After more than half a century of owning and operating the iconic Westlock Hotel, John Golonowski has decided to hang it up and retire.
As of May 1 Golonowski sold the building to its new owners, ending a 55-year run at the helm of the downtown landmark.
It was in 1960 when a 38-year-old Golonowski was looking for a new career, something different from the hardware business he had previously been involved with. Having no experience in the hotel industry didn’t deter him.
“I was in the hardware business and the livestock business,” he said. “I came here from Two Hills, I had a partner at that time and he said ‘let’s buy the Westlock Hotel.’ So we bought it.
“I thought I would change from hardware and livestock when I bought the hotel and I’ve been there since.”
Golonowski, now 93, managed the hotel until the end of April with help from his son Bob. His son’s desire to step away from the business was the motivating factor to sell.
“Fifty-five years is enough,” he said. “My son Bob is 64 and he said he wants to slow down and semi-retire, and sell it, I said ‘Fine.’”
Over the 20-plus years that Bob ran the hotel, Golonowski’s role slowly diminished, but he still showed up daily.
“I didn’t do much, I was kind of a gopher boy there, go for this, go for that, just little things that kept me busy,” he said.
At the time when he was looking to enter the hotel business, Golonowski said he scoured the province, north to south, in search of the perfect one to buy.
“We spent almost a year. I was driving with another guy, we went from northern Alberta to southern Alberta looking for hotels, and we finally ended up in Westlock,” he said. “We went to High Level, Dawson Creek, in the north, we went all around, Oyen, Hanna … every place.”
Golonowski recalls when he first bought the hotel the population of Westlock was about 1,800, a pint of beer cost 10 cents, and town roads had yet to be paved. As the only hotel in town, it was a busy time.
“The hotel was very busy. I had 36 rooms and they were filled by 10 a.m.,” he said.
Every weekend there was entertainment; people packed the hotel bar so much so that he had to renovate to accommodate the demand.
“The bar was filled every night, it was full. I had live entertainment, and people would line-up outside of the bar,” Golonowski recalls. “I couldn’t believe how busy we were. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday there were line ups because we were full … you have no idea.”
“We had the lobby there, we had to push the lobby out to the front east side, and open everything bar.”
In 1971 Golonowski added the liquor store to the hotel, which also again required some renovation work.
In the mid-1970s came some competition for the Westlock Hotel and business slowed down a bit. Golonowski said it was then that he converted several of his rooms into bachelor suites.
“We had all those rooms, so I made 12 bachelor suites from those 36 rooms and eight every-day rentals,” he said.
Reflecting back Golonowski said the best years for the hotel were between 1960 and 1980. As for what he will remember most about the hotel, it’s the people.
“The people, the customers, they were all good,” he said.
Aside from owning the hotel, Golonowski served as mayor of Westlock for two terms and was president of the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association and then the Hotel Association of Canada.
“We had conventions every year. You become a director, then vice-president and president, and for the Canadian association, when I finished Alberta, they appointed me for Canada,” he said. “I travelled twice a year through all the provinces from Newfoundland to British Columbia. It was very interesting.
“We went to Ottawa because we wanted to have an office there. We met with John Crosbie and we had a good meeting. He toured us around the Parliament Building and all around.”
Before handing over the keys to the new owners of the hotel, Golonowski said he wished them the best of luck.
“I hope they make it, they should because the business is there,” he said. “They just have to work at it — I told them that.”
