In this episode of Radio Royal York broadcast on August 4, 2009, host Melanie Coates talks to five former employees of the Fairmont Royal York.

Vince Wise, Tom Gray, Joseph and Catharine Whorms, and Louis Janetta have great stories to tell, making for a light and lively trip down memory lane.

All five were fêted at a special 80th Anniversary luncheon hosted by General Manager and Regional V.P., Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Heather McCrory, and Hotel Manager, Craig Reaume, at EPIC Restaurant.

Show Notes:
Ninety-six-year-old Vince Wise, a bellboy when the Fairmont Royal York opened in 1929, is a wonderful storyteller. Vince talks about life behind the velvet rope during the first decades of the hotel’s existence. Tom Gray, the former VP of Sales & Marketing tells us about the hazards of commuting to work by bike in the 1930′s while Joseph and Catharine Whorms recount how they met, and then married, while working at the Fairmont Royal York. Louis Janetta, the former maitre’d of The Imperial Room and a friend to many of the stars who touched down in Toronto over a four decade period, closes off the episode.