Yale Hotel owner strikes heritage deal with city Tentative agreement includes bonus density and the retention of low-income housing Glen Korstrom Business in Vancouver January 22-28, 2008 Will Lin’s dream to replace Vancouver’s aging Cecil Hotel with a 25-storey residential tower while upgrading the adjacent historic Yale Hotel is inching closer to reality. The Rize Alliance Properties owner, who bought the Yale Hotel for approximately $10 million in mid-2006 and the Cecil Hotel for “millions” of dollars soon afterward, has reached a tentative agreement with City of Vancouver planners for his 20,000-square-foot Granville Street site at the north end of the Granville Bridge. “The deal now is that we have a report to council as a major project coming down the pike, and it’s going to be seeking council approval soon,” said Lin. “There’s a heritage revitalization agreement involved where we would upgrade and retain the Yale Hotel and the commercial space, the Yale pub. It will be designated a heritage building when completed.” Lin’s tentative agreement with city staff requires that he retain and upgrade 44 subsidized housing rooms at the Yale that have single-room occupancy (SRO) zoning. Lin will give those rooms to the city when his proposed project is complete. In exchange, he expects the city to allow him to build a 165,000-square-foot tower. Current density rules provide for a maximum 100,000-square-foot tower. Lin presented his case to a City of Vancouver urban design panel on December 19, and that panel urged Lin to redesign his tower to be a taller and more slender 255 to 260 feet tall instead of its originally proposed 225-foot height. Lin must get city approval to change the site’s zoning from “downtown district” to “comprehensive development.” He fears delays from the city’s backlogged rezoning department could scuttle the project. see Cecil Hotel

info from the Yale's website, www.yalehotel.ca

The Yale Hotel began in the mid 1880's as a CPR bunkhouse where workers relaxed after clearing land for the new community of Vancouver. On June 13, 1886 an unusually strong blast of wind set fire raging through the city. In less than 45 minutes 1,000 wooden structures were destroyed. The Yale, separated by bush from the main area of Vancouver, was one of the few that survived.

Soon after that dramatic event, the Yale became a popular gathering place for the community. The building was refurbished and by 1889 was renamed the Colonial Hotel. It served miners, loggers, fishermen and CPR workers who trudged up an Indian trail in the woods from False Creek. There was a stable below the street level for the occasional carriage trade.

By night, the hotel became a haunt for the workers and their friends. Yaletown had a reputation for wild nightlife, and the activity at the Colonial was supposedly the wildest. The hotel was named the Yale again in 1911.

Meanwhile, deep in the southern United States, the black culture gave birth to the blues. Rhythm and blues is perceived in many ways. Sometimes glamorous, sometimes heart-wrenching, the blues wound its way through the history of America and emerged as a Canadian tradition at the Yale.

Today, after more than two decades of this tradition, the Yale is the focal point for rhythm and blues in Western Canada. The icons of traditional blues, as well as new talent, come by to play and jam. Pop stars and screen personalities frequent the Yale to hear their R&B idols. As well, the Yale recently built its own precision engineered recording studio. In the basement, where stable boys used to groom the horses, the Yale today records live performances to promote up-and-coming local blues players and to raise funds for charities.

Hundreds of legendary blues performers have graced the stage at the Yale. Here is a small sample, selected by staff as their top twenty all-time favourites:
John Lee Hooker, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Shemekia, Jeff Healey, Jim Byrnes, Buddy Miles, Long John Baldry, John Hammond, Pinetop Perkins, Gatemouth Brown, Powder Blues, Canned Heat, Maria Muldour, James Cotton, Eddy Clearwater, Koko Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Honeyboy Edwards, Chambers Brothers, Downchild Blues Band

Some other names of note who have played or jammed at the Yale:
John Candy, Supertramp, Jimmy Page, Tommy Chong, Colin James, Big Brother and the Holding Company, George Thorogood, Lee Aaron, Jim Belushi, John Savage, The Tea Party, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brian Adams, Burton Cummings, Buckwheat Zydeco, Savoy Brown

And then there's the stars who come by to hang out and listen:
Otis Rush, Amanda Marshall, Sheryl Crow, U2, Glen Fry (Eagles), Steve Winwood, Paul Schaffer (Letterman), Patrick Swayze, Rebecca De Mornay, Leonard Skynard Band

Circa 1944 - City of Vancouver archives