Tofino Hotel (Currently Tofino Sea Kayaking)
To continue this walk, walk east along Main Street to St. Columba Church at the corner of Main and Second Streets.
Tofino Hotel (Currently Tofino Sea Kayaking and Tofino Paddler’s Inn)
Tofino had its own hotel as early as 1913. Although it was not so grand as the hotel at Clayoquot, the White Wing Hotel certainly had visions of grandeur. Small print on the hotel’s elegant letterhead declared it as “The Tourist Resort of the West Coast of Vancouver Island” that offered “boating and launch parties” as well as “a splendid beach drive for automobiles”. (The first car did not arrive in Tofino until 1921). In reality, the White Wing Hotel was a building with just a few rooms perched on a scow on Tofino’s waterfront. It was next door to the White Wing Café.
By 1921, there was another hotel just up the slope from the White Wing— the Tofino Hotel. The Tofino Hotel’s early guests were prospectors from the mining hotspots of the day—Zeballos, Bear River, and Pioneer Mines.
The hotel had several owners over the years and an eclectic history. A table in the hotel dining room was the location of at least one emergency appendectomy, conducted by Dr. Robertson. (His wife, Marguerite, assisted, using her best tea towels, soaked in disinfectant, as surgical linens).
By late 1945, there was a lunch counter downstairs that was a popular teen spot. The counter ran along the left side of the room. One could sit and have a soda, milkshake or ice cream.
Although the original hotel burned down in the 1950s, it was rebuilt and today continues to operate as an inn, with rooms upstairs and a kayak rental and retail space below.
This site is also included in the Downtown Art Walk
