Scouring through my old postcards, I came across this old rarely seen view of the Paramount Cafeteria.
The back denotes the cafeteria to be in the basement of the Paramount Building.
The room still exists, and unbelievely has really only seen minor renovations over the years, and only a few small changes.
Today the cafeteria is home to the Thai Restaurant, Basil Court at 327 Ouellette Ave. Excellent food. If you’ve never been it’s worth a visit.
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Though the restaurant has seen better days :)
I wasn't sure whih building you were referring to as I have never heard of The Paramount building but as soon as you said Basil Court I knew which one you were referring to.
By the way, Andrew is correct it is a very good restaurant. I recommend a visit if you have never been there.
In the '80s it was called the Forum if memory serves, and Chinese cuisine was on the menu then as well. I can't recall it being a great place back then but I'm sure it's changed ownership a dozen times since then.
Andrew, you continue to provide a wonderful service by letting the rest of us see interesting bits of Windsor history. One building that I grew up with (as my father's offices were in it for about 40 years) is the Security Building. Would you (or anyone reading this) have any details on that property. I fondly remember watching the Freedom Festival fireworks on the river from the roof of that building. Cheers, Ted in Toronto
The staircase doesn't seem right. Must have been one of the alteration.
Rich, if you look in the postcard, you can see that it was open or had glass walls around the stairs, I'm guess the glass has been replaced with the mirros that are there today.
Ted you will be happy to know that the Securities building is still in great shape and still standing! I am sure Andrew can do a PDJ about it. It is mixed-use with offices and apartments today with ground floor retail.
a bit off topic, but there is a huge crane starting to work at Ford WCP, just noticed it today.
I went there today for dinner thinking I was gonna see a beautiful piece of Windsor's great past only to find they absolutely butchered the place. It looks nothing like that postcard. The entrance staircase looks original and awesome with marble floors and walls except they painted the brass railings gray, which was tolerable. But, once you entered the actual restaurant, all the grandeur was lost. The glass fronting along the staircase is drywalled in. The walls are all painted a medium green. The sconces on the columns were removed. The top half of the column is mirrored with a yellow frame, but the bottom half is Indian red. The tin ceiling was removed and replaced with popcorn stucco over drywall/plaster. At least the moulding around the ceiling is still there, but it was painted purple and pink. Half the ceiling lights were replaced with cheap semiglobes and the other half with cheap fans. Half the floor is raised with three step high section and carpeted; you only see the nice patterned granite floor on one third of the original floor, the other third is also carpeted. On the far right they added a wood panelled bar, which is okay, but they removed the mirrors along the perimeter wall. In the middle of the room, they've got some kind of strange large island counter, probably set up for a buffet. It doesn't look spacious and well lit at all like in the postcard, Cheap tables. The colours really clashed. The layout makes the room feel really cluttery, cramped and small. The food was good, but it lost the the classy ambience I expected, which would inspire me to return.
David, I see globes hanging from the ceiling in the postcard. I know the ones that were replced look like crap but where is the tin celing you refer to? I agree that the colours are horrible as well but paint is cheap and can transform a place.
I also agree that it loks a bit like a dump (my words) but the food is very good.
I went there with one of my collegues yesterday who warned me that the place looks nothing like that picture and we should go somewhere else. When we ate there, he said he distinctly remembered there being a white tin ceiling in between the moulding and the lights to reflect the heat back down. I showed him the picture and he said you can't really see it in the postcard because it's really well it, but it was there. If they repainted the dining room semigloss white, removed the multi-level flooring and carpeting to expose the granite underneath and removed the excess clutter such as the center island counter, I would definetely return. But, I wouldn't bet a cent on that ever happening. Downtown Windsor is not downtown Detroit.