A sad day for Windsor Saturday as one more piece of our past was lost to the wrecking ball.
As usual of late, a weekend rolls around, and something’s being demolished. Maybe someone out there knows the answer, but why are buildings never demolished during the week?
The Top Hat was one of the few remaining links, back to the days when our Downtown wasn’t set up to only cater to drunk children.
Thanks to Adriano from Windsor Eats for the heads up on the demo.
Photo c. Shawn Micallef
Adriano wasn’t the only one to give me a heads up. Even Shawn Micallef of Spacing Magazine was in Windsor this weekend, when I got a text message from him about the Top Hat coming down.
Photo c. Shawn Micallef
Shawn shot the two photos above, and he sent them to me to share with everyone.
On Monday morning, all was quiet. The Building Eaters were at rest behind the death fences, likely full from their Thanksgiving Dinner.
Irony, at its finest… A Burger King Cup tossed aside into the debris of the Top Hat. As you know, the future of the site is as a Burger King…
Only a few bits remain of the Top Hat. The Tunnel Bar-B-Q, freshly renovated stands out behind, one of the last remaining links to the past, and one of the few downtown businesses with over a half century in the core.
Support what remains, before it’s all gone.
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Is there anything left on that block now besides TBQ? Or is it all surface parking now?
Chet, there are still 3 buildings, two houses that are tranformed into law offices and a Tim Horton's. Yes Windsor's downtown is alive and well with fast food joints.
OK, I remember the Tim's on Goyeau. Are the houses on Goyeau as well?
Fast food joints aren't necessarily that bad if they can be incorporated into existing buildings. The trouble is when you tear down buildings to build a Burger King that comes equipped with surface parking, drive-thru, etc... You end up with a lot of crappy buildings that are spaced far apart and don't really make up anything that couldn't be found on Huron LIne. Its not a neighbourhood, it just a bunch of buildings that aren't connected to each other.
I actually walked by Top Hat when I was in town a couple weeks ago and thought to myself "it won't be long..." Everytime I come back in the last 2-3 years it seems downtown is getting worse and worse.
Not to beat a dead horse, but as sitting Cabinet Members Pupatello and Duncan should be embarassed. Instead they keep quiet because they would rather position themselves to replace McGuinty. They have forgotten the community that they have been elected to represent.
Right on about Pupatello. I'd attempted contact over the years for some important issues. Initially, I'd get a response from her secretary, then not even that. Not even the decency to acknowledge calls and e-mails. She and her cronies have abandoned this community, and her agenda is Parliament. What a frightening thought that one of them could be Prime Minister one day! No community south of Toronto would exist in their own personal agendas. A prime example of initially caring about one's roots, then transplanting them to a more self-serving community.
The Nut House moved from Ouellette Ave to one of the houses still standing about three years ago or so and it is vacant now, don't know where they moved to.
Hey John Stefani, if the new TDCanada Trust don't use the old TD bank in their new building, your link just hit an idea for its use. Good one!
So sad. Burger King, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell...etc. I call that S.O.S (same old sh*t).
Urbanrat... sure, all they would need to do is chop out a drive thru window and build an architecturally sensitive canopy and VOILA!
If only Burger Kings in this city looked that nice, John, I'd be a very very happy Windsorite.
Where is that pic from anyway? Florence?