Mr. Jagger's Opus

By Dan Dunn - Nov/Dec, 2003

Letting it all hang out in Vancouver.

I stayed at an über-trendy boutique hotel called Opus, a converted warehouse on Davie Street in the Yaletown section of the city. Opus, by all accounts, is the place to see and be seen in Vancouver, and I spent hours ogling its urbane denizens, including celebs Michael Stipe, David Duchovny and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Had a drunken Vince Neil shown up to hit on all the ladies, well, it would have been exactly like a night out at Chateau Marmont in Hollywood.

The 97-room Opus has five various room styles, named after fictional personalities such as “Mike,” a New York doctor who drives a Saab and likes the muted palette of a loft-influenced suite (I'm not making this up-as if I could). I stayed in a “Susan,” a tasteful room, according to general manager David Curell, designed for “a fashion analyst who likes Manolo Blahnik shoes.”

“Perhaps you'd prefer a ‘Dede,’” Curell generously offered. “She's a method actor from L.A. who shops at Fred Segal.” Well, given that I'm a struggling screenwriter who knows several L.A. songs and occasionally drives past Fred Segal on my way to perform safety inspections at the El Segundo slaughterhouse, Dede made more sense than Susan. But I decided to stay put. Too bad they didn't have a “Fonzo,” a paroled Teamster from Newark who beats people up for sport.

All of the Opus Hotel's rooms include multi-line, cordless telephones with data ports and high-speed Internet connections, Sony Playstations and compact disc players. Not to mention an expansive selection of in-room adult entertainment with which to satisfy the ol' avaricious concupiscence. However, the most intriguing amenity is the “Osy-Gene”-a portable, hand-held oxygen-enriched air. Ostensibly, sucking on this sleek little gadget will stimulate cells, kickstart the metabolism and provide for increased energy. But the real reason these babies are a hit at Opus is simple: A potent oxygen injections does wonders to relieve the sting of a wicked hangover. An if you're planning on hitting the town in party-crazed Vancouver, it's nice to know “morning after” relief is only a few deep breaths away.

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