Get out your hankies, and wipe away your tears…
Yup, another local landmark has a date with the wrecking ball…
Long time Riverside landmark, the Royale Tavern is falling for some big box goodness, as Shopper’s Drug Mart has decided they need to thrust their stucco clad nonsense on this neighbourhood.
The Royale has been a fixture at the corner of Wyandotte and Dawson since at least the 1930’s.
The Royale is shown in the map above from 1937 as the Royale Hotel.
Not to worry. I’m certain that that Shopper’s will be great!
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Things change....get over it.
I don't think anyone has an issue with certain buildings coming down. I believe people are tired of the lateral moves of big box stores and their impact on neighbourhoods and locally owned businesses.
As for "things change, get over it." Typical Windsor mentality. So I am not surprised. No wonder the city still looks like it was founded in 1972. With all of the money in this city it makes me daft to think this is all we have to show for it. Windsor has no class, no direction and since it can't be diverse in any way it has no hope of a decent future.
Enjoy your stagnation "not you" I guess life must be great being so oblivious to your own demise.
The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 255 will be next as it's been for sale for over a year.Declining membership is the cause, and it occupies the whole end block,perfect for another stucco piece of crap !!! Also I was told by a Brewers Retail employee that the Lions Head Tavern was in trouble ,sagging beer sales,though I think that the property is more valuable as an extension of the Tim Hortons to it's west as I was told that the owner of the Lions Head & the Timmy's are one in the same & he owns several others.More money in coffee than beer in this city.Still I really can't really feel sorry for bar owners that made huge profits for twenty or thirty years in this city & are now in trouble.No smoking in bars is the root of the problem. I can drink & smoke at home for a third of the cost of a bar !!!
I always find these working class bars curious -- what was the motivation to brick up the windows? Is it a vestige of protestant guilt in Ontario in the 1950s and 60s? Keep the shame hidden?
No, I think it's just simple economics. Rough crowd of alcoholics breaking the windows. Brick it in and replace the doors with steel. Cheaper in the long run.
I heard a story once, I don't know if it's true or not, but it had to do with liquor laws at the time... That you weren't allowed to see liquor being served or consumed from the street...
That sounds right, Andrew. A bar owner told me that a lot of those antiquated laws are still on the books but no longer enforced. For example:
It was legal to have an alcoholic beverage in your backyard but not in your front yard or front porch.
Every bar had a "men's" side and a "ladies & escorts" side. A woman could not enter unless accompanied by a male and had to remain there while the male could move freely from side to side provided that he was not carrying a drink because....
It was illegal to carry a beverage from your table or the bar. You had to get a waitress to carry it if you wished to move.
If that were the case, how come the Howard Block still has the big bay glass windows on the main floor? It's just as old and it was a tavern too.
ME, I am in total agreeance with you. The more people say, "oh well, tough noogies, things change" the more we will lose the simplest of pleasures and the most rudimentary asthetic beauty that our city (barely) has to offer. This attitude has gone on for generations, where our forefathers sat idly by as their streetcar system was ripped out of the ground, dozens and dozens of beautiful buildings were torn down, and our department stores were destroyed in favor of the big box empire.
I dont blame them; they were too busy making really good money and having children to worry about such civic matters. They were also old school, don't rock the boat, let someone else worry about it Canadians.
Now, as we are losing our higher paying jobs, and not having all the kids we used to have, we are beginning to look around at this place and think, why can't this place be at least pretty to look at, and convenient to live in?
Hopefully, what will come out of these times we are in is a new sense of saving what was once commonplace, and preserving our local history, even that old corner bar is "historic" in some people's lives, and for that it is sad that it must go.
The sad fact is, with the non smoking laws, the 4 dollar a beer cost and the mega bars downtown, coupled with the economy, these small places are all going by the wayside...
This is crazy - does Shoppers not realize that only a few blocks west lies an empty former bingo that used to be Higginbottom's Mr. Grocer, complete with ample parking? I realize whoever owns the now-defunct bingo might not be interested in selling. But did they even ask? The costs to re-fit that place compared to building a new one would be minimal I think, considering its configuration from being a grocery store in the past...