Tag: Sushi Village

Opening Up in 1985Opening Up in 1985

November 5, 2024 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

The early years of the 1980s saw the Whistler Village begin to come together, with the first buildings completed and businesses starting to open. This growth, however, soon slowed dramatically as a major recession hit North America and Whistler’s future became very uncertain.

In 1982, Al Raine stepped down as the executive director of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA; today known as Tourism Whistler) after working pretty much non-stop on the “Whistler project” since 1975. He and Nancy decided to move to Switzerland with their sons and according to Nancy, the headlines described their move as “Rats deserting the sinking ship.” By the time they returned in 1984, the economy was beginning to turn around, though Whistler was still struggling. The Whistler Village was a mix of completed buildings next to sites of concrete and rebar, one of which the Raines decided to buy and build a hotel on.

The Raine family as they embarked on their European adventure. Whistler Question Collection, 1982

Whistler’s prospects were looking up by the end of 1985 when Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge was completed, with the WRA reporting in November that hotel bookings for the winter were already up 57% over 1984/85. This boded well for the many businesses that were getting ready to open in the Village.

As well as being a 90-room hotel, Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge also contained retail locations and the opening of the hotel also saw the opening of new businesses. The only restaurant, Isabelle’s, was named after the daughter of proprietors Curt and Monica Czerveniak and served breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Bullwinkle’s featured stained glass, Tiffany lamps and pottery while The Country Store (which also had a location in Squamish) offered various souvenirs including hand-made candles and soaps. Whistler Gifts II was also a second location, as owners Toshi and Setsuko Hamazaki also owned Whistler Gifts in the Crystal Lodge.

Can-Ski’s first Whistler location offered ski equipment and gear and the Kettle Creek Canvas Company, Sports Style (a third store for the owners of Village Sportstop and Whistler Village Sports), and More Tops (a companion to Jan Holmberg and Ted Nebbeling’s Whistler Tops) all sold various types of clothing, with More Tops even offering on-site embroidery and monogramming. Nancy T, another clothing store that catered specifically to children, was opened by Nancy Treiber.

The Brandywine Building and business signs. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, David Stoecklein, 1989/90

The final business to open in Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge was One-Hour Photo, owned by Rick Clare and Terry Heenan. The store offered camera rentals, equipment sales, and film processing, with a special 24-hour rate for locals. For the first two full months of operations, One-Hour Photo also contributed 50 cents from every roll of film processed to the Dandelion Daycare Society, which briefly had to delay opening its first daycare facility in November as they did not have enough money to finish the interior of the new building.

Further along the Village Stroll, another building of businesses opened the same month: the Brandywine Building. Though the Brandywine did offer fewer retail spaces, the building did fit in Whistler’s first 24-hour convenience store, run by Mark and June Bombay, another location of Jim McConkey’s Sports Store, and Susie Holland’s Blackcomb Therapy Centre, which sold “just about everything to soothe and rejuvenate weary skiers,” as well a few new eatery options. At Lu Gardens, Shirley Jane and her staff offered eat-in and take-out Chinese cuisine. Next door, the Original Ristorante was spread over two floors, while on Lu Garden’s other side Mikito “Miki” Homma and two friends opened up Sushi Village, Whistler’s first Japanese restaurant.

Some familiar faces at Sushi Village. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, Unknown Photographer

Many of these businesses that opened at the end of 1985 have gone or evolved significantly and the buildings that house them have changed over the past 39 years (the Brandywine is now the Sundial Hotel and Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge first lost the word Olympic and then became part of the Crystal Lodge). A few, however, continue on in different locations while a couple are still operating out of the same locations. Near the base of Whistler Mountain, the Original Ristorante changed its name in 1995, taking after its owner Lawrence Black and rebranding as Black’s Pub while Sushi Village continues to operate just two doors down.

Cooking Up WhistlerCooking Up Whistler

December 26, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

While food may not be the first thing that many people associate with the Whistler Museum, the abundance of baking and celebratory meals this time of year recently had us looking at three cookbooks that are kept as part of the Museum’s reference section. Whistler Recipes, Festive Favourites, and The Whistler Weekend Cookbook all contain recipes, as expected, but they can also tell us about what businesses were operating in Whistler, who was working in the valley, and what was being eaten at the time of their publication.

Whistler Recipes is the first of two cookbooks published as fundraisers by the Whistler Museum & Archives Society’s Cookbook Committee. Published in 1997, it includes recipes gathered from past and then-present residents of Whistler and Alta Lake, as well as a few recipes from a cookbook published by The Vancouver Sun in 1940. Whistler Recipes included recipes like Yorkshire Puddings from Ann Bright, Myrtle’s Muffins from Myrtle Philip, Granny Cosgrave’s Scones from J’Anne Greenwood, and Lemon Loaves from Elaine Wallace, which we even tried making when the museum was closed in 2020.

The Whistler Museum and Archives cookbook committee, April 1997: Janet Love-Morrison, Florence Petersen (founder of the Whistler Museum and Archives Society), Darlyne Christian and Caroline Cluer. Whistler Museum Collection

The second book published by the Cookbook Committee in 2001, Festive Favourites, tells us less about the individuals who contributed recipes, but makes up for it by including food trivia and tips throughout. Many of the recipes and festive tips appear to focus on the December holiday season, with instructions for preparing The Scent of Christmas, Spiced Yule Cake, and more alongside a short history of Christmas trees and stockings, though there are also some recipes for other holidays, such as Halloween Spicy Hot Chocolate.

Festive Favourites also suggested different ways to share meals with friends, proposing a “Dine Around Party,” which is “great for a small group of friends who live close together” as the group walks over to a different residence for each stage of the meal, and providing ideas for entertaining and involving children for “When Adults and Children Party Together.”

For anyone interested in the history of restaurants in Whistler, The Whistler Weekend Cookbook compiled by Diane Nicholson in 1987 is a very useful resource. It begins with a list of all restaurants and delicatessens in Whistler at the time, of which seven are still operating under the same name today. For every recipe contributed by a chef at one of the restaurants, their name and place of work are credited. For example, Rolf Gunther of the Rimrock Cafe supplied his version of Mahi Mahi with Bourbon Pecan Cream while Toshi Saito of Sushi Village provided his Tempura Toshi.

A sunny game of volleyball outside the Highland Lodge, today the location of the Highland Lodge. Whistler Question Collection

It is made clear by the sections of the book, such as “Mid-day & Apres Ski” and “Goodies & Supplies for Your Pack etc.,” that the book caters to a population that spends quite a bit of time on the mountain. Each recipe is also accompanied by a difficulty rating in the form of a circle, a square, or a diamond, symbols that could easily be interpreted by most skiers.

The recipes and their contributors also reflect the prevalence of sports in Whistler. Dave Murray provided instructions to make his Breakfast of Champions (oatmeal with nuts and apples) while Leanna Rath and Richard Kelly of Lifestyles Adventure Company included their Mountain Bike Greek Salad and Rob Boyd supplied his recipe for World Cup Granola Bars (cooking must a family affair, as his mother Molly Boyd’s Sunshine Pie can also be found in this book).

Molly Boyd receives the plaque honouring her as the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Saturday. Brian Walhovd, 1983’s winner, announced to the crowd that Boyd was the 1984 winner for her involvement and extra commitment to the community. Whistler Question Collection

Like the cookbooks published by the Cookbook Committee, The Whistler Weekend Cookbook was also a fundraiser, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Whistler Public Library to purchase New Age/Self Help books. Today, the books produced for such fundraisers can tell us more about the people and food in Whistler at that particular time. They can also be very helpful if you’re trying to recreate a meal you once had at your favourite restaurant, whether you miss the Southside Hot Antipasto Hero from the Southside Deli or the wings that you used to get at Dusty’s Cantina.