This menu gives no explanation of what an Indian in Sioux regalia is doing at the Banff Springs Hotel, but of course, none is needed: that’s what the tourists, conditioned by cowboy-and-Indian movies, wanted to see. In fact, authentic Blackfeet Indian headdresses tended to be more of the “straight-up” variety.
Click image to download a 2.7-MB PDF of this menu.
This hotel menu offered a wide range of entrées and a la carte items, including such items as poached eggs on spinach Mornay, corn on the cob, and fresh lobster. Dated August 21, 1939, the menu also advertised a concert in the Alhambra Dining Room at 7, movie shorts in Mount Stephen Hall at 9, and dancing in the ballroom at 10.
Click image to download a 848-KB PDF of this menu.
Our second menu today features the Banff Springs Hotel on the cover but was used in a dining car. We’ve seen this cover before on a 1946 lunch menu, but this one appears to be older. The interior design is a pattern used between 1938 and 1945, and since there is no mention of the war I suspect it is from the early part of this period.