To keep my summer vacation theme going for a few days, I'm posting a few 'then and now' shots that I took while up in Niagara Falls, Canada, last week.
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| 1952 Refectory Menu |
I saw this 1953 postcard (
above) of the
Refectory Restaurant on Ebay before we went up to the Falls and knew it would be an easy "then and now" subject to shoot as we would pass it many times during our stay. It faces the Falls.
The back of the postcard reads, "Dining at the famous Refectory Restaurant situated amid the gardens and beautiful trees and within a view of the Falls is a treat to be anticipated with pleasure by every visitor to the Niagara Parks. The restaurant is one of the three owned and operated by the Niagara Parks Commission."
An online
timeline of the Niagara Parks reveals that the restaurant was built in 1904, and replaced an earlier version built in 1860. It also explains that the word 'refectory' refers to the room used for meals in a monastery.
Here's a
link to a page on the Niagara Falls Public Library website about some ghostly goings-on at the restaurant. There's also some great vintage photos of the place through the years.
Anyway, here is my "now" shot of the restaurant (
below), which is now apparently known as
Edgewaters Restaurant.
The restaurant has been expanded and modified many times in its more than hundred years of existence. That's part of the Skylon Tower visible in the background.
Here's a
link to the restaurant's website.
3 comments:
Love the Then and Now shot of the Refectory restaurant. I ate there with my family in 1953-54. I was about 7 years old--and still remember sitting at the table on the terrace overlooking the Falls. Since the 1950's, I have gone to the Falls several times with my family and we always have a meal at the same restaurant--whatever the current name!
I've been to the Falls many many times in my lifetime (it's less than a 4 hr drive), but the most magical was going with my fiancee in the middle of January in the late 1980s. We were having a great breakfast at a table next to the windows on a sunny Sunday morning at the Refectory, and during breakfast it started snowing - with the sun still out and no wind - and the flakes were the biggest, slowest falling flakes we'd ever seen. It almost looked fake, like out of a movie. After breakfast we wandered in the snow over to the railing and Table Rock. Pure magic - awe inspiring. It's always been one of our favorite memories.
Such a shame they destroyed the ambiance of the original building with the Additions. I remember staying there in 1954.
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