The Capri Motor Inn and O’Doul’s opened in the early 1970’s under the ownership of a Vancouver legend – Tommy O’Bryan. The restaurant was a huge success, famous for its Irish coffees, Eggs Benedicts, ferns, overhead trains and friendly atmosphere. Tommy named the restaurant after Lefty O’Doul, a baseball player with a batting average to rival Ty Cobb’s and a reputation as a wonderful guy. He played in the Pacific Coast League and lived in Vancouver in the mid-1950’s when Tommy met him.

Tommy sold the property to the Springer-Molthagen family of Vancouver and they swung into action – tearing the building down in 1985 and wisely reopening in May 1986 just in time for the wildly popular Expo ’86. The new hotel was an immediate hit on the Vancouver hotel and restaurant scene winning countless awards for its design and calibre and having no trouble keeping itself full.

In 1992 the Hotel was sold to Listel Canada, a company wholly owned by the innovative Suzuki family of Tokyo. They’ve owned it ever since.

In the late 1990’s, while renovating about half of the Hotel’s rooms, a decision was made to focus on the arts and artists. Soon jazz became a nightly event, original and limited artwork was hung in rooms and public hallways, poetry was etched in windows, books were published and CDs produced. We love being known as Vancouver’s “most art-full hotel” and “a cultural tourist’s dream”!