This question is for Dante, Maria & Mara (or any other readers who grew up in the area). Do any of you guys remember this building? It is on Cataraqui near the corner of Marentette?
The building has been vacant since I moved in to the area in 2001. The photo above is actually from 2003, and the building has been deteriorating ever since. The stucco has fallen off the top and the bricks are coming off the lower storefront at an alarming rate.
The building however has always interested me. Any memories or ideas about its history?
Hi,
Is the photo of the same building? The building in the second photo used to be a variety store/hangout
located directly across the street from where we went to school. The owner was a guy named Rick Rock and his mom. Rick Rock used to play his guitar behind the counter and all us girls would go in at our lunch break or after school. That was when you can buy a chocolate bar for 35 cents…lol. I believe it was called Lens variety.
I also wanted to mention that the place on the corner of cataraqui and louis which is now apts. used to be a cleaners. It was called modern cleaners.
Let me know if I can help with any other bit of history from the hood.
It’s been fun!
Mara
Thanks Mara! I figured that is was probably a variety store at one time. Yes, both pictures above show the same building.
Also, since we were talking about the Horseshoe tavern the other day, I went out this morning and dug up some history on it, and a few photos of it too… I should have up something on it on Friday… Be sure to check back.
Good memory Mara!
In 1973 when I moved to Louis, that building was Len’s variety. It was owned by Margaret and Leonard Rock, Rick was their son. I think they operated the business until sometime in the early 80’s. It was open under other ownership for a short time after that, but I’m not sure who owned it. It was THE neighborhood hangout in the 70’s. Again, alot of good memories there, we would go there everyday.
The others beat me to it. It was a variety store.
I used to go to Modern Cleaners many years ago. It was an excellent place and the people were very nice, but did seem to gradually change and I stopped going there.
Andrew, I’m glad your house is in good hands. I’ve admired it for a long time.
Hi Everyone:
I ditto the information on Lens…it was a great way to spend the money we collected with our empty pop bottles. As far as the horsehoe Tavern…I remember the day it went up in flames…there were a great deal of people around. I also remember a particular drunk that often would not make it to the tavern but would find him passed out on the road etc. He used to rent the basement of your home. Another thing I remember is that your home had another tenant that played the electric guitar. The neighbors would often complain…we used to order pizzas and have them delivered to the house LOL. The parking lot across our house had homes. On the corner house (yellow) , the Dugays lived there; they were french. Next door to them a duplex; I recall police at that home. The story was that the tenant’s baby had died in the crib…not sure if it was deemed accidental or not. There were some tough black girls that lived in the upper unit.
This is great….hard to believe how the memories start to come once you share the stories. It was a great time…playing in the alley….kick the can with all the neighbor kids….those were the good old days.
Thanks guys, keep ’em coming, it’s great to hear stories about how it was here…
From what I’ve been able to lear, it seems my place was a rooming house from about 1955 – 1978/79.
If there are any old neighbourhood places you want to see, let me know, I’ll take a photo and post them here.
Hi Andrew,
I thought you would also find this bit of history interesting and I’m not sure if you would be able to find a picture of this or not, would be cool if you did.
At the end of the alley going towards Elliott (right across the street form the green house if that house is still there) there used to be a building that housed chickens. You were able to go and purchase huge cartons of fresh eggs and they would also butcher the chickens and sell them. The back of the building was also fenced in so that the chickens would wander around freely. It was not a big building and not in the greatest of shape.
Does anyone else remember this place? Is it still an empty lot now?
Oh I forgot this would have been during the 60’s up until early 70’s when they closed down.
I don’t rmember why it closed I think it came to as a surprise to everyone in the neighbourhood when it did.
Andrew
My Grandparents lived at Cataraqui and St louis. Across the street from the Modern Cleaners. The Variety store ( Lens ) was first Doris’s Variety. Owned by Doris and Darcy Schencariol. Who sold it to Len in the late 60’s. They had it through most of the 50″s and 60″s. When they sold it they opened Schencariols’s Market on Hanna 1 block form Parent. I lived in the Oxford apartments on Elliot and St Louis for several years. My grandparents moved to an apartment in the mid 70″s.
I love your site. Keep up the great work
Gary
Yep, that’s my Grandpa’s store. It’s nice to hear peoples memories of it.
Yes, this was Len’s Variety, our family corner store in the neighborhood core of Windsor from 1969 till 1984. Immaculate Conception School and St.Edmonds school(French)was right across the street. Owned by our parents Margaret & Leonard Rock. Yes…I use to play guitar behind the counter, learning songs and writing songs since I was 12. The family would take turns watching the store, Diane, Mike, Laura and Aunt Lily. An older neighborhood of many nationalities, but mainly French Canadian and Italian at the time. There sure were some character people in the neighborhood…(Shirley, Warren, the Pepsi Kids, little Dorothy, etc…)
We had the Len’s Variety gang of kids that hung around the store and open lot beside the store with picnic tables and just good old fashion fun, especially in the summertime. In the Winter my father Leonard Rock, made a skating rink for the kids as well. Then grew vegetables in a garden on the lot in the summertime. Things were much simpler and fun back then. I believe the started out in the 1940s as a barbershop. The building should be torn down. Peace.
I remember the store from grade 1 and 2 (that would make it around 1975-76 or something like that
The building was in fact owned by Doris & Darcy Schincariol and called Doris’s Confectionery. It was sold in 1965-1966 to Mrs. Pizzutti and family. Then, my parents Leonard & Margaret Rock purchased it in the early 70s and renamed it Len’s Variety. Leonard doubled the size of the store with an addition in the late 70s. They and all the kids worked there and owned it approx. 17 years. It changed hands a couple of times after that and there was a small fire which left it in disrepair ever since.
Modern Cleaners was never there.
Rick Rock? Did you used to own a guitar shop on Tecumseh / Hall-ish? I do beleive I own a marron, left handed Vantage that used to belong to you! My dad bought it for me years ago.
I’m pretty sure he got me my first bass from you as well. It was an off-white, upside down Strat body with bass strings on it so it could be used left handed.
Red head……..one of the best guitarist this city’s ever seen?? I know you knew him!
*maroon* I ment to type maroon up there lol
Len’s Variety was my grandpa’s store. It is cool to see that people remember it. I remember the garden in the summertime and it was usually quite busy after the school let out. Cheers.