LAST CALL

Calgary’s East Village was, for many years home to an un-holy trinity of inner city Hotels, The King Edward, better known as “The Eddy”, The St. Louis and the Cecil. The St. Louis is legendary in Calgary for the night that the buddy of a rumpled, hard drinking local Television news reporter jokingly suggested a run at civic politics. The reporter’s name was Ralph Klein and he went on to become Premier of Alberta, the highest elected office in the Province. These little feral places always seemed in peril, slipping into shadows, then into darkness, and then disappearing. It was a little battle against time to preserve their stories of hope and despair as one after another they closed their doors.