The King Eddy closed in 2004, and plenty of buildings would have ended right there. This one got a second act.
The King Edward Hotel was built between 1905 and 1907 on 9 Avenue SE, in the stretch people called Whiskey Row. For decades it did what hotels in rough and ready railway towns do. Then, from the early 1980s, it found its calling as Calgary’s Home of the Blues. If you wanted live blues in this city, you went to the Eddy.
The hotel closed in 2004. The National Music Centre got involved with the site from 2008, and the plan grew bigger than anyone could have guessed. Studio Bell opened on Canada Day 2016, and the old hotel was woven right into it, with its brick carefully taken down and rebuilt as part of the new campus.
In July 2018 the King Eddy reopened as a restaurant, bar and live music venue. Inside, you’ll now find CKUA Calgary and the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. A rock and roll legend’s recording truck lives in a former blues hotel, and yes, that’s real.
It would have been easy to knock the place down and put up condos. Somebody decided the room still had songs in it, and Calgary got that right.
Grab a seat, order something good, and listen to the walls for a minute. You can check what’s on at kingeddy.ca and read the building’s backstory at studiobell.ca. Bring a friend who thinks Calgary has no history, and wait for the second song.
If this one hooked you, try Go sit in the King Eddy, Calgary’s home of the blues, then They took the King Eddy apart brick by brick. Or try Mahler, a sprinkler leak and a very Calgary opening night for a change of pace.
Quick answers
The King Eddy reopened in July 2018 as a restaurant, bar and live music venue. The old King Edward Hotel on 9 Avenue SE had closed in 2004. The National Music Centre got involved with the site from 2008, and the hotel brick was rebuilt as part of the Studio Bell campus.
The King Eddy sits on 9 Avenue SE in Calgary, in the stretch once called Whiskey Row. The King Edward Hotel was built between 1905 and 1907. Today the building is woven into Studio Bell, the National Music Centre campus, which opened on Canada Day 2016.
Today the King Eddy holds CKUA Calgary and the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, along with its restaurant, bar and live music room. From the early 1980s the hotel was known as Calgary’s Home of the Blues, and visitors can check upcoming shows at kingeddy.ca.
Sources: kingeddy.ca and studiobell.ca.
If this one hooked you, we think Fay Wray, the Cardston kid who screamed for King Kong and Calgary Got Its First Civilian Brass Band in 1885 are a good next read.
