Latest news with #Gibsons
CBC
16-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Premier Eby meets with Gibsons, Bowen Island mayors over B.C. Ferries frustrations
Premier David Eby met with the mayors of Gibsons and Bowen Island after the municipalities raised the alarm about what they say is a lack of service, communication and accountability from B.C. Ferries. Gibsons Mayor Silas White says the premier reassured them the province is aware of the problem.
CBC
14-05-2025
- CBC
B.C. Ferries neglecting ferry-dependent locals in favour of tourists, says Gibsons' mayor
Silas White, the mayor of Gibsons, responds to a BC Today caller from Salt Spring Island who says B.C. Ferries is not placing much importance on increasing service to small islands compared to routes from the B.C. mainland. White agrees with the caller and says the ferry corporation's messaging about improvements primarily targets tourists, when residents from ferry-dependent communities are the most concerned.
CBC
07-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Coastal mayors call on province to intervene amid ongoing B.C. Ferries disruptions
Social Sharing Anyone who takes B.C. Ferries regularly knows, at this point, that long weekend travel may not go as planned when using the ferry service. Vessels break down, sailings are delayed or cancelled, and long wait times are often the result— in some cases, even if you've booked a reservation. Two round-trip sailings from the Lower Mainland to the Sunshine Coast were cancelled over the Easter weekend after a vessel was brought in by tugboat due to a mechanical failure. "It's left residents and visitors to the island waiting hours to get on a ferry," Silas White, the mayor of Gibsons, B.C., told CBC's The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn. "Also, surprise cancellations ... leave visitors on the island stranded. And then folks on the mainland, whether it's our students or people that are at medical appointments or commuters stuck on the mainland are unable to get home." The years of unpredictability have prompted the mayors of Gibsons and Bowen Island, two coastal communities that rely on B.C. Ferries, to pen a letter to the province calling for action and accountability to ensure smooth sailing on critical routes. WATCH | Vessels out of service Easter weekend: B.C. Ferries says two ships out of commission for long weekend 20 days ago Duration 1:27 White said one of the biggest challenges is that there are a lot of entities that manage ferry service, and they often point fingers at one another. "If we have a major concern, whether it be missing an entire supplemental boat on a long weekend like we just had, or if we have just simply a minor concern like confusing signage or communications … there's no accountability," White said. First, there's the private company of B.C. Ferries itself, with a board of directors which oversees its operations. It also has a CEO, who "provides leadership and strategic direction." Then, there's the B.C. Ferry Authority, an independent, no-share capital corporation established and governed by the Coastal Ferry Act, responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of BC. Ferries in support of the public interest." Next, the B.C. Ferry Commission is the independent regulator of B.C. Ferries. Its job is to hold ferry service providers accountable for things like wage fares, capital projects and adhering to service contracts with the province. And finally, the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Transit is responsible for the transportation system across B.C. Confused yet? CBC News requested comment from each of the above entities. The ferry authority did not respond. The communications representative for the ferry commissioner said, "It is up to the government whether they want to include Commissioner [Eva] Hage in any discussions." In an emailed statement to CBC News, the ministry said it remains at "arms-length" from B.C. Ferries because it is a privately owned company. "It is our expectation that B.C. Ferries provides a reliable service that meets the needs of the communities they serve," the ministry said. B.C. Ferries efforts In an emailed statement to CBC News, a B.C. Ferries spokesperson said the company has been in touch with Leonard and White and plans to work on making the service more reliable. While cancellations and delays happen, the ferry service often points to its aging fleet as the reason for disruptions. Some of the ships are decades old. "The reality today is that we do not have enough spare vessels in the fleet to step in when something goes wrong, particularly during peak travel periods, so a single breakdown can ripple across multiple routes," the spokesperson said. WATCH | B.C. Ferries community feedback process goes digital: B.C. Ferries to replace community feedback process with digital model 5 months ago Duration 1:44 B.C. Ferries says a survey of 5,000 customers found more than 81 per cent would prefer engaging with the ferry operator digitally as opposed to the current method of advisory committees. But Diana Mumford, chair of the southern Sunshine Coast ferry advisory committee, says the digital model would exclude ferry users who are not online. B.C. Ferries has promised new vessels, although the commissioner only approved four of the five it requested. It announced upgrades at the Horseshoe Bay terminal, which serves people going to and from Bowen Island. In the long run, this is expected to help with passenger experience, but in the meantime, passengers are being told to expect construction on the terminal for "several years." The ferry service has also increased the number of walk-on passengers for select sailings to Snug Cove on Bowen Island to "help ease demand during peak periods, keep foot traffic flowing more smoothly through the terminal, and provide greater flexibility for customers." Bowen Island mayor Andrew Leonard isn't convinced it will help. "Even if passenger capacity increases, how meaningful is that if the ferries are running an hour to 90 minutes behind," he said. "If the underlying service is unreliable, not operating on schedule, and we're dealing with cancellations, I wonder how much of a benefit that's going to be." WATCH | Bowen Island residents demand answers from B.C. Ferries: Boaters demand answers after Bowen Island Ferry hits moored ships 3 months ago Duration 2:06 An investigation has been launched after the B.C. Ferries' vessel Queen of Capilano collided with moored boats at a private dock on Bowen Island on Sunday morning. As Belle Puri reports, the owner of one of the damaged boats fears it may never sail again. The letter, dated April 25, had not received a response as of May 6. The letter requests a written response by May 31. With the May long weekend just 10 days away, Leonard said municipalities are anxious. "We are anticipating some chaos."
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Greeny will always be Kirk Hammett's pride and joy. But this uber-rare 1959 Gibson ES-335 is a close second – and it has a surprising history
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Although he's best known as lead guitarist for the world's biggest metal band, in guitar circles Kirk Hammett has become as synonymous with collecting as he is with Metallica. His prize piece is Greeny, the famed 1959 Gibson Les Paul named after Peter Green and formerly owned by Gary Moore. But his collection runs the gamut of vintage collectables, from '50s Goldtops to Korina Flying Vs and, of course, his own stage-used guitars. Now a new book, The Collection: Kirk Hammett catalogs Hammett's rarest and most iconic pieces over 400 pages, including new and archive photography from Ross Halfin, and the history behind the guitars from Hammett himself and author, Gibson Editor-in-Chief Chris Vinnicombe. One of many notable examples in the tome is a 1959 ES-335 in a then-almost unheard-of factory black finish. This is its unlikely story. The following is an extract from The Collection: Kirk Hammett, now available from Gibson Publishing and reproduced with permission. Now here's something you don't see every day. Although black guitars are plentiful today, back in the vintage era, unless your Gibson guitar was a Les Paul Custom, a black finish would either have to be purchased through a dealer by special order or the result of an employee request. And when it comes to models such as the ES-335, original factory black examples are vanishingly rare, with perhaps as few as two or three known to exist. For a collector like Kirk, these are the guitars to get really excited about. 'The super-rare Gibsons, maybe one of two or three known to exist, that's the type of stuff I tend to gravitate to,' he says. 'Low supply, high demand. As a collector since I was five or six years old of like, comic books, toys… I just know that things like that will always hold their value. There will always be a demand, and as time goes on the demand gets bigger and bigger, which means more value or more worth. 'But I don't really think about the value or worth; I just like to think about how cool the instrument is.' And what is Kirk's favorite custom color from the 1950s and '60s? None more black, of course. 'If we're talking old-school? I love black Gibsons. They're just epic… there's nothing like a black guitar. A black guitar is like black clothing; every time you put it on, it goes with whatever you are wearing and it just means business.' Even the case for this guitar means business. Housed in a huge custom-fitted flightcase known as 'The Monolith,' Kirk has begun referring to his black '59 ES-335 by the same nickname, 'Because it's so big-sounding.' You can tell I've played it onstage because it has sweat stains all over it! Other than the addition of some gaffer tape to protect Kirk's picking hand from the sharp bottom corner of the pickguard, which has become characteristically warped with age, the guitar is in remarkable original condition. 'When I first got it, there wasn't as much yellowing as there is now,' he says of the guitar's body and fingerboard binding. 'It's only gotten more yellowing because it's seen more time out of the case. You can tell I've played it onstage because it has sweat stains all over it! But it's a killer. When I really think about it, and I'm really, really honest with myself, it's probably my second-best-sounding guitar.' Image 1 of 3 Image 2 of 3 Image 3 of 3 Kirk bought the guitar from a friend in London, but its previous home in Chicago provided a breadcrumb trail leading back to the Gibson stand at the NAMM Show (the annual convention held by the National Association of Music Merchants) in 1959. 'There's a famous picture of the 1959 NAMM Show in Chicago,' Kirk explains. 'There's a Flying V, a Les Paul, and right behind them is this guitar, sitting in the background. I'm 99 percent sure it's the same one, because the one I have came out of Chicago.' Thanks to a famous Luis Vuitton advertising campaign in 2008 featuring an iconic Annie Leibovitz portrait of Keith Richards in a hotel room with his original factory black ES-355, it's impossible to talk about rare black Gibsons without Keith coming up in the conversation. 'I wanted a black ES-335 ever since I saw Keith Richards' black ES-355,' Kirk admits. 'I suspect this is the guitar Keith has been looking for all of his life! It's one of my favorite guitars and it doesn't feed back. I've played it onstage, full fucking volume, hitting tremendous powerchords – super-full, no feedback. It holds up, man. 'Great rhythm sound, great lead sound, great clean sound. You can't go wrong with a 335. It sounds so big and full. It sounds like two guitars, really!' The Collection: Kirk Hammett is available now from Gibson Publishing in Standard hardcover, Deluxe slipcase and Custom boxset editions. See for more info.
New York Times
17-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Mark Grossich, Who Opened the Campbell Apartment and Other Luxe Bars, Dies at 74
Mark Grossich, a nightlife impresario who mined a lost era of New York opulence to create the Campbell Apartment at Grand Central Terminal and other upscale cocktail lounges in marquee Manhattan locations, died on Feb. 8 in Manhattan. He was 74. His death, which was not widely reported at the time, was in a hospital, from complications of Parkinson's disease, his daughter, Katherine McGehee, confirmed. As the founder and chief executive of Hospitality Holdings, Mr. Grossich, a former adman, sold not just icy Gibsons and pricey cigars but a retro-tinged vision of the luxe life, starting in the 1990s, when dot-com-era riches had New York's high rollers indulging in Roaring Twenties style (albeit with legal drinks). His places were popular among an elite crowd, but not a trendy one. 'Usually, trendy means loud and abusive and intense,' Mr. Grossich said in an interview in 1999 with The New York Times, which described him as wearing a custom double-breasted suit, an antique polka-dot pocket square and suede bench-made shoes. 'We do not want to be the flavor of the month or the year. We want to be in it for the long run.' Throughout the 1990s, Mr. Grossich and his partner, Raju Mirchandani, operated the popular Bar & Books chain of smoking lounges, with four locations in Manhattan. Riding the cigar boom of that period, these intimate spaces called to mind a Ralph Lauren fantasy of a country squire's study, complete with moody lighting, shelves of leather-bound books and a wide array of single-malt scotches. The pair eventually went their separate ways, dividing the properties. Mr. Grossich, who started Hospitality Holdings in 1998, kept Beekman Bar & Books near Sutton Place and Carnegie Bar & Books (now the Carnegie Club) near Carnegie Hall. In 1999, he made his biggest statement to date, reinventing the soaring office that the financier John W. Campbell had installed for himself on the first floor of Grand Central Terminal in 1923, modeled on a 13th-century Florentine palazzo. Although the space had lost its opulence after Mr. Campbell died in 1957, serving as a storage facility and jail, among other things, Mr. Grossich saw its potential and turned it into an ornate cocktail lounge, the Campbell Apartment. As The Times noted that year, his $1.5 million renovation included restoring the 30-foot-high wood-beamed ceilings and outfitting the space with a Moroccan-inspired rug and overstuffed banquettes set against stone walls. The place was soon packed with well-dressed tastemakers playing pool and sipping Jazz Age cocktails. 'With the Bar & Books we were manufacturing history,' Mr. Grossich told The Times. 'With the Campbell Apartment we could leverage the real thing.' Mark Chris Grossich was born on May 9, 1950, in Chicago, the elder of two sons of Christian and Phyllis (Ware) Grossich. After earning a bachelor's degree and a master's in marketing from Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill., he worked at the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi as an account executive. In 1991, he detoured into nightlife, opening Hudson Bar & Books in the West Village with Mr. Mirchandani. There were bumps along the way. When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed a law in 2002 banning smoking in bars and restaurants, it was less than welcome to a proprietor of cigar bars. 'It is unfair and unfortunate that these antismoking zealots compare smoking a cigar and a cigarette,' Mr. Grossich said later in an interview with Nation's Restaurant News. 'There's absolutely no comparison. Cigarette smokers are addicts. You will never see a cigar smoker use a lighted cigar to light up another one. There's a ritual and finesse to it, and it's relaxing.' Nevertheless, he remained undeterred. That year, Mr. Grossich opened the World Bar, a lounge on the ground floor of Trump World Tower, a residential behemoth across from the United Nations. Not long after it opened, the building's developer, Donald J. Trump, showed up with his then girlfriend Melania Knauss to check out the space, which was furnished with brass Giacometti-style cocktail tables and gold-colored upholstered banquettes with matching ottomans, as reported in an article in The Times. 'I go downtown a lot, and I own a lot downtown,' Mr. Trump was quoted as saying. 'But this is more me.' Eight years later, Mr. Grossich performed another feat of Manhattan landmark alchemy, opening the Empire Room, a 3,500-square-foot cocktail lounge in a former postal substation on the ground floor of the Empire State Building. Evoking the skyscraper's Art Deco style, the establishment featured silver-leaf-embellished walls, a curved marble bar and gleaming chandeliers. 'I feel like I'm giving the Empire State Building the cocktail lounge it deserves,' Mr. Grossich said in an interview with The Times. By that point, Hospitality Holdings had expanded to include its first restaurant, Madison & Vine, an American bistro and wine bar in the Library Hotel on Madison Avenue at East 41st Street, as well as Bookmarks, a rooftop lounge at the hotel. The company was bringing in $20 million a year, according to an article in 2010 on the trade site BizBash. In 2016, he opened the Empire Rooftop, a lounge atop the Empire Hotel across from Lincoln Center. The same year, Mr. Grossich lost the lease of the Campbell Apartment when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the terminal, signed Gerber Group, a New York hospitality company, to operate the space at a higher rent. (Mr. Grossich's company was unsuccessful in a lawsuit that argued that the bidding process had been unfair.) The company renamed it the Campbell Bar, abandoned its dress code and traded the air of insider exclusivity for a more commuter-friendly appeal. 'Before, it might have been on the stuffier side,' Scott Gerber, the chief executive of the group, said in an interview with The Times. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Grossich is survived by his brother, Keith, and a granddaughter. His marriage, to Elizabeth McGehee, ended in divorce in 2012. Over the years, he held fast to his vision, whatever hurdles stood in his way. After the city enacted its smoking ban, he applied for a special license that allowed unrestricted puffing at the Carnegie Club, as a large percentage of the venue's sales came from tobacco products. It remained a mecca for those who could discern the subtlest notes of a fine Cohiba. Sure, patrons could bring their own cigars instead of choosing from the club's carefully curated selection. But as Mr. Grossich said in an interview with The Times in 2014, he did not encourage the practice: 'That's a little like bringing your own eggs to a diner.'
