Cool old pictures of Cowtown

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by FanningTheFlames

Does anybody here remember "Happy Valley"? A little before my time and never got to go there, but I was always curious about it as a kid.

Wow, what is that place? It looks really nice and totally doesn't seem like something you would find in rural Alberta in the 60s.

It looks like some sort of Resort out of James Bond or the Thunderbirds.

http://www.cardcow.com/89481/happy-v...anada-alberta/

Five miles west of Calgary. Over 400 acres. Year round playground featuring swimming, skiing, golf, trail rides, picnic and bar-B-Q facilities, kiddies playgrounds, trailer court, service station and groceries. Outdoor and indoor pool facilities capable of handling over 2,000 guests. One and three metre boards. /Five metre diving tower

What the heck? Where is this place and what is there now?

[T@T]

unless they moved it it's gone, thats a real old pic.

[Hack&Lube]

As originator of this game, I guess I should do some more contributing

Not sure what the date on the Calgary Inn is. Anybody know when it was built? Wow, downtown Calgary looked like wasteland then.

[T@T]

^^ middle to late 60's I think, the westin group bought it in 76-77 i beleive.

[Hack&Lube]

1950s?


2000s

[Hack&Lube]

[Hack&Lube]

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

What the heck? Where is this place and what is there now?

It was located where Valley Ridge is now.

Here's a good story about it: http://www.calgaryarea.com/nw/valley...%20Ver.%29.pdf

[algernon]

Calgary Public Library, Central Library, Local History Room
Collection: Postcards from the Past

The jump was a 75 foot tower of steel. Cost of the hill was $8000, about $5000 more than the event earned. As luck would have it, a Chinook blew in a week before the event and snow had to be carted in from Lake Louise. Just as the competition began, a storm blew through dropping temperatures. Attendance only reached 1000 people. The tower was dismantled shortly after and the cost was written off over the next 10 years.

Stampede Grandstand, 1921




Thanks to the Calgary Public Library, Central Library, Local History Room
Collection: Postcards from the Past

I can't believe how many cool things I've picked up from there.
Best part for me was showing my Grandma a '30's post card of Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, which she attended around the time.

[keratosis]

Thanks for resurrecting.
Love these pics.

[Reggie Dunlop]

My grandfather skied down that grandstand ramp.

[Rod Hockey]

AWESOME thread!!!!!!!!!!!

[Buzzard]

Stampede Parade marshal 1959



Stampede Parade Marshals 2010



Bring back Bing.

[Nammer403]

[RT14]

Originally Posted by getbak

It was located where Valley Ridge is now.

Here's a good story about it: http://www.calgaryarea.com/nw/valley...%20Ver.%29.pdf

From that article:

The City of Calgary finally annexed the Valley Ridge area in January 1981, in response to a petition filed by Tri-Media Studios Ltd. Tri-Media acquired the Happy Valley lands from Mr. Allen in the late 1970’s. Tri-Media’s development concept was to create a “Hollywood North”, comprising a movie / television / recording studio; and adjacent complementary industrial and commercial uses, plus a residential community, two golf courses, and extensive natural open space amenities. Quite a change from Ernie Lutz’s original vision for Happy Valley twenty years earlier!

Due to the economic downturn in 1982, Tri-Media’s plan was never implemented.

Pretty amazing to look back at what could've been. I wonder how that would've changed Calgary's entertainment industry. Can you even imagine Calgary being "Hollywood North"?! lol. Very cool.

[browna]

Bugged me for a long time where this round hotel was, as I remember it as a kid.

Picture circa 1975, prior to Amoco building which is 20 ft away from the International.

Summit Hotel, later renamed to the Sheraton, torn down in 1989. Parking lot there now, across 1st St from Sunlife Plaza.

[Roast Beef]

June 1977





Calgary-Edmonton Trail 1873 or 1883

[WilsonFourTwo]

I loved this photo. People used to watch the parade from commercial rooftops, now you gotta pay $20 per seat. Times have sure changed!

[Icon]

[algernon]

"Then & Now" columns appeared weekly in the Calgary Herald between 2002 and 2005. The following article appeared September 14, 2004.

King Edward Hotel
438 9th Ave. S.E.

THEN:
• The hotel, built in 1904 by Louis Charlebois, joined dozens of other hotels on Atlantic Avenue, also known as "Whisky Row." A five-storey addition was added in 1907 to the original three-storey hotel for 105 rooms and a restaurant seating 40 people. Charlebois, a noted local hotelier, gave up managing in 1911, but his estate and wife retained possession until 1938. The hotel suffered during Prohibition, when charges were laid for violation of liquor laws and running a "disorderly" house. Former manager Homer Meers eventually bought the hotel in 1946 and owned it until 1962. Renovated and managed under his watchful eye, it became known as a "Poor Man's Club."

NOW:
• The King Eddy, Calgary's oldest continuously operating hotel, is the last of the "Whisky Row" hotels. Known for blues acts since the 1960s, it was turned by owner Jack Karp into an authentic blues club in the 1980s by hosting such legendary performers as Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown and Jeff Healey. The city bought it in 2001 for $650,000, originally intending to demolish it for a railway underpass. Changing plans led to it being leased by Brenjack Holdings. Hopes to promote the blues bar and renovate rooms for low-cost housing were dashed when an environmental assessment discovered asbestos and toxic mould. Declared a health hazard, it was evacuated in August. Its fate remains undecided.

King Eddy 1966

King Eddy of the future


Thanks to Alison Jackson Photography Collection, Cantos Foundation, and the Calgary Hearld.