-based company called 6380 Developments purchased the Alta Lake Inn for $357,000 (adjusted for inflation, that would be just over $900,000 today). The inn had been closed since the previous summer and the former owners had been foreclosed upon by the Morguard Trust. The owners had protested the sale and in early May were still assuring the operators of Whistler Windsurfing that they would be able to base their rentals and lessons at the Alta Lake Inn, but their protests were overruled by the Supreme Court of BC and Whistler Windsurfing was left to find a new home.

Windsurfers on Alta Lake pass in front of the Christiana Inn. George Benjamin Collection

The new owners shared their plans for the site with the Whistler Question in June 1985. According to Bob Skinner, president of Combined Equities Ltd., who were involved in the development, they were planning too demolish the existing buildings and build a 24-until lodge. He told the Question, “It’s going to be designed as a lodge, and it is a lodge” and denied the rumours that there were plans to build condominiums on the site.

Not everyone waited for the permit before making changes to the site. After hearing that the old Christiana Inn would be demolished and thanks in part to a rumour that the fire department was going to burn it down for fire practice, individuals removed parts of the building such as the sliding glass doors, kitchen appliances, and furniture before the municipal building inspector Dave MacPhail posted a stop work order on the site.

The building was demolished in July but construction did not start right away. Over the next few months, there were many debates and protests about the plans for the site. Some centred on the way the property had been created by filling in part of Alta Lake in the 1960s while others looked at the access to the property as at one point the developers proposed covering the long, steep driveway with a roof. In August, the municipality issued a building permit with the requirements that the developer install heat tracing along the driveway and “acquire legal title from the Crown to the landfill dumped 20 years ago by the original developer.”

The pool of the Christiana Inn was about as close to Alta Lake as it could get. Whistler Question Collection, 1978

In the fall of 1985, the property again made headlines when the developers proposed extending Lakeside Road across the lagoon to the property, cutting off access to Alta Lake from the lagoon. The plans for Alta Vista created when the subdivision was first surveyed did not show the lagoon but did include a road right-of-way, leading to a debate as to whether the lagoon was a lagoon or not. The developers claimed that residents had created the lagoon by excavating a channel to Alta Lake while residents claimed that lagoon had always been there and building this road would destroy it. According to Rolly Horsey, who had owned a property on the lagoon for almost twenty years, the surveyors had not personally visited the site before registering their plans. The claims of the residents were backed up by Sandy Martin, who wrote a letter saying that “the area was never properly surveyed” and that the lagoon was certainly there when he built the Christiana Inn.

The developers did not receive permission to extend Lakeside Road, which still ends at the lagoon today. It is unclear to what extent this decision changed the plans of the developers, but a 24-unit lodge was not built on the property. In June 1986, 26 brand new one and two bedroom condominiums with “live-in management and rental pool income” were advertised for sale, beginning at $85,000 (about $210,000 today) and the former Christiana/Alta Lake Inn site became known as Whistler on the Lake.

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The Inn on the LakeThe Inn on the Lake

April 6, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

At the Whistler Museum we often hear stories about the lodges that used to be plentiful around Alta Lake (as well as Nita Lake) from people who worked, stayed, partied or even lived at one sometime between the 1930s and 1980s. Some of the lodges, like the Mount Whistler Lodge, began as summer resorts before skiing was really thought of in the area, while others, such as the Christiana Inn, were part of the increase in development that started with the building of lifts on Whistler Mountain.

Sandy and Puddy Martin, who developed much of the Alta Vista neighbourhood, opened the Christiana Inn on the eastern shore of Alta Lake in 1967. They reportedly named their new venture after a similarly named lodge in Sun Valley, ID. The Christiana facilities included a heated outdoor swimming pool, a beauty salon, gift shop, lounge area, and dining room. Located only five minutes from the lifts on Whistler Mountain and offering many activities around the lake, the Christiana catered to both winter and summer guests.

Though it says the Christiana Inn is closed to the public, this is one of the few images in our collections that shows the building from the front. Whistler Question Collection, 1979.

In the late 1960s, the Martins added on to the Christiana with a tennis court, a poolside dining and dancing area, and even a second dining room. The Christiana hosted fashion shows, dances, public meetings, apres ski entertainment, and films, and even offered a free bus service for guests in the ski season. Over time, the pool was covered with a fiberglass roof in the winter and was opened to guests not staying at the Christiana for a nominal fee (in 1973, this fee was $1 for adults and 50 cents for children).

Sandy and Puddy sold the Christiana Inn in the mid 1970s. In 1979 the management of the lodge was taken over by brothers Ole and Per Christiansen, who hoped to “gradually alter the Inn to a Bavarian atmosphere” and began offering traditional German fare in the restaurant (prepared by Swiss chef Pascal Tiphine) and advertising the Christiana alongside the “newly decorated” Side Door Disco.

Bartender Rosarie Gauthier and manager Per Christiansen behind the bar in the Christiana’s remodelled Bavarian Lounge. Whistler Question Collection, 1979.

It would seem that it was during the mid-to-late 1970s that the Christiana Inn pool began to be known for belly flop and wet t-shirt contests. In May 1978 Brad Cooper wrote in The Whistler Question that “May 22 at the Christiana Inn will be well-remembered as the day over 20 people attempted to splash the most water out of a pool and live to tell about it.” He described hundreds of spectators crowding the pool area and watching from the roof and gave credit to the Christiana and organizers for a “wild but harmless event.”

The belly flop contest of 1978. Whistler Question Collection, 1978.

Others did not find these contests quite as entertaining. In a letter to the editor of the Question in June 1979, T. Wood described the awards ceremony of the Great Snow Earth Water Race as “a fiasco at sleazy Christiana with wet T-shirts and belly flops, which require no talent.” They claimed one contestant from the race was even “pushed into the filthy Christiana pool.”

The pool at the Christiana also hosted other events, such as log rolling. Photo courtesy of David Lalik.

In March 1980 rumours claimed that the Christiana Inn had unexpectedly ceased operations, causing the Whistler Rotary Club to lunch at the Filling Station instead. The then-owners of the Christiana, Travelscope Hotels Ltd., reported that the lodge was still operating but that the management company that had been in charge was no longer operating the hotel (it appears that the management had left town while still owing money to their employees). The hotel and bar were still open, though the kitchen was temporarily closed due to a fire in the deep fryer.

The Christiana Inn also hosted the Freakers’ Ball after the first couple of years at the Mount Whistler Lodge. Bramfield Collection.

In May 1980 the Christiana reopened for the summer as the Alta Lake Inn, well-remembered for their restaurant which offered Chinese food and take-out. Later in the 1980s, the Alta Lake Inn closed as a resort and the property was converted into private condos, known today as Whistler on the Lake. Stories of the Christiana Inn, however, continue to be told throughout Whistler. If you have stories you would like to add to our records, let us know at the Whistler Museum.

The staff of the restaurant at the Alta Lake Inn, including Edmond Wong, Law, Tse, Kwang, Gilbert, Peni, Edmon, and Jeannie. Whistler Question Collection, 1981.
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Visiting a Different WhistlerVisiting a Different Whistler

August 11, 2020 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

There is a lot to do in Whistler in the summer, even with the restrictions currently in place across British Columbia.  You can go up the mountains to hike and ride the Peak 2 Peak, hike throughout the valley, relax at a lake, or even visit Whistler’s Cultural Connector (which includes the Whistler Museum).  What about, however, if you had visited Whistler during the summer of 1980?

Thanks to Whistler News, a supplement published by The Whistler Question, we can get an idea of what summer visitors to Whistler could have expected forty years ago.

The Whistler Village at the base of Whistler Mountain as visitors would have found it in the summer of 1980. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

The first step to visiting Whistler was getting here.  Though it’s relatively easy today to find your way to Whistler, in 1980 there were no directional signs in Vancouver pointing the way and Whistler News encouraged drivers to obtain a road map and head north on Highway 99.  The drive up included a 12km section through the Cheakamus Canyon that was set to be realigned and improved by 1981 but was still somewhat treacherous.  This was still an easier route than those from the north.  The route to Whistler through Bralorne was suitable only for 4-wheel drive vehicles and the Duffy Lake Road would not be paved until 1992.

Visitors had a choice of lodgings, both in and near to Whistler.  While some of these lodgings, such as the Highland Lodge and Whistler Creek Lodge, are still standing, others such as the Alpine Lodge (a lodge and cabins located in Garibaldi, which the provincial government declared unsafe in 1980) and the White Gold Inn (more commonly known as the Ski Boot Motel) have since been demolished.  Those looking to camp had quite a few options, including a BC Hydro campground at Daisy Lake and a forestry camp at the Cheakamus and Callaghan Rivers.  Supposedly, the summer of 1980 was also going to see the construction of new camping facilities as part of Lost Lake.

Lost Lake south shore showing where a beach and picnic ground will be built. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

Whistler also offered a variety of dining options, from Chinese cuisine at the Alta Lake Inn Dining Room to the Keg at Adventures West.  Those looking to provide their own meals, however, were encouraged to plan ahead, as the only grocery shopping in the area was at the Gulf and Husky Mini-Marts.

Visitors could still do many of the things that have brought people to Whistler in recent summers.  They could go hiking around the valley (Lost Lake was recommended as having the “spectacular sight” of the ski jump) and spend time around and on Whistler’s lakes, where windsurfing was becoming increasingly popular.  Those more interested in snow could attend the 15th year of the Toni Sailer Ski Camp, perfecting their skiing under the direction of Toni Sailer, Nancy Greene, Wayne Wong and Bob Dufour.

The group at the Sailer Fischer Ski Camp party catered by the Keg. (L to R) Wayne Wong, Wayne Booth, Schultz, Nancy Greene, Toni Sailer, Rookie, Alan White. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

The summer of 1980 was also a season of huge changes in the area and would have offered visitors many opportunities to view construction in the valley.  There was not yet a Whistler Village as we know it today.  In the Town Centre the first buildings of Phase I were expected to open that season and construction of Phase II buildings was underway.  Late in the summer Whistler Mountain installed its first lifts that ran from what would become the Whistler Village.  At the same time Blackcomb Mountain was building its first lifts, as well as on-mountain restaurants and utility buildings.

Blackcomb’s President and General Manager Hugh Smythe shows Whistler Mayor Pat Carleton the new ski runs from the base of Lift 2 during a recent tour by the mayor of the Blackcomb facilities. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

With all this construction, changing businesses and development, it’s no surprise that summer visitors to the museum will often tell us that Whistler is almost unrecognizable as the same place they visited in the 1970s or 1980s.

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