Like yesterday’s, this menu shows Victoria’s Empress Hotel on the cover, but in a much more modern treatment. The back cover has a lengthy description of the hotel, noting it has 570 rooms and that the hotel and grounds cover five acres of land. Its size makes it one of the most impressive sights seen by tourists arriving in Victoria by ferry.
Click image to download a 1.3-MB PDF of this menu.
This particular menu was used on an American Express “Banner Tour” in 1940. These tours covered a lot of ground: a typical one started in Chicago and went to St. Louis, Colorado Springs (meaning Pikes Peak), Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and the Columbia River Highway, Vancouver, Lake Louis and Banff, and back to Chicago. This route would require travel on six or seven different railroads.
The unpriced dinner menu offers full meals centered around broiled salmon Hollandaise, roast chicken, or veal cutlets. While coffee, tea, or milk are included with the meal, the other side of the menu makes it clear that sodas and mineral waters cost extra.