WALLOWA LAKE — After five years working cruise ships, Jake Salvatore has come ashore and taken the vacant post of captain of the Wallowa Lake Lodge.

The post — manager, actually — was vacated earlier this year by Madeline Lau, who moved on to run her own business in Joseph.

But Salvatore has found what he believes is his niche at the lake and the lodge’s century-old legacy.

“That was a big reason for me taking the job,” he said. “After I had my interviews, it was still not an instant yes. I fell in love with the community and the location, but I didn’t know if my ideals and my vision were compatible with the lodge, so I got to know it a little better.”

He took the helm in early February. Now, he’s expecting a little more settled lifestyle than his California-based hospitality experiences of recent years.

In those jobs, Salvatore said, he did “a lot of traveling; my schedule was very intense — six weeks on, two weeks off, 16 hours a day, 365 (days) — so I’m a bit used to the on-season, off-season. I saw the job posting (for lodge manager) and I contacted them and met the board and I fell in love (with the lodge). They flew me out here for a weekend in February and I just didn’t want to leave.”

Before he worked for American Cruise Lines, he spent about three years in Gilroy, California, working at a Hilton hotel. The hotel and the cruise ship both were heavily focussed on their accompanying fine-dining restaurants.

“I think that’s what piqued the board’s interest in me,” he said. “The lodge is very tumultuous, to say the least, so some stability was needed. And my experience with fine dining was what attracted them to me.”

The legacy

Just in his late 20s, Salvatore is keen on the century-old legacy of the lodge and hopes to both continue it and improve on it.

“There are things you can do to make money very easily if you’re not worried about something like a legacy,” he said. “For instance, parking. It’s free money. They already own the land; they just want to charge for parking. Something like that, for me coming from a big city where you pay to park wherever you go doesn’t resonate with the lodge’s goal because the lodge is not here just to make money. … We do need to make money so we can continue operating and continue to be here, but we don’t want to impede on what the lodge means to people because it means so many things to so many different people. I think that creative problem-solving challenge is basically just fun — figure out how to make money but do it in a way that our legacy and the respect the lodge has in the community are upheld.”

He acknowledges that there isn’t a lot of room around the lodge to expand its parking. But he wants to expand on events, such as weddings, conventions, meetings and music nights.

“We want to expand on that and bring in bigger bands to a bigger crowd — and parking is certainly an issue that doesn’t have a black-and-white answer,” he said. “It’s something that I’m looking into, for sure, but it’s more of a long-term goal to increase the parking.”

Salvatore also wants to continue the focus already established in the Camas Room — fine dining — and the Redd — the bar in the lobby.

He said they’ll be “Nothing extreme — we’ll still have ramen night — but reservation only (at the Camas Room), but if for some reason you can’t make a reservation, the Redd will always be there.”

Salvatore also hopes to ensure the lodge continues operating in the off-season, when it is largely closed. He’s not sure what the off-season hours will be, but he wants to keep going, “in some capacity.”

The lodge opens for the summer tourist season Friday, May 24 — Memorial Day weekend.

Building a team

He’s also eager to continue building a team at the lodge. He personally hires the managers of the bar, the kitchen, housekeeping and other major departments and lets them do their own hiring, though he gives final approval to their hires.

“We’ve got a really good group of people,” he said. “I’m typically in the position where I’m hiring the leaders. I’m building a team. I don’t want to micromanage; I trust them already.”

A new home?

Salvatore may indeed have found a new home for himself. A self-described “city boy,” he grew up in the Oakland area but it never felt like home to him.

“I’m from California, so I’m not sick of the snow yet,” he said. “There’s actually seasons. I’ve seen more seasons in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years living in the Bay Area. It’s very unique. I’m a city boy.”

He lived near Yosemite National Park, but he was still in a pretty big town.

“Having a bit of an escape where people know people, you know, walking down the street and you see someone you know is something I’m not familiar with at all,” he said. “The number of waves I get while driving or walking.”

Would he do like his predecessor and consider going into business on his own after his time at the lodge?

“That’s a million-dollar question,” he said, and then elaborated: “I see myself here for the next three years, minimum. If the lodge can expand in some ways — I have much shorter-term goals to worry about — then I’ll stick around. If I feel like I’ve done everything I can to set the lodge up for success in the future, then I’ll find the next path in the (personal) journey. It’s like when you’re camping, you want to leave a place better than you found it. I already feel that way about the lodge.”

Wallowa Lake Lodge

Who: Jake Salvatore, manager

Where: 60060 Wallowa Lake Highway, at head of Wallowa Lake

Phone: 541-432-9821, 503-660-941

Email: jake@wallowalakelodge.com

When: The lodge is open from May 24-Sept. 26

Online: Facebook and https://wallowalakelodge.com/about-the-lodge