Tag: Creekside

Condo-mania Hits WhistlerCondo-mania Hits Whistler

June 2, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Today the term “condo” can be heard pretty much every day throughout most of Canada. When Whistler Mountain first opened in the 1960s, however, condominiums were almost unheard of. The first official condominium in Canada was Brentwood Village in Edmonton, Alberta in 1967.

After Whistler opened for skiing the valley experienced a boom in construction. While many ski cabins were built, the condominium took hold as a vacation home, both to own and to rent. In the fall of 1969 Garibaldi’s Whistler News even published an article by Ian Douglas entitles “What is a Condominium?” for those unsure of what exactly was for sale. In it he mentions “some new condominiums” located “across from the base of the Gondola at Whistler” which all have their own separate entrances, real estate taxes and mortgages, unlike the Whistler Alpine Village co-operative, which does not technically operate as a condo. Douglas lists the benefits of owning a condo, such as the security of owning rather than renting and being able to do renovations (within limits).

These condos in Nordic were still under construction in 1968. Photo: Whistler Mountain Collection

From the coverage of the Garibaldi’s Whistler News it would seem housing and real estate were as much a topic of conversation in the 1970s as they are today. Almost every issue contains news of a planned or completed development as well as real estate listings and updates on the progress of Alpine Meadows, Emerald Estates and Whistler Cay.

One condominium development that gets quite a few mentions is Tamarisk. Still a part of Whistler today, construction began on Tamarisk in 1973. The plans for the $15 million development, located about a mile away from the base of Whistler Mountain, included over 400 units, a “condo-lodge” containing a cocktail lounge and dining facilities, indoor and outdoor tennis courts and pools and squash handball courts, all to be built over two phases.

This living room was used to sell Tamarisk units in 1973; see the massive fireplace and wall-to-wall shag. Photo: Garibaldi’s Whistler News, Fall 1973

The first included 140 units, an outdoor tennis court and the heated outdoor swimming pool. By the spring of 1974 all first phase units were sold and a tennis pro, Australian Lex Vinson, had been hired. A 1974 advertisement (meant to attract buyers for phase two) announced “All apartments feature massive cut-stone fireplaces, wall-to-wall shag, private sauna (every apartment has one) and a furniture selection that’s an interior decorator’s dream. There’s more but you’ll have to see it to believe it.” It being the 1970s, wall-to-wall shag carpeting was a selling point, rather than a deterrent.

The units were designed by Vancouver architect Asbjorn Gathe, the same architect who had designed the twelve units of Edelweiss Village near the Creekside gondola in 1968.

The shape of the Tamarisk buildings remain the same today (apart from one). Garibaldi’s Whistler News

The first phase was completed by 1975 and continues to house residents and visitors today, as was the first outdoor tennis court and the heated outdoor swimming pool. The plans for Tamarisk, however, were never fully realized, similar to the case of Adventures West from a few weeks ago.

This Week in Photos

This Week In Photos: April 12This Week In Photos: April 12

April 12, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

The photos we share through This Week In Photos are only a very small part of the Whistler Question Collection. The full collection can be viewed online here. If you see a photo you love, photos from our collections can be purchased, either online or by contacting us, and certain sizes can even be printed for you at the museum!

1980

And a fly-over view of the Whistler Village, or what there is of it so far.

Somebody was spending a lot of time in a helicopter this week – here they flew over Cheakamus Lake amid the mountains of Garibaldi Provincial Park.

BC Tel and BCR towers on the west bluff of the Black Tusk.

WORM’S EYE VIEW of the new drugstore and office building in the town centre. This building should be one of the first to be finished this summer.

Question Editor’s Assistant BJ (Brad) Cooper.

1981

Nancy Greene-Raine takes to the polls April 11 with help from Pat McMillan.

Joe Cannon, with his personality-plus, gave the Question this comment on life during his April 10 show at the Brass Rail. His flexible voice worked its way masterfully around tunes from Bob Dylan to Gordon Lightfoot to Elvis the Pelvis. Cannon has quite a remarkable way with audiences, not to mention photographers.

The Municipal Hall on a snowy, windy day.

Mrs Turner’s class thanks Mr Strathers after their field trip to the drugstore.

A class also took a trip to visit the local RCMP detachment.

1982

Some Whistler residents could do with a few lessons in tidiness and cooperation. This scene at the Mons garbage compactor tells a story.

The latest development in the Cheakamus Canyon project is the diversion which carries vehicles through the rock cut rather than around one of the most dangerous corners on Highway 99.

The Mountainside Inn has come a long way from the pouring of its foundations,

A friendly game of charades is played out in someone’s living room.

1983

A gift of two mountains was presented to Washington Governor John Spellman (right) by Mayor Mark Angus (second from right) during his tour of Whistler last week. Washington hopes to develop its Early Winters Resort. Governor Spellman was accompanied by Senator Alan Bluechel (left), Mrs Jeanne Erlichmann Bluechel and Mrs Irene Spellman.

Michell Brown and Doug Smith hold up the Price Waterhouse Trophy, which they won in junior skiing competition at Blackcomb Mountain on Sunday.

Mountain Square buildings in various stages of construction. Some hotels are missing, giving a clear view through to Sundial Crescent.

First place winners in the Mouton Cadet Spring Festival held April 9, 10, 11 on Whistler Mountain. (l to r) Dave Murray, Nancy Smith, Jim Parsons, Toby Shale. Back row Xavier deEizaguirre of Mountain Rothschild and Werner Schonberger, president of Featherstone & Co.

An innovative storage system for the Mouton Cadet atop the mountain.

This Week in Photos

This Week in Photos: February 15This Week in Photos: February 15

February 15, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

These photos from the Whistler Question show a much smaller Whistler, where everything from a visit by the Governor General, to a snowblower surviving an encounter with a train, to a visiting Rotary exchange student, to a mysterious explosion in a Longhorn toilet are recorded together in the paper.

1979

Whistler as it should be – Doug Read gets into it on “Upper Insanity” on Friday.

An RCMP under-ice diving training school was held on Alta Lake during the past week. Scott Alpen photo.

A view of the Whistler Vale complex with the old Cheakamus Inn in front and the new units to the left and behind.

1980

Squaw Valley Crescent takes some of the overflow parking from Lake Placid Road.

Bob Matheson works on the new Superior Muffler pipe bending machine.

Sunshine and good skiing – the way it has been on the top of Whistler for the past week.

CKVU’s Ralph (Raccoon) Carney interviews Tom Jarvis, Beau Jarvis and Peaches Grant at Beau’s on Sunday evening.

Nicholas Busdon heads across the finish line in the Elementary Boys race.

1981

Chef/owner of the Black Bear Geoffrey Howes and Patty Harvey at work in the kitchen.

The vehicle Steve Podborski was driving and the Toyota driven by Kathy Rollo after the February 14 accident.

Rotarian Frank Satre and Whistler’s exchange student, Teresa Delgado from Chihuahua, Mexico.

Franz and Annette Wilhelmsen (front) and Debbie and Hugh Smythe (rear) enjoy dinner at the opening of Stoney’s restaurant last week.

1982

With the reddest of heart and the fleetest of foot, a be-winged Cindy Woods turned into cupid for a day (guess which one) to deliver flowers throughout the valley for Valley Vines & Petals.

All bagged up and ready to go – Sue Spurrell, Dave Barnes and Leslie Christmas, all from Newfoundland, try out the x-country skiing at Whistler Village wearing Blackcomb bags for protection.

Kermit joins the happy gang at Stoney’s who celebrated their first birthday Monday, February 15. Ball team members are (l to r) Bruce Fox, manager; Jack Cram and Lance Fletched who co-own the restaurant with Dick Gibbons; and Fetah Benali, chef.

Fire in Alpine! It was nearly one month to the day since fire raged through the Whistler Village Inn, when Whistler’s Volunteer Fire Depart. was called out to a blazing cabin in Alpine Meadows. The fire fighters subdued the blaze at 8340 Needles Drive in about 35 minutes.

Testimony to the durability of the Toro snowblower. One wheel points to the sky but the machine is still in one piece after being struck and dragged 200 metres by a BCR train.

1983

The Japanese version of Johnny Carson was being filmed at Blackcomb Mountain Monday, February 14. Akiko Kobayashi, a TV personality, and Sachiko Sakulay, an actress, are on Willie Whistler’s right and Miss Ski Japan Yukali Yamada and host Tommy Yakota stand on his left.

Shovelling snow outside the Hearthstone Lodge (before the advent of heated steps).

Let’s get Springfit! Adult Education classes in fitness continue with instructors (l to r) Debi Mitchell, Jan Alsop and Shelley Cerasaro. These ladies will take you through a vigorous program of warm-ups, aerobic workouts, calisthenics and stretching.

Canada’s Governor General Ed Schreyer (second from right) hit the slopes of Whistler Mountain Tuesday. Both he and Mrs. Schreyer received some tips from Bob Dufour and Dave Murray while enjoying their five-day vacation.

A sound “like someone dropping a huge sheet of metal” turned out to be an explosion which destroyed cubicle number three in the women’s washroom of the Longhorn Pub Thursday, February 10. A similar explosive device was used to blow up a garbage can in the Longhorn Saturday, February 12 and a 31-year-old New Westminster man, Clifford Michael Balkwill, has been charged with use of a dangerous explosive in connection with the second incident. The explosives, known as “fish salutes”, are manufactured for anglers to scare seals away from their prey.

1985

Firemen and residents were able to rescue some possessions from burning condos at Alpine Village Saturday, but losses were heavy and by the next day insurance investigators were already on the scene.

Whistler Mountain celebrated 20 years with some familiar faces (as well as cake, clowns and more).

Whistler Mountain created a new sport Saturday: Gondola stuffing!

The kids’ team stuffed the most bodies into the gondola with 27, while the counterweights (a minimum of 200 lbs each) could only manage nine.

Mike Davidson of the Alta Lake Sports Club will even spend time in the brig if it means hanging onto his hobby cannons. The one-pounder above was made by Great West Cannon Co. of Granville Island and is authentic in size and workmanship to the original, Davidson says. It was often hoisted into a ship’s rigging and used to fire nails and other shrapnel at the enemy. Davidson uses the cannon to proclaim open the various sporting events but two years ago found himself in RCMP lock-up for four hours when a policeman arrested him for discharging a firearm in the municipality. But it’s all in good fun, and the only thing fired is paper.

The Early Days of CreeksideThe Early Days of Creekside

January 20, 2018 Whistler Museum 5 Comments

The community of Alta Lake, which attracted visitors and families with cabins in the summer for hiking, hunting and fishing along the lakefront, was forever changed in 1960.

That year, the Garibaldi Olympic Development Agency, led by Franz Wilhelmsen, chose the valley as the site to bring the 1968 Winter Olympics to Canada and British Columbia. The failure of this first Olympic bid, while discouraging, did not dissuade the group from deciding to build a world-class ski resort.

A very optimistic sign at the base of Whistler Mountain. Photo: Whistler Mountain Collection

The Garibladi Lift Company installed the first gondola-accessed ski area in North America and opened the ski resort in January 1966.

With the ski resort in operation, the newly formed Chamber of Commerce operated as the local government overseeing the sporadic development surrounding the gondola base. The Garibaldi Lift Company did not have the financial resources to purchase the property around the gondola base allowing others to purchase the land.

With the lack of an official community plan or recognized local government, development went unchecked. Ski cabins were scattered around the base along with a gas station/grocery store and a telephone exchange. The Garibaldi Lift Company built an interdenominational skier’s chapel, complete with bells and a memorial stain glass window.

The Cheakamus Inn, the Highland Lodge, Rainbow Lodge and other Alta Lake lodges housed visitors in what had normally been the off-season for the Alta Lake community. A large development was planned near the shores of Nita and Alpha Lakes. The development would have included residential and commercial properties as well as more recreational areas such as a curling/skating rink, swimming pool and tennis courts. A condominium development called Alpine Village sat above the gondola area on the slopes of Whistler Mountain. The UBC Varsity Outdoor Club began constructing their new club cabin near the gondola base.

Alpine 68 newly constructed in 1968. Condos such as these sprung up around Creekside and Nordic. Photo: Whistler Mountain Collection

The popularity of skiing also brought long waits to ride the gondola up to the mid-station. The wait times would sometimes exceed three hours just to get on the gondola, prompting the Garibaldi Lift Company to offer free skiing to those willing to hike to the mid-station.

The parking lots at the base of the gondola were consistently full. Highway 99 was finally blacktopped between Squamish and Whistler, but the drive was still full of hairpin turns and single lane bridges. This didn’t stop skiers from driving up from the city.

A full (and colourful) parking lot in Creekside. Photo: Whistler Mountain Collection

The popularity of the ski resort also attracted another group of people to the valley: “hippies” and those involved in the counterculture movement. Those unable to afford to purchase land or build their own ski cabin would squat on Crown land.

With the RMOW established on September 6, 1975 the chaotic nature of development in Whistler’s early years was over the focus on bringing about the well-planned Whistler Village began.