Happy Friday everyone, and Happy June! Sheesh, 2012 is almost half over already…
Today’s photo is dated April 12, 1973, and show’s Mario’s of Windsor, later Bentely’s at 755 Ouellette. My informations shows the building as being built in 1948, and was designed by Windsor architect G. A. McElroy.
A detail shot of the signs. Notice the sign for the Dentist in the second floor window.
A view of the front entrance. Does anyone remember when Mario’s closed? I’m pretty sure it was already Bentley’s by the time I came to Windsor in 1989.
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I'm not sure when it closed exactly but I remember it well. I last ate dinner there alone sometime in the mid to late seventies and later frequented Bentley's for Sunday brunch with the family.
In the sixties, I briefly dated a banker who lived in the Windsor Arms apartments across Ouellette from Mario's and we ate there quite a bit.
Earlier still, I used to eat at the "other Mario's" on the southwest corner of Ouellette and Tecumseh. It had several later incarnations, none of them particularly successful and is now a medical imaging facility.
The restaurant was owned by former NHL star Pit Martin in the early 1980's. It was aptly called Pit Martin's. I'm not sure if it was the first business to follow Mario's. It closed shortly after a murder happened on the premises then Bently's set up shop.
Can anyone shed any share any history on the Little Bavaria ? I assume it was a German themed tavern.
great photo- whatever happened to neon- it once ruled our landscape...
Marios was a geat restaurant for many years.
I'm sorry to all of you that enjoy this great site, but I must digress as follows:
Pit Martin's.......
I'm sure that there are many Windsorites that had good times there. To me it was about as elegant as the 1970's fashions. Not that you need elegant fashion to have a good time, but Pit's took all the late 70's and early 80's disco and jock stuff to a very ugly level. Windsor can do that to a person. My last memory of the place was asking for a little room to order a drink and the U of W Lancer said no - So I broke an empty beer bottle over his head and he didn't even feel it. I'm not sure if he is now currently employed by your police service or in jail.
I can shed a little light on Little Bavaria! Actually, I was recently talking to the chef at the restaurant I work at and he was telling me about how he started his culinary career at Little Bavaria, where Bentley's is now. I had never heard of it (it was before my time) so it's interesting to see it on this site. He spoke of it fondly and said it was a really cool place - I'll ask him for more details next time I see him. And yes, it was a Bavarian theme.
Oh - I forgot to mention - it was definitely a restaurant and not a tavern. He said it had a large cooking area open to the dining area and had a warm, Bavarian ambiance.
I now see it says Tavern on the window - oops! I think the restaurant aspect was a big part of it, though.
Spent many a night after bowling in LIttle Barvaria, there was an older man playing accordian and he could play any song you asked for and we all sang along, dont see places like that anymore. It wasnt loud, but we were, it wasnt rowdy, just a nice place to go to. The owner Hans ? won many awards for his cooking.
The Cundari family owned Marios (their daughter was an opera singer at La Scala in Milan) They sold to Kees Roosen who added the Little Bavaria tavern in the mid 60's