Paula E. Kirman and Brooke Leifso
The New West Hotel was long a landmark in the Stony Plain Road area. Located at 15025 111 Avenue, The New West Hotel opened in 1957 with what was at the time considered state of the art décor, and a restaurant with extensive seating and menu choices. New West had 36 rooms with picture windows and tastefully decorated light fixtures and bathrooms.1 It was strategically located along the Jasper Highway which stretched between Jasper National Park through Jasper Place and into Edmonton. It was part of a number of lodgings and accommodations that opened around the same time, including the Jasper Hotel, Alpine Motel, and Saxony Motor Inn.2
Many long-time Edmontonians may still remember New West’s retro exterior sporting signage for its lobby, restaurant, liquor store, and tavern. The venue also has a firm place in the musical history of Edmonton’s west end.
The New West Hotel was known for its sprawling facade. An attempt to expand the main floor in 1973 was refused by the Development Appeal Board (DAB).3 The hotel was turned down by DAB as well in 1977 on its request to add a second floor, this time for not meeting certain of the physical requirements.
Even into the early 90s, the hotel remained busy, with lots of patrons enjoying the bar, games room, and live entertainment. Things went downhill from there, with reviews from visitors indicating deterioration in the quality of the rooms, and the place having developed a reputation for being rough.4
Still, the New West continued to attract an audience for its frequent shows. The former incarnation of the hotel also boasted a sign offering “Entertainment Nightly.” Local and touring music acts, many of them in the country genre, took to the stage in the tavern.
Joyce Smith was a regular at the New West, with her old-timey country style. She spent some time in Nashville, including making a recording of “Leaving On Your Mind” for Columbia Records in 1962 that sold 100,000 copies (prior to Patsy Cline’s more popular version, her last single before her death), and later made her way to Texas with her husband, George Myren – a rodeo cowboy – where she worked with Bob Wills, known as the creator of western swing.5 Smith was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
Smith and Myren also played together in a band called Rodeo Wind. In an interview with JPCHP’s Brooke Leifso conducted in 2020, Smith said she played at the New West regularly until it closed after being purchased by new owners. Prior to that, New West was all country, all the time. “Thing about the New West, [it] always had good country music. It was the greatest social gathering place for musicians to visit and listen to the music and catch up to the latest gossip. Everyone went there to BS and just visit with each other.”
Circuit Rider was another band who played at the New West. The band made a living touring taverns and other smaller venues with their honky tonk sound. They were led by former Edmontonian Jim Walker, who played his final shows with the band at the New West in 2003, before embarking upon a solo career in the United States.6
Harry Rusk was a trailblazing performer who performed at New West, and other music venues in and around Edmonton. Rusk is believed to be the first Indigenous performer from Canada who played at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.7 Originally from Fort Nelson, British Columbia, he was a patient for a time at the notorious Charles Camsell Hospital. It was while he was a patient at the Camsell that he fell in love with country music and was inspired to become a musician, after the legendary Hank Snow paid a visit to the hospital while in the area for a show8.
The hotel eventually became known as The New West Hotel By Elevate Rooms Edmonton. In 2020, the new owners began multi-million dollar renovations. Until those renovations began, New West continued to have a busy restaurant serving classic dishes, a busy bar, and an enviable music scene. It was also known for the country music murals on the walls – no surprise, given the prevalence of country music in performances there.
Recalls Joyce Smith:
. . . people that owned it previously had done paintings on the walls of Nashville artists, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Dolly Parton. It was really neat . . . The last painting was a Stompin’ Tom, Merle Haggard, Dolly and George Jones, Willie Nelson – fantastic.
The New West never changed; it played country the day it opened until the day it closed. It was mostly Traditional Country, but there might have had a country-rock group once in a while. We had a few great episodes when you think about it.
While New West was known as an old-time country venue, the future of the place is as yet unclear. As of the writing of this article, renovations had not been completed and the building remains closed.
1“Hotel Providing Attractive Rooms” & “Cafe is Serving Excellent Meals.” Edmonton Journal, February 19, 1957.
2City of Edmonton and Donald Luxton and Associates, Inc., Jasper Place Historic Resources Inventory, February 2019, p. 24.
3“Hotel expansion plans rejected by appeal Board.” Edmonton Journal, April 25, 1977.
4“‘It was a swinging place’: Edmonton landmark hotel attempting to rise above recent history.” CTV Edmonton, April 15, 2020.
5“Country royalty Joyce Smith the real McCoy.” Edmonton Journal, March 3, 2000.
6“Walker on the road again – permanently, to Oregon.” Edmonton Journal, September 26, 2003.
7”Harry Rusk Receives Lifetime Achievement Award From Traditional Country Music Association.” Alberta Native News, October 7, 2015.
8”Singing Ranger was Harry Musk’s mentor.” Edmonton Journal, May 14, 1991.
Paula E. Kirman is a freelance writer who grew up, and still lives, near the Jasper Place area.
Brooke Leifso is an Edmontonian community-based artist and researcher for the Jasper Place Community History Project.
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