It’s a story shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Fifty years ago, worldwide celebrity and billionaire Howard Hughes arrived in Vancouver.
Hughes, who was 66 at the time, was known for his work as a big-time film producer and revolutionizing the aviation and aerospace industry.
But when he arrived in Vancouver, he was battling drug addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hughes stayed for almost six months at the Bayshore Inn, now known as the Westin Bayshore Hotel.
But he never left his room and no one ever saw him. Stan Yip worked at the Westin Bayshore for 46 years and was working as a night bellman on March 14, 1972, when Hughes and his entourage showed up. “The night Howard Hughes arrived, they were in the back and they said ‘we’re going to come through the back door’,” Yip recalled. “And I said, ‘you’re going to have to come through from the tower, there’s a driveway in the tower’.