Paul Wilson
Maybe you cruised past Barton and Sherman recently and noticed the sign over the front door of the old Britannia Tavern. It's an invitation to come by on New Year's Eve. There's live entertainment and the party is free.
Trouble is, that sign is not for this New Year's Eve. Or last year's. Or the one before that. That makes it this month's instalment of A Sign Past Its Time. (A triple header this time, no extra charge.)
The Britannia House opened in the 1920s. The factories of nearby Burlington Street went full tilt for decades, and so did the tavern. But then the jobs died — and, for a while in the late '90s, so did that curved-corner house of draught.
But then Alex Ioannidis bought the place and spent big money fixing it up. He built an addition, stuccoed the exterior, added a fire place, new bar, all new furniture.
He could make it anywhere
I spoke to him back then and he wasn't afraid of making that kind of investment on Barton East. "I've been in this business more than 30 years," he said. "I can make a go of it anywhere."
But the Britannia has now been closed a long time. Right across the street, in the former CIBC building that became Miran Carpets, owner Vartan Keorhadjian has the story.
The Britannia started serving draught at Barton and Sherman in the 1920s. (Paul Wilson/CBC)
He knew Alex, and was sad to go to his funeral three years ago. Vartan put carpets in the Britannia for him back in the '90s. Business at the tavern was good, so good that someone came along and made Alex an offer he didn't want to refuse.
But the new owners didn't have the gift, and the tavern faltered. Vartan remembers that someone came over just after Christmas and invited him to that New Year's Eve party. He didn't make it, but believes the year was 2005.
The Britannia then closed. Word is the water didn't get shut off, and frozen pipes caused major damage. There hasn't been a Happy New Year there since.
Dack's is back
The developers turning the long-empty Royal Connaught Hotel into condos have pulled off some boards on the King East frontage. And one name that's seeing light again is Dack's Shoes.
Matthew Dack, an Irish immigrant, opened his first shoe store in Toronto in 1834. The Dack name continued to stand for quality and by the 1980s it had grown to a chain of 27 stores. But new competition and a recession then made it hard for the high-end men's retailer.
Dack's arrived at the Royal Connaught about 80 years ago. (Paul Wilson/CBC)
There had been a Dacks in downtown Hamilton since the turn of the century. The original store, just down the street, moved into the Royal Connaught building in 1932. Its neighbours there included Raphael-Mack Ladies Wear and R. B. McLelland's Menswear.
Dack's shut the Hamilton store nearly 10 years ago. And in 2009, with just six stores left in the chain, Dack's went into bankruptcy.
Last year, a new operator bought the rights to the brand and is selling the made-in-England footwear online. It is not a purchase made lightly — a pair of genuine Dack's will generally set you back about $450.
Christmas lived here
For the third Sign Past Its Time, we're cheating a little. Normally, the sign must still be out there on the street. But we're making an exception for the season and turning to the evocative images of local artist Kathryn Smith.
One of her pieces shows James North at Christmas, sometime in the 1950s. And there's that sign, a stack of Eaton's-blue letters on white.
After the Christmas windows on James North, it was a ride to the fifth floor for Toyland. (Kathryn Smith/ brians-gallery.com)
In those Christmas windows, elves hammered, trains rolled, Santa waved. Toyland was on the fifth floor. And there were big Candy Cane mailboxes, with Eaton's promising that Santa would answer every letter.
In 1989, downtown Hamilton got a new Eatons. It had no display windows on the street. The store manager explained that high-maintenance, low-return show windows were gone for good. "These days," he said, "you have to make every square foot count."
Eaton's, which invested in downtowns right across the country, surrendered 14 years ago. For this shopper, Christmas hasn't been the same since.
Paul.Wilson@cbc.ca | @PaulWilsonCBC
To read more CBC Hamilton stories by Paul Wilson, click here.
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