The Famous Tiger Skin from The Bengal Lounge... Missing or Not?
While every grand hotel has legendary tales, many turn out to be more fiction than fact, and the Fairmont Empress is no exception. Their unusual stories involve everything from royals to guests to golf, and range from mildly eccentric to downright cheeky, to at times, sheer madness.
From spectres in the halls to John Wayne “teaching” bartenders how to mix drinks, the grand dame of Victoria’s Inner Harbour has apparently seen it all… or has she? In fact, along the way, some people mixed a few tall tales in with the facts; and in this post we will separate some popular myths from their folklore counterparts.
So read each tale, decide for yourself what’s true and what’s the product of time and oversized imaginations, and then go to the end to find out - beginning with the night in 1957 when the Russian satellite Sputnik was going to pass over Victoria.
It turns out during this evening that Princess Margaret was visiting Victoria and staying at the Empress. Rumour has it she convinced the Empress staff to allow (or assist) her in climbing a set of unstable steps to the rooftop (on a dark and windy night, no less) so she could view the satellite as it shot past the hotel in the dark of the late night sky. T or F?
During the 1950s, comedian Bob Hope would request suite 330, as he felt the carpet in the room and adjacent hallway was ideal to practice his putting into shot glasses, many of which were constantly being broken. Because Bob Hope used the room so much that for many years its official title was “The Bob Hope Suite”, and his picture even adorned the wall. T or F?
In 1937, hotel staff received instructions to be discreet about a famous guest who was hiding in the hotel, along with bodyguards, to prevent her kidnapping in California. The guest was child actor Shirley Temple, who at the time was just eight years and at the height of her fame. Once the kidnapping plot was foiled, Temple got a tour of Victoria by the Victoria P.D. before returning home. T or F?
Introduced in the mid 1960s, the Empress’s Bengal Lounge was one of Victoria’s most upscale (re: pricey) watering holes that boasted a colonial-styled theme, complete with rich polished wood, leather armchairs, large bamboo ceiling fans, and a beautiful mounted tiger skin that hung above the fireplace. However, when the lounge closed in 2016 for renovations, someone stole the tiger skin despite 24-hour security and surveillance cameras, and they never found the thief. T or F?
Speaking of the Bengal Room, in the summer of 1974, John Wayne–The Duke himself–docked his yacht “The Wild Goose” in the Inner Harbour, then made his way up to the Empress’s cocktail lounge where he persuaded staff to let him get behind the bar and mix his signature cocktail for unsuspecting guests for the next hour. T or F?
Suspended over guests’ heads in the hotel's lobby hangs a chandelier made up of several individual pieces representing the petals of a deconstructed rose. The petals are made of hand-woven mesh, and collectively they hold 250,000 hand-cut crystals – this much is a fact. However, unsuspecting guests standing directly below might be surprised to learn the chandelier dangling precariously above their heads, secured by just a few wires, weighs approximately three tons... or does it? T or F?
And finally, in 2001, Nick Burchill arrived at the Empress carrying a suitcase packed with Brothers Pepperoni, a Halifax delicacy for his navy buddies stationed in Victoria. With no fridge in the room, he opened his window and laid the pepperoni on a table to stay cool before taking a walk in the harbour.
Upon his return, he found approximately 40 seagulls inside, who’d completely destroyed the room, as well as left reminders of the spicy pepperoni, which had made its way through their systems. The Empress's staff, understandably unimpressed, banned him from ever returning. In 2018, Burchill returned to The Empress and begged for forgiveness, even offering some Brothers Pepperoni as a peace offering. They said yes. T or F?
Nic Burchill returns to the Empress in 2018 and shares his story with desk agents
(F) Of course, Queen Margaret never climbed onto the roof of the Empress!
(T) Bob Hope (along with pal Bing Crosby) was a frequent guest of the hotel
(T) Shirley Temple did indeed wait out her kidnapping ordeal at the Empress
(T) One night, someone stole the tiger skin, and no one has seen it since
(T) To the delight of staff and guests, Wayne spent an hour behind the bar mixing drinks
(F) The chandelier weighs two tons, not three–still, that’s a lot!
(T) Of course it’s all true! You can’t make this stuff up!