By WAHEEDA HARRIS
John Lennon Suite at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, site of the famous 1969 "bed-in" (Photo: Fairmont Hotels & Resorts)
Whether spectacular, notorious, or just plain odd, these hotels all have a story to tell.
One served as a backdrop for a rare Marilyn Monroe photo shoot when she was at the height of her fame, another was the site of John and Yoko’s legendary “bed-in” in the ’60s, still others were hideouts for bootleggers and recluses.
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont/banffsprings">FAIRMONT BANFF SPRINGS</a><br /> Banff, Alberta<br /> <br /> <br /> This <a href="http://www.where.ca/listings/listing_detail.php?slug=fairmont-banff-springs-58">former Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel</a> became the convalescent home for 27-year-old actress Marilyn Monroe in 1953, who was injured while filming River of No Return in Banff and the site of a rare photo shoot—some images taken with her then-boyfriend baseball player Joe DiMaggio—by LOOK magazine photographer John Vachon. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/14/marilyn_n_1011628.html">See a slideshow</a> of some of those photos at HuffingtonPost.com. The full set was published in the book <em>Marilyn, August 1953: The Lost LOOK Photos.</em>
- Photo © The Estate of John Vachon/Dover Publications, Inc
- Marilyn Monroe Convalescence Hotel (1953)
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- Photo © The Estate of John Vachon/Dover Publications, Inc
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont/royalyork">FAIRMONT ROYAL YORK</a><br /> Toronto, Ontario<br /> <br /> Opening in 1929 as the tallest hotel in the British Empire, the hotel featured a 12-bed hospital, 12,000-book library, 10 elevators, a bank, golf course and a concert hall with its own 50-ton pipe organ. The hotel has hosted more than 40 million guests; has featured megastars Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Eartha Kitt (among others) in its Imperial Ballroom; and has its own writer-in-residence, Christopher Heard author of <em>The Suite Life</em>.
- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Tallest Hotel in the British Empire (1929)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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- <a href="http://www.westinbayshore.com">THE WESTIN BAYSHORE</a><br /> Vancouver, British Columbia<br /> <br /> Business magnate and eccentric Howard Hughes chose this hotel to be his home away from home for several months in 1972, and his entourage included a huge personal staff, guaranteeing Hughes wouldn’t have to speak to or see any of the hotel staff during his stay. When he called to book the hotel's top four floors (en route to the hotel in his private plane), the manager <a href="http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/31353159.html">allegedly told Hughes</a> the rooms were full. Hughes responded, "If I don't get the rooms, I'm buying the hotel."
- Photo: Ian Robertson/Starwood Hotels
- Howard Hughes' Hideout (1972)
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- Photo: Ian Robertson/Starwood Hotels
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont/jasper">FAIRMONT JASPER PARK LODGE</a><br /> Jasper, Alberta<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.where.ca/listings/listing_detail.php?slug=fairmont-jasper-park-lodge-72">The lodge</a> was chosen by director Billy Wilder as the location for the film <em>The Emperor Waltz</em>, starring Joan Fontaine and Bing Crosby. During his stay in 1947, Crosby won the Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club Totem Pole Tournament and was photographed with a bear, which is displayed in the hotel.
- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Bing Crosby–Billy Wilder Movie Location (1948)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont/lakelouise">FAIRMONT CHATEAU LAKE LOUISE</a><br /> Lake Louise Alberta<br /> <br /> Originally a single cabin constructed for guests of the Banff Springs Hotel to enjoy Lake Louise, the <a href="http://www.where.ca/listings/listing_detail.php?slug=fairmont-chateau-lake-louise-63">former Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel</a> was an early "Hollywood North" as the location for <em>Eternal Love,</em> starring John Barrymore in 1929, and <em>Springtime in the Rockies,</em> with Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda in 1942. It was also a popular destination for royalty from England, Denmark, Jordan and Monaco.
- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Classic Hollywood Film Hot Spot (c. 1929–1942)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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- <a href="http://www.westincalgary.com/">WESTIN CALGARY</a><br /> Calgary, Alberta<br /> <br /> Restaurant manager Walter Chell invented the Caesar cocktail—tomato juice blended with mashed clams, lime, Worcestershire sauce and celery salt—for the then Calgary Inn’s new Italian restaurant in 1969. The drink was inspired by the spaghetti <em>vongole</em> (with clams) of Chell's Italian heritage, and is still a source of pride for the hotel’s Liquid Lounge.
- Photo: Courtesy of Starwood Hotels
- Birthplace of the Bloody Caesar (1969)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Starwood Hotels
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- <a href="http://www.walper.com">THE WALPER HOTEL</a><br /> Kitchener Ontario<br /> <br /> Originally built in 1820 and rebuilt in 1893, this Victorian-style hotel has many stories to tell, including hosting nearly every Prime Minister, housing smuggled liquor from notorious bootlegger Al Capone (the former liquor cellar is now, fittingly, the Rum Runner pub) and having been the first local structure to use hydroelectric power.
- Photo: Courtesy of the Walper Hotel
- Al Capone's Bootlegging Hideaway (c. 1919–1933)
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- Photo: Courtesy of the Walper Hotel
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- <a href="http://www.sylviahotel.com">THE SYLVIA HOTEL</a><br /> Vancouver, British Columbia<br /> <br /> Originally constructed as an apartment building, the Sylvia Court Apartments were transformed into an apartment hotel in 1936. They were popular accommodations for many merchant mariners after World War II and the first cocktail bar in Vancouver was opened here in 1954.
- Photo: SqueakyMarmot
- Vancouver's First Cocktail Bar (1954)
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- Photo: SqueakyMarmot
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- <a href="http://www.saint-antoine.com">AUBERGE SAINT-ANTOINE</a><br /> Quebec City, Quebec<br /> <br /> On Îlot Hunt in Quebec's Old Port, the <em>auberge</em> is on the site of a former wharf, cannon battery and a centre for British merchants. When the building was renovated, numerous archaeological artifacts were found, some dating back to the 1600s, now on display at the hotel’s museum.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.where.ca/blog/sleepover/perks-quirks-auberge-saint-antoine-quebec/"><em>Read more about the Auberge Saint-Antoine's history.</em></a>
- Photo: Pablo Monteagudo
- Archaeological Find (1600s)
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- Photo: Pablo Monteagudo
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont.com/frontenac">FAIRMONT LE CHÂTEAU FRONTENAC</a><br /> Quebec City, Quebec<br /> <br /> The château became a political retreat during World War II as the site of the Quebec Conference, which hosted PM William Lyon Mackenzie King, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The hotel was also chosen by director Alfred Hitchcock as a location for <em>I Confess</em> (1953), starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter.
- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Hitchcock Film Location (1953)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont.com/laurier">FAIRMONT CHÂTEAU LAURIER</a><br /> Ottawa, Ontario<br /> <br /> This venerable building is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2012, and has been integral in Ottawa’s history as home to the Canadian Broadcasting Centre offices from 1924 to 2004, the residence of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau when he was a Member of Parliament and home and photo studios of photographer <a href="http://www.karsh.org/">Yousuf Karsh</a>.
- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- Historic Home of the CBC (1924–2004)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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- <a href="http://www.fairmont.com/queenelizabeth">FAIRMONT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HOTEL</a><br /> Montreal, Quebec<br /> <br /> The Queen Elizabeth Hotel became an integral part of pop culture history as the chosen spot in 1969 by recent newlyweds John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a week-long "bed-in" to draw media attention to their anti-war beliefs. The couple did interviews from the hotel rooms and had guests drop by including Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers and Dick Gregory.
- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
- John and Yoko "Bed-In" (1969)
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- Photo: Courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
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