The Ahwahnee Hotel was completed in 1927 (to the tune of $1.5 million) to provide accommodations in Yosemite National Park fitting for visiting dignitaries who didn't want to "rough it". The Ahwahnee was not the first hotel constructed in Yosemite with this in mind, but it was the first designed to last. It is almost completely constructed of stone, concrete, and steel so that it would not meet the same doom as previous hotels in Yosemite - fire. The exterior facade of the Ahwahnee is constructed of poured concrete shaped and stained to resemble redwood. The only large wood construction in the hotel is the dining room which comfortably sits over three hundred.If you're wondering about the name: The Ahwahnee name comes from the language of the Miwok Indians who lived in Yosemite Valley. They called the Valley "Ahwahnee" which many people agree means "Gaping Mouth" (although there is some disagreement about this). The Miwoks residing in Yosemite called themselves the Ahwahneechee while Miwoks residing in the Mariposa region to the south referred to them as the "Yehemite" meaning "some among them are killers". This word was most likely corrupted into the English name "Yosemite".
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The next day, we toured the Ahwahnee Hotel kitchen with one of the sous chefs as our guide. It was explained to us that, just recently, the Ahwahnee kitchen had it's ventilation system upgraded. Prior to the $1.5 million (yep, the upgrade cost as much as the hotel's original price tag, ignoring inflation of course) upgrade, the kitchen temperatures would fluctuate from over 100&176;F (38&176;C) in the summer to below freezing in the winter. Now the kitchens are kept at an even 65 to 70°F. In the photograph below you can see the extremely high ceilings of the kitchen. The original architectural design intended for the hot air to have enough room to rise above the busy kitchen. The windows at the top were the only ventilation, allowing hot air to escape and cold air to be let in. Now that air conditioning has been installed, the temperature is no longer a problem, but it does create a great deal of noise.
One man handles all the room service at the Ahwahnee, whose 123 rooms aren't all inside the main building but include cottages as well. Later, when we saw this man rushing outside with a tray, we knew someone had called room service for lunch in one of the cottages.
The refrigeration room held several refrigerator chambers side by side (I counted four from where I stood, but was told there were more). The chambers were designed to allow air circulation between each one to promote even cooling. Prior to the availability of condenser units, at the beginning of each winter, the hotel staff would go out to Mirror Lake (about 1.5 miles away) and cut 500 pound (225 kg) blocks of ice from the frozen lake. These blocks would be hauled back to the hotel and stored under straw and sawdust. When the refrigerators needed "refilling", the blocks were lifted by a winch and slid into these doorways situated above each chamber. Each of these doorways led to compartments big enough for ten 500-pound blocks of ice.
The ice is no longer used and condensers take their place, but one of the original refrigerator doors is still in use. (The others have been replaced with modern insulated doors.) This door is most likely filled with sawdust for insulation and in the photo below, it's easy to see just how thick the door is.
All the bread in the hotel is prepared in the only remaining original oven. The oven, getting close to eighty years old, is (according to the head baker) the most accurate and precise oven in the facility and beats all the new convection and conventional ovens. However, a sign hanging on the oven asks politely that you "Never Turn Off This Oven". The baker says it takes anywhere from four to six hours for the oven to heat up, so they don't turn it off. When asked if the heating elements will ever wear out through the constant use, the baker responded after a pause: "I don't think they'll wear out."
The pastry chef at the Ahwahnee is excellent, but she often finds that many people want to bring in their own cakes for weddings (which the Ahwahnee hosts about 300 per year). More often than not, these wedding cakes have fallen over or been crushed while been brought up to Yosemite over winding and bumpy roads. Sometimes, the cakes can be fixed, but other times the pastry department goes into overdrive to create a brand new cake. Should have ordered the cake from the Ahwahnee in the first place... Below, an assistant prepares pastry dough for the evenings countless pies.
That afternoon, the kitchen was in full swing preparing for the evening's special dinner. The following series of photographs show what little I was able to capture during my tour:
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congrats on your nomination for best food blog!
Most of the other employees were recently returned Vietnam vets who were self-medicating with various hallucinogens. Ah, the days cleaning up after Sunday brunch (and a 300-seat dining room) when peaking on mescaline.
The place was still being run by an outfit called "The Curry Company" (before the gangsters at MCA took over the franchise and whoever has it now), and though we were only being paid $1/hour (plus room and board), the employee meals were consistently the best I've ever eaten in my life.
What a treat seeing that great kitchen again.
I know that is a shock to those who work at the Ahwahnee, but it's true.
Chief Tenaya was the founder of the "Pai-Ute Colony" of Ahwahni and he spoke a "Piute Jargon". He was born at Mono Lake and there is no proof that the Ahwahnees were Miwuks.
Also Yosemite just means "The Killers" and not "Some of them were Killers". The word Yosemite was termed by Miwuks who were frightened of the Yosemites.
http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/153
Here are the real Ahwahnees above.
The name Ahwahni was part of a creation story.
The Hotel should be burned. Thers to much infrastructer in the Valley.
PS: I met an old men working as a cleaner or wahever at the Hotel entrance and he didnt seem to be so unhappy about his job, though he was a very nice person. Thats my only own experience about the hotel.
The Hotel should be burned. Thers to much infrastructer in the Valley.
PS: I met an old men working as a cleaner or wahever at the Hotel entrance and he didnt seem to be so unhappy about his job, though he was a very nice person. Thats my only own experience about the hotel.
I think your experience is summed up in your first sentence. You HAVE NO experience with the hotel's restaurant. I can't say anything about your meeting with a member of their custodial staff because I wasn't there. Did you ever stay at the hotel, or were you just wishing you did?
Having been there twice, I can say it was a wonderful experience.
This is the name of the photo ( Dining room inside the Ahwanhnee (the fancy hotel) Photos by Joshua Uziel
Thanks Jean tansley
I worked both wait staff and as a sommelier. It was a tremendous experience. And yes I remember the FURY although I thought that was the name of the man who ran the dishwasher.
One summer we had bear cubs wander in because the doors were open. The tourists ran toward the cubs. The staff had more sense because baby bears mean mama bears and ran for the back.
I remember cleaning up after lunch and having several tour buses unload tourists from Japan and three of us trying to serve 100 people on the fly using our minimal Japanese that we had learned working there.
And I will never forget the man from New York who thought I filled his water glass too full and poured it on me instead of politely asking me to remove it and bring another to his liking. He was escorted out of the dining room.
I also remember afternoons doing wine tastings with the best and brightest from Napa Valley so we could accurately describe the wines to our guests.
And one day I even served photographer Ansel Adams.
There is, debatedly, nothing quite as pleasurable in this world as waking up in the campground, or the Valley 'ghetto'/shantytown of Housekeeping Camp, and walking over to the 'hotel' and stroll into that magnificent stone palace.
Remember, it's more about the place than it is the food. Usually the food is good, not great. Dinner is a whole 'nuther beast. It's when the gentry make their appearance and partake in 'fine dining' with all that it entails.
Give me breakfast, or even the hordes at Sunday brunch. Leave dinner and lodging to the 1%ers. If you are of such means, well count your blessings. If you've got a coupla hundred dollars to burn, dinner can be a very lovely experience. A coupla thou and have a nice coupla days and nights.