The Kalamalka Hotel · Vernon BC
Still standing. Still pouring.
Built for $19,000 by the Okanagan Land & Development Company and opened in 1892 — the year Vernon became a city — the Kalamalka Hotel has outlasted every other original public house in town. These photos come straight from the archives.
1892
A hotel for a brand-new city
The Kalamalka Hotel opens its doors the same year Vernon incorporates as a city and the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway first connects the valley to the rest of the country. Named in honour of Chief Kalamalka, it quickly becomes the social hub of a frontier town finding its feet.
1900s
The social hub of the Okanagan
Sternwheelers on Okanagan Lake, ranchers in from the grasslands, travellers off the train — sooner or later everyone passed through the Kal's dining room and saloon. Hotel guests upstairs, billiards and conversation downstairs.
1900s–1990s
Fire, rebuilds and a century of stories
The building burns and is partially rebuilt, changes hands, changes names, hosts hockey teams and homecomings — and never stops pouring. While the rest of Vernon's original hotels disappear one by one, the Kal keeps its doors open.
Today
Vernon's last original public house
A major heritage renovation brought the old girl into the modern era: a scratch kitchen partnered with local producers, around 100 wing flavours, the all-new Kal Arcade, and screens for every game — all inside the bones of 1892. The Kal is a piece of Vernon history you can still pull up a stool in.
130-some years in, the best way to experience the history is dinner and a pint in the middle of it.
