The Ahwahnee Hotel

I worked here in a variety of jobs: room clerk, host in the dining room, and even a busboy at The Bracebridge Dinner* Some employees working at the hotel had meals as part of their salary. We ate in the "sidehall", a dining room off of the dining room kitchen. And Wow, what great meals being the same food the hotel guests received, although sometimes from the day before. But, sure enough, some employees complained . . .

*In 2000, my wife and I attended The Bracebridge Dinner as guests of the Honorary Squire, Robert Barbee, and enjoyed this Christmas pageant from the other side of the swinging doors leading to the kitchen.

The Housekeeping Camp

The Housekeeping Camp was one of the places I worked during my summers in Yosemite. The camp consists of tents with wood stoves and cooking utensils while Camp Curry up the road provided tent "cabins" alone. The Housekeeping Camp could accommodate as many people as Curry or Yosemite Lodge. I started there as a room clerk, then chief clerk, and finally as manager for three summers. If you got a tent along the Merced River, you had a nice view of Half Dome and/or Yosemite Falls.

Yosemite Valley in Winter

My first National Park experience! I worked for the Yosemite Park & Curry Company for six summers and two winters. I had all sorts of jobs from refreshment stand attendant my first summer in 1956 to assistant manager of Yosemite Lodge my final winter of 1961-1962.