Yosemite National Park – Coast Contact

I have visited Yosemite National Park dozens of times. It is a six hour drive from Los Angeles when you take time to stop for lunch. The beauty and serenity of the park is something you will never forget.

In 2005 the facilities operator, Delaware North Companies Inc. lost its renewal bid to Aramark. Delaware North claimed it owned the names Ahwahnee and Curry and would not permit Aramark to use those names because they are intellectual property.

Delaware North sued claiming they had paid the previous concessionaire’s for the right to use the names Ahwahnee and Curry. They demanded $50 Million.

The consequence was the Ahwahnee Hotel was renamed Majestic Yosemite and Curry Village was renamed Half Dome Village. I am quite certain that most recurring visitors continued to use the names Ahwahnee and Curry.

Basically the National Park Service and Aramark paid out $12 Million ransom to recover the use of those names. Ownership of the names will now revert to the federal government.

Incidentally I never thought it important to photograph the Curry Village sign or a picture of the Ahwahnee Hotel. These photos appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

The last Firefall was on Thursday, January 25, 1968. Since it was winter, no crowd was present. The cameras I owned in those days could not capture the image. The Firefall was a daily event that occurred in Yosemite Valley. Traffic stopped and so did everything else at 9 PM every night. It took an hour for the traffic to clear. It was a pollution problem for Yosemite National Park,

The Yosemite Firefall was a summer time event that began in 1872 and continued for almost a century, in which burning hot embers were spilled from the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to the valley 3,000 feet below. From a distance it appeared as a glowing waterfall. The owners of the Glacier Point Hotel conducted the firefall. History has it that David Curry, founder of Camp Curry, would stand at the base of the fall, and yell “Let the fire fall,” each night as a signal to start pushing the embers over.

Now to replicate the past artificial lighting has brought back the effect. It is a challenge for photo hobbyists. It is claimed that it is a natural phenomenon.

Tag: Yosemite National Park

Firefall returns to Yosemite National Park