VICTORIA - The winds blow up top at the widow's walk, a rectangular look-out point on the roof of Victoria's Fairmont Empress Hotel.
The tiny, fenced-off widow's walk provides an unobstructed 360-degree view of downtown Victoria and the Pacific ocean that surrounds the city.
It was built to provide an early warning of potential enemy ships approaching Victoria, says Paul Jeffery, the facility operations manager at the Empress, which is celebrating its centennial .
After 28 years at the Empress, Jeffery knows the building from widow's walk to in-fill underground floor, from its slate roof shingles to its basement tunnels.
He also knows its stories, and it's up at the widow's walk in the cool January wind where Jeffery feels comfortable telling them.
Like the time Hollywood filmmaker Dino De Laurentis - producer of classics such as King Kong, Serpico, Hannibal and Barbarella - helped create a smelly mess after shooting a scene for the'85 movie Year of the Dragon in the hotel's basement.
Mounds of bean sprouts, manipulated to look like a jungle scene, were left in the basement and it wasn't long before they started to rot, Jeffery says.
"They finished on a Saturday and left without cleaning up," he said. "By Monday the smell was terrible. We had Nil-odor bottles up in the rafters for weeks trying to mask the stench."
The Empress, once part of the fabled Canadian Pacific Hotel chain, celebrates its 100th anniversary later this month.
The harbourfront hotel was the work of architect Francis Rattenbury, who also designed the nearby B.C. legislature, Vancouver's old law courts and many other early edifaces.
Known for its stately design, Edwardian decor and afternoon tea, the Empress is intricately tied to Victoria's Olde England image. When people think of Victoria, they often picture the Empress.
Jeffery recalls managing everything from royal visits, first minister's conferences and prime ministerial tours to fundraising galas featuring Kid Rock, but it's a Remembrance Day service during the'80s he can't forget.
Back then, the Empress was the place where people congregated before and after Remembrance Day. But it nearly all came apart one Nov. 11 when a sailboat moored in the harbour directly in front of the hotel and hoisted a swastika flag, he said.
It sparked an uproar from inside the Empress and Jeffery said he was ordered to the harbour to remove the offending flag. The sailor initially resisted, but after being told he may be in danger, took down the Nazi symbol.
"Finally, he cursed at me and sailed away," said Jeffery.
In'92, the Empress was forced to remove a wild guest in handcuffs. Photographs of the incident are still up on a wall near the hotel's main entrance.
Somehow, a 60-kilogram male cougar wandered into the hotel's underground parking lot.
Conservation officers tranquilized the big cat without incident, but just to make sure nothing could happen, handcuffs were locked onto the animal's front and back paws.
Then there was the time actress Barbara Streisand turned up for the Empress's famous afternoon tea, but was shown the door because she was not properly attired. She was wearing jeans.
"She got the punt," said Jeffery.
Streisand returned in proper dress.
The same thing happened to actor Mel Gibson, said Jeffery, adding John Travolta showed up unannounced for tea but he was properly dressed.
The dress code has relaxed in recent years to what now is referred to as "smart casual," he said.
In'96, California resident Pat Fry, a former hotel worker, showed up at the Empress for a tour. That wasn't anything new, but how she got to Victoria was different.
Her appearance at the Empress created international headlines because she arrived in a Yellow Cab from Los Angeles.
Fry said she had always wanted to see the Empress, so she hailed cabbie Steve Baird and almost $5,000 later, she was in Victoria.
The trip led to appearances on Jay Leno for the pair and a made-for-TV movie.
Empress general manager Roger Soane, in his second tour at the hotel, says Victoria and the Empress are like brother and sister.
"It's very hard to think of Victoria without thinking of the Empress," he said. "The Empress is the social focal point of the city."'
The Empress, currently in the midst of renovations that include replacing the tea lobby's oak floor, has planned a series of smaller centennial celebrations that include special room rates, commemorative china and a centennial tea.
"This is tongue-in-cheek, but we are going to have a $100 centennial tea," said Soane.
The $100 tea is planned for twice a week from May to September and is being billed as an intimate experience for about 20 people in the hotel's classic library room, he said.
The traditional afternoon teas at the Empress attract hundreds daily during the summer months who spend about $60 each.
Deirdre Campbell, a former public relations co-ordinator at the Empress, said what thrilled her most about the hotel is the easy access it affords the public.
Victoria residents often take relatives from out of town through the Empress and show it off as if it was their own home, she said.
"You can't do that at a lot of hotels," said Campbell. "At the Empress, they open the doors."
Campbell remembers dinners with actor Peter Ustinov and escorting Celine Dion to her room.
John Wayne, Shirley Temple and Rita Hayworth all stayed at the Empress.
Former waiter Roy Banner remembers serving customers in the hotel's Bengal Lounge, one of the most comfortable places for a drink in Canada.
"People come in and they sit there for hours," he said. "It's a fantastic arrangement.
"You're feeling you're in such a luxurious place with the heavy mahogany panelling and you've also got the big overstuffed chairs and couches to sit in."
Banner said his experience working at the Empress for- years, especially the hotel's focus on customer service, helped him in his current career selling real estate.
"It taught me unbelievable service. Now, three years after leaving the Empress, I'm realtor of the year (for my company),"' he said.
"They really taught you the lessons if you wanted to take them. It's service, remembering names, understanding your client, making sure you read them correctly."'
Banner said the Empress is also the kind of place where people should expect the unexpected, and the unexpected is always something warm and fuzzy.
It happened to him in'94 while serving ice cream to tourists outside of the Empress.
"This gentleman comes up with a strong British accent and he's probably around 60, I'm guessing at the time, and I look at him and I go, 'You look so familiar, I wish I could place your face,' " Banner said.
"It's to do with football," he said.
"I said, 'Oh, my, you're Sir Bobby Charlton.' And he goes, 'Yes, I am.' "
Charlton, a revered World Cup soccer star for England, was one of Banner's boyhood heroes.
PREVIOUS
