Tag: Whistler history

A Hollywood Start for The Plaza Galleries

A Hollywood Start for The Plaza GalleriesA Hollywood Start for The Plaza Galleries

November 4, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Whistler has seen its fair share of celebrities over the years, from accomplished athletes to movie stars. These days, celebs tend to keep a low profile, but some past visits were not so under-the-radar.

The 1980s saw Arnold Palmer at the opening of the Whistler Golf Course (which he designed) and Sean Connery filming a Japanese commercial for Biogurt on that same course. Actor Tony Curtis also made a splash in 1996, and he didn’t just come to visit Whistler; he came to showcase his artwork.

By the mid-1990s, Whistler had several commercial art galleries; some included local artwork but the majority showcased well-known Canadian and international artists. Another commercial operation was slated to open in 1996 on the north side of Whistler Village, which was under development for most of the 1990s. An April 1996 advertisement in Pique Newsmagazine presented the new Town Plaza, featuring a variety of businesses: Caramba, Escape Route, Escents, Levi’s, Maze, The Plaza Galleries, and Rogers’ Chocolates. Of these businesses, only The Plaza Galleries and Caramba remain. As the non-winter seasons were quieter and that side of the village was fresh, the gallery immediately sought ways to draw people in.

The Plaza Galleries, originally operated by Dave Helfrich and Ann-Marie Little, boasted works from alto-relief sculptor Bill Mack, realist painter Adolf Sehring, and comedian and oil painter Red Skelton. Mack—who is known for his sculptures of cultural and sports Halls of Famers and for creating artwork from pieces of the original Hollywood sign—was one of the first artists to make a featured appearance at the gallery on April 19, 1996. Then came what Mayor Ted Nebbeling dubbed “Tony Curtis Week.”

Tony in front of The Plaza Galleries. Bonny Makarewicz collection.

Though known for his film acting—Some Like It Hot, Spartacus, or The Defiant Ones—Tony Curtis also painted for most of his life. Influenced by Van Gogh, Picasso, and Matisse, his paintings were bright and bold. He had a preference for landscapes but also painted still lifes and portraits.

In a 1996 interview with the Pique, he emphasized that painting was a passion: “The fact that you can make money off it is not necessarily the achievement that one does with painting. Painting is a language unto itself. It’s an unspoken language.” Though Curtis’ style was not for everyone, his arrival made for a great party.

Celebrations ran from July 1 to 7 with two public receptions on July 4 and 5. Advertised as “A Magical Weekend,” Curtis travelled from the Chateau Whistler to The Plaza Galleries by horse and carriage. Magician Randy Charach warmed up the crowds before Curtis performed his own magic, inspired by when he played Harry Houdini. There were also V.I.P. events throughout the week featuring champagne and hors d’oeuvres. The exhibit was on until the end of July, but a few pieces remained on display for a few years after.

In true Hollywood fashion, a cement plaque of Curtis’ handprints was revealed to inaugurate the gallery’s “Walk of Stars.” It can still be seen in front of the gallery today, where it is the sole plaque on display.

Tony’s handprints. Image taken in August 2026 by staff.

Since its inception, The Plaza Galleries has featured a variety of artwork from Canadian and international artists, such as Robert Bateman, Kal Gajoum, and even Picasso and Rembrandt. This work continues under the current owners, the Rozenvains, who purchased the gallery in 2016.

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The Whistler Town Crier

The Whistler Town CrierThe Whistler Town Crier

September 10, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

By Anna Donaldson

Since Whistler became a Resort Municipality in 1975, the community has had a handful of newspapers, from the Whistler Question to the Whistler Answer, and of course the Pique Newsmagazine. One of these was The Whistler Town Crier, a biweekly newspaper first published on September 7, 1994. Edited and published by Jacquie McCarnan, with Peter O’Donnell as assistant editor, the paper ran for just one volume of approximately 17 issues.It was edited and published by Jacquie McCarnan, with Peter O’Donnell as the assistant editor.

Jacquie and Peter moved to Whistler in 1992 near the end of the recession that hit Canada in the early 1990s. They quickly secured jobs in Whistler, but noticed that there was a “gap in the reporting”. The Whistler Answer closed down not long after they moved to Whistler in August of 1993, and the only news was coming from the Whistler Question. McCarnan herself remembered the Whistler Question being more of a “corporate” newspaper. McCarnan and O’Donnell saw an opening for a newspaper that covered the news McCarnan believed the Whistler Question was neglecting, and that focused on different aspects of the local community. McCarnan had a degree in Political Science with a minor in English, and O’Donnell had a History degree. They had no experience running a newspaper, but were determined to try. In an interview, McCarnan, stated that they “wanted to put something out there that was positive and reflective of the community that we were living in.” In 1994, Whistler had about a third of its current population, and McCarnan and O’Donnell aimed to make a newspaper that connected with the locals. Most of the articles and columns in The Town Crier focused on local issues no matter how small.

The Whistler Town Crier had a few local columns, but one of the newspaper’s most notorious columns was “Ask Uncle Willie”. This was a satirical column where readers could write in about problems in their lives and ask Uncle Willie for advice. Readers would write under silly pseudonyms, and Uncle Willie would respond with ironic answers. McCarnan revealed that Uncle Willie was written by Bill Pauline, whom she worked with at Wild Willies. McCarnan stated that Bill was her own ‘Uncle Willie’ in a sense, giving her advice that didn’t need to be taken seriously. When she was looking for more contributors to The Town Crier, he was happy to write his own regular column.

Cover page of 'The Town Crier' newspaper featuring an illustration of a person with a globe and shopping bag, promoting internet access and classifieds, dated March 1995.
March 21, 1995 issue of The Whistler Town Crier Vol. 1 No. 14.

While the “Ask Uncle Willie” column was satirical, the rest of the newspaper was sincere. Even when writers covered topics that didn’t focus on Whistler, they always managed to tie in a local perspective. For example, Peter O’Donnell’s article “What The Hell Is the Internet” explained how citizens would benefit from the newly incorporated invention of the internet (in 1995). The article highlighted Armchair Books as a local business where residents could pick up the Canadian Internet Handbook. It also referenced how people moved to Whistler from all over the world, and that the internet could help keep them connected to their friends and family, as well as news from home.

When The Town Crier was only four issues in, the Pique Newsmagazine started. The Pique had Bob Barnett, former editor of the Whistler Question, and other financial resources that the Town Crier lacked. Funded largely from McCarnan and O’Donnell’s own pockets, the Town Crier struggled to compete for advertising dollars with the Question and the Pique, eventually forcing it to close. “When you’re in competition, like in a small town, the stores … [and] the restaurants aren’t making a ton of money and they have three different people asking them for money for the same thing. They’re going to pick the one they think is going to get the most eyeballs,” McCarnan stated.

Though The Whistler Town Crier was short-lived, its impact on McCarnan lasted longer. She recalled that the paper “informed the way that [she] lived the rest of [her] life,” allowing her future projects to be “positive and reflective of the community” around her. Looking back more than 30 years later, McCarnan felt that despite the paper’s limited resources, “we did a great job for what we did.”

Anna Donaldson is the Summer Program Coordinator at the Whistler Museum through the Young Canada Works Program.

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The Woman behind Whistler Windsurfing

The Woman behind Whistler WindsurfingThe Woman behind Whistler Windsurfing

September 4, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

It was amazing to be in on the beginning of the sport, which eventually led to winning four Canadian Windsurfer Championships” reflects longtime resident Jinny Ladner. Learning on one of the first two windsurfers imported into Canada, Ladner and friend Mike Gadd started on Alta Lake in 1975. “I sat on the back of the board and then when he got up on a plane I’d crawl up between his legs and stand there inside and figure out how to steer.” 

Ladner first came to Whistler in 1965. Her parents were shareholders in Garibaldi Lift Co. and part of Alpine Village in Creekside, “the first condominiums ever built in Canada.” At age 20 – in 1973 – Ladner moved here fulltime. 

Ladner and Gadd were at the genesis of the sport. “We would chase the crazy wind shifts on Alta Lake and then in 1976, we went to the North American Championships in Berkeley, California.” The Whistler duo met all the big names in the sport hailing from the year-round American sailing hubs. “We met Hoyle Schweitzer,” inventor of the Windsurfer. “That was the beginning of the height, and everybody who was anybody was there,” including Gadd and Ladner.

“In those days you had to hang on to bamboo booms and you had huge calluses on the palm of your hands from trying to hang on because everything would get ripped out of your hands in big wind,” demonstrates Ladner. “Once the body harness was invented, you just hooked into loops hanging from the booms which was much more relaxing.  And you could go for miles.” However, it remained illegal for quite a few years to race with a harness.

Jinny Ladner July 1980. Whistler Question Collection

In the beginning, women and men raced together. “The women were thrown into the

lightweight class.  We had to race with the men and so mostly the men were winning. It

wasn’t until about 1979 that they created [a] women’s class.”

In 1980, a team representing Whistler went to the Canadian Championships in Magog Quebec and won every weight class – Ladner and Gadd along with Andrew Stoner and Chris Janeway.

Jinny Ladner and Andrew Stoner outside Whistler Windsurfing 
July 6, 1982. Whistler Question collection. 

Ladner’s training was limited to half the year being based in Whistler. In 1977 she opened a retail location at the Alta Lake Inn called Whistler Windsurfing. “I had spare parts for Windsurfers, but mostly I just put a sign on the door and said if you need anything I’ll be in the bar.”  Dave Murray was one of her first customers. Ladner was kept busy teaching lessons, including the Toni Sailer Ski Camp campers and the odd rental.

Wednesday night racing began with a local crew of about 15. Starting at Lakeside, “we would sail down to the youth hostel [now The Point Artist-Run Centre], and then across to the Christiana Inn and back up.” Ladner explains, “yacht racing is a triangle race with a downwind loop and back.”

The Wednesday race nights “attracted many more who became interested in the sport.”

Everyone who learned on Alta Lake ended up taking the “Keg Express” downwind at some point, ending up at Adventures West, going to the Keg for a drink, barefoot with their bathing suit and harness, while waiting for a ride to pick them up.

Ladner did not operate her storefront for long, trying to juggle her full-time job (balancing the books for the old Keg) along with competing. She would race in several World Championships, placing an impressive 5th in 1979. Ladner is quick to point out, however, that these were termed ‘the Split Worlds,’ as the Europeans did not attend. The feat remains noteworthy, nonetheless.

Andrew Stoner took over Whistler Windsurfing, re-opening lakeside in the Christiana Inn.

Ladner would win the Canadian Windsurfer Championships from 1978-1981. She retired the same year as her final win. She would continue to judge and run races, including the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Windsurfing’s popularity waned locally with the evolution of sailing in surf, hydrofoils, batwings and parasailing. By the mid-1980’s Whistler’s colourful windsurfing scene simply “faded away.

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Fishing (with) Questions

Fishing (with) QuestionsFishing (with) Questions

June 30, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

By Bronwyn Preece. Featured Image: Alex and Myrtle Philip at Rainbow Lodge on Alta Lake, 1940s. Philip Collection

Last week, I was standing on a rock on the edge of Garibaldi Lake, staring into the clear turquoise waters. All of a sudden, a school of fish – Rainbow Trout – some big, some small, with purple backs and black specks swam and kept circling by. I was entranced.

Two young anglers also shared the same shore with me, casting their lines into the glacial pool.

My friend asked if I knew if the lake had been stocked. My initial response was ‘unlikely’. I mean, ‘Up here? A 9+ km hike up from the trailhead, with no road and just under 1000 m of elevation gain…how would they? By helicopter?’ There certainly wasn’t anyone hiking fish or fry up this trail… or, not now…  And yet, I had caught myself in my not-knowing… and my curiosity was hooked…

Making my way back to Whistler, I would pass through a valley speckled with bodies of freshwater: from the volcanic potholed divots around Brandywine to the highway-skirting of Alpha, Nita, Alta and Green. Lakes with fish. Lakes with stories. Lakes holding the lures of different fishing histories…

Whistler was first a fishing destination. Rainbow Lodge was the first ‘resort’ to open in the valley in 1915. For $6.00 you could have a weekend ‘Fisherman’s Excursion’ – a package which included travel on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from Vancouver to Alta Lake and back and accommodation at the Lodge. The lake was said to be teeming with fish. The fish that were likely being caught at the time were Cutthroat Trout. Subsequent lodges and accommodation geared towards fisherman subsequently sprung up around Alta Lake.

Alta Lake was first stocked with fish in 1923. According to the BC Ministry of the Environment’s FIDQ – Fish Inventories Data Queries page: 30, 000 Rainbow at the ‘eyed egg’ stage were released into the lake that year. Rainbow Trout are an invasive species and subsequently altered the ecosystems of our local lakes. Despite this knowledge, the release of Rainbows into our local waters would continue until 2000.

Kokanee Salmon were stocked for the first time in Alta Lake in 1939.

Myrtle Philip of Rainbow Lodge fishing in the 1920s. Philip Collection.

As the decades passed, fishing remained an important sport and pastime. An announcement in the 1959 Alta Lake Community newsletter proclaimed that the Fish Derby prize would be $10 for the largest Rainbow trout caught in Alta Lake “by any legal method.” In 1988, in the ‘Whistler Summer Guide’ (a supplement to the Whistler Question), the paper reported: “When Whistler Mountain was known as London Mountain … the fishing was fantastic. […] Generally the fish were not that big, averaging about 30 cm, but they were plentiful. They’re just as plentiful today.” Now, in 2026, local fishing guides still exist.

Since 2000, Alta Lake has been stocked with Cutthroat (almost annually, with a few years skipped) since then. Consistently, for the past ten years, Alta Lake has been stocked with 350 yearling Cutthroats and operates with a strict fishing quota. Multiple varieties of fish are caught in its waters. The lake has been stocked 52 times between 1923 and 2026.

But, what about Garibaldi Lake? In 1928 – a year following the formal establishment of Garibaldi Provincial Park (a 195, 000 hectare protected area) – 5000 ‘eyed egg’ Rainbows were released into the lake. The subsequent year, 12, 500 eggs were released. The eggs were transported by horseback up to the nearly large lake encompassing an area of almost 10 ㎢ at 1467 metres of elevation. Mountaineering and pack-hauled camping holidays were becoming popular in the area.

Garibaldi Lake… image taken by the author on the trip that inspired this two-part article.

Next week, Part II of this article will dive deeper into Garibaldi’s Lake’s intriguing fish-related history and some statistical records with regards to Whistler’s closer and other lakes…

*Please Note: In the newspaper printed version of this article (and its initial publication on the blog) it was stated incorrectly that Alta Lake now runs on a catch and release system. Apologies for the mistake, it has been amended above and a note of correction will accompany next’s week’s article in the paper.

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