The Kalamalka Hotel was one of the first hotels to be built in Vernon and is certainly the longest lasting as it still exists today in the form of a sports-themed restaurant known as “The Kal”. It was completed in 1892, the same year that Vernon was incorporated as a city and that the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway reached Vernon and Okanagan Landing and connected them to the great transcontinental railway.
The OHSR of 1935 (p.163) records: “When the new hotel was built in 1892 by T. E. Crowel and J. Holland for the townsite company, the Okanagan Land and Development Company, it was suggested that a suitable name for it would be Kalamalka, the name of an Indian living on what was then the Indian Reserve at the end of Long Lake and of the range bordering the lake. The name then was frequently pronounced, Tanamalka.”
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| Vintage postcard of the early Kalamalka Hotel |
Thus the hotel was named “Kalamalka” long before the lake itself. In fact some think that it was some clever marketing by the Hotel, or perhaps just its local notoriety, that influenced the re-naming of Long Lake (as it was then known) to Kalamalka. The locals were already calling it “Kalamalka” in the mid 1930’s and as one person of that day wrote: “…as there are now twenty-four other Long Lakes in British Columbia, it is to be hoped the new name for the lake will be adopted.” (OHSR 1935, p.165). The lake was officially re-named Kalamalka in the early 1950’s.
An interesting story is told of how two teenage girls whose father once owned the hotel became responsible for the modern day spelling of “Kalamalka”:
“The name, however, as it appeared on the hotel stationery after the hotel was opened was, Kalemalka, pronounced by some, Kaleem- alka, and this was the name the hotel went by for some years. After George R. Raymond took over the management of it he had the sign painted and put up which is still on the hotel. While it was being prepared his daughters, two charming young girls of about 15 and 16 years of age, the eldest, Ethel… and the younger, Elvie, … took a hand in what was going forward and insisted that the name was improperly spelled; that the "e" should be changed to an "a".
Their father at first rather demurred, and the two girls invoking alliteration's artful aid, appealed to the old-timers, or rather to as many of them as they knew, to know if they were not right in their contention. Truth compels us to state that the old-timers went over in a body onto the side of the girls, and the girls carried the day, and the new form of the word soon came into general use.” (OHSR 1935, p.163-164)
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| The Kalamalka Hotel c.1913 |
The Kalamalka Hotel was a centre of social and business activity in early Vernon with many of the most prominent citizens either patronizing the hotel or even living there. All types of community events, entertainment shows and official banquets were held there. Lord Aberdeen, the Governor General of Canada and one time owner of the Coldstream Ranch, was known to patronize the hotel and the story is told of his brother-in-law, Dudley Coutts Majoribanks, would ride his horse up the stairs and into the lounge when he wished to get a drink.
The Kalamalka Hotel was originally a grand place for this small western town costing the princely sum of $16,000 when it was built. However, as one history lover commented in 1980: “The Kalamalka Hotel downtown lost its two top floors this year to "progress." The hotel has now been deprived of its original beauty and has become just another of the plain square buildings which comprise most of the downtown area.” (OHSR 1980, p48)
Thankfully, in spite of the changes, this integral piece of Okanagan history still exists.
For more historical information please check out our booklet
and Facebook page: "Kalamalka: A History"
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