The Wi-Fi password is “Mother” and and the contact email is “askfornorman at thebaitsmotel.ca”. We made up the first one, but the second is 100% true and is on their webpage. We love old-school motor courts and the Baits Motel in Spences Bridge British Columbia is a beauty. There’s the long single-story L-shaped building archetype and rooms that open directly onto the parking lot. This is design quite common for new construction in the 1950s and 1960s period.
An attached residence for the manager was also a thing back then and the Bates Motel has it. The phone booth out front is the cherry on top but it wasn’t in working order.
There was not much going on this day, and that no cars were seen in the lot suggests plenty of vacancies. It was incidentally, October 31st, so Halloween.
The Baits Motel name is of course, a play on the famous Bates Motel of movie and TV fame. It also speaks of the fine fishing in the area and the mighty Thompson River is just behind our shooting position. You know we love places like this and if we’re ever in Spences Bridge overnighting, you know where we’re staying.
“Well, a boy’s best friend is his mother.” – Norman Bates. He loved her…to death.
Short Subjects: Reports a few paragraphs in length and brief in nature. Think silly little snippets, vignettes and things of that sort. You’ll be in and out in no time.
Slideshow! A roadtrip with J Crossley in and around Nelson BC, 1954.
Where do we start? There's the tug Grant Hall, the Canadian Pacific's Nelson shops, downtown Nelson looking all pretty, the Tillicum Inn in Balfour (the Dock n Duck sits there now) plus, the ferries Balfour and Anscomb. Wow!
Crossley shot on Kodachrome (bless his soul) & this film is well regarded for its vivid colours, and stability. This fellow spent a lot of time in the West Kootenay region & we'll share more as we go.
We've yet to ID the church, nor do we know the location of the park (Nelson waterfront?). Perhaps some readers will know...
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You've not known suffering until you've had a BeauSejour "Canadian Port" hangover. For jug-wine aficionados, it was the mother of all cheap drunks, but the next day was always payback.
- BS was the go-to for broke, barely legal drinkers of the 1980s looking for a cheap buzz (in our circles anyway). - It was thick like pancake syrup & twice as sweet, it had the colour of cherry Koolaid & being fortified, it could double as rocket fuel. - High in alcohol & sugar - what could go wrong? - But, we still have our vision, so it couldn't have been that bad. - Calling it port is an insult to the fine people of of Porto & the Douro region of Portugal. - We haven't seen it in decades, so this was a bit of a flashback. I feel a pounding headache coming on! - This empty jug was found in a old church converted into a jam space for musicians (small town SK). That explains everything. Note the collection plate on the left.
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Coal cars from a Red Deer River Valley mine that closed in the 1950s. (photo 2013).
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path.
- This mine operated from 1935-1956. - In that time it produced over 1.7 million tonnes of coal (Alberta Energy Regulator) and while that's nothing by modern pit-mine standards, it's still a lot of coal. - By the time of our visit, only some coal cars and dumped waste material were left. In previous visits going back to the 1990s, there was more. - This mine, the Commander, was one of dozens and dozens that once operated in the Drumheller area. - Mining kept many locals employed, but the market dried up a decade or so after World War Two. - The coal mined here was for domestic use, so for home heating and cooking. - The land is private property.
The Trafenic Stone House over 100 years apart (updated).
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path.
- It was built over a period of many years, using local river stones and clay. - The Then photo shows it partly constructed about 1910. - The house was vacated by the Trafenics only a few years after completion. - That's Joseph Trafenic holding the board in the old photo (thanks Kathy). - Old records speak of it being a derelict state even in the 1960s. - The land is private property.
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