That St. Regis Hotel Valkyrie & a Margarita Pizza
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Sometime in
1987 I received a long distance call from my first cousin/godmother Inesita O’Reilly
Kuker in Buenos Aires. She told me that a young nephew of hers (he was around 14 or 15) was
coming to Vancouver with a youth rugby team. "They are staying at the St. Regis
(she pronounced it St. Rehis). Do you know the hotel? It sounds French.” I did
not have the heart to tell her that the hotel was of a questionable reputation
and that it featured B-class strippers in its lounge.
In those years we (writers, poets, photographer, illustrators, ecdysiasts,etc) had Thursday noon soirées at the kitty corner to the St. Regis, Railway Club. From our corner table we could see the St. Regis.
When they
young man came to our house for lunch he told us that as soon as they had
arrived when they were going with their luggage to their rooms they watched
some cops forcibly remove a patron from a room. They rapidly caught on days
later that if they casually walked past an open door to the lounge they could
spy a naked woman on stage.
Not too
long somehow a few of us decided to have a few beers at the St. Regis
lounge as we left the Railway. I was amazed by a blonde dancer with very long hair who looked like a
Wagner Valkyrie. I immediately went up to her and told her that I had a paying
job for Vancouver Magazine.
It was a
shoot featuring Doug and the Slugs singer Doug Bennett. It was going to be a massively difficult
shoot in which I would hire a couple of smoke machines and that it would
feature D.O.A. bassist Randy Rampage. I have no idea why I had the Valkyrie and
Randy Rampage but perhaps it was all to do with the fact that heavy metal was
popular at the time and Doug Bennett’s band Dough and the Slugs featured music
that was unlike it and much more pop.
This blog
has occurred to me because in our mail we received the 2019 Vancouver – Where to
Eat booklet. One of the pages features the St Regis Bar & Grill menu.
Rosemary and I are looking forward to going in the next few days to try that
fabulous looking pizza Margarita.
Astoundingly
the St. Regis is now a downtown hotel of the boutique kind that would have
delighted my first cousin/godmother. It is unlikely that any rugby team will
staying there in the next while.
