Posted with full permission from the Hamilton Spectator.
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It's no beauty, but 160 years on the Beach Strip has to count for something
By Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
More articles by this columnist
(May 14, 2007)
There's no shortage of taverns around claiming to be the oldest.
The Collins, on the main drag of Dundas, for instance. And the Wheat Sheaf on King West in Toronto.
And the house we'll visit today, the Dynes on Hamilton's Beach Strip. It's supposed to have been here since 1847. Maybe longer.
But suddenly it's not looking good for the Dynes. There's word it's shutting down, then coming down.
It's not yet opening time, but Dynes owner Tony DePasquale is at the bar with a tall tomato juice. He doesn't want to talk. Says he hasn't had good experiences with the paper.
We persist, gently. He says he got the place a few years ago from a group that was losing money. No one has made money here for years, he says.
He says his plan was always to tear the place down and redevelop. Maybe townhouses, maybe some commercial as well.
But until he was ready to do that, he would run the old Dynes.
He discovered the city's new smoking ban was murder. The lone bright spot was Wednesday biker events. He ran them for the past two summers and drew up to 500 a night.
Last fall, council told him he can't have amplified music on his patio. The bikers won't like that. Neither will the beach volleyballers.
And DePasquale says the Dynes needs a new roof and new air. There's none right now and the place is stifling. "The bones are broken, " he says.
He's closing the Dynes June 14. Then he'll start tearing it down. "It'll be all done in three days. I own a demolition company."
We'd be interested in knowing what other experience he's brought to the Dynes. The only activity we're aware of is when he ran an outfit called Harbour Front Recycling. That did not go well and he was fined $40,000 under the Environmental Protection Act.
But the moment the recycling outfit is brought up, DePasquale shuts down. "This interview's over."
Would he mind if we took a quick look at the moose head and the old pictures and paintings and artifacts on the Dynes walls?
"You can leave now," he says.
We visit Jim Howlett, 21 years on the Beach Strip. Nobody keeps an eye on it the way he does.
He went down the road a couple of years ago to shake DePasquale's hand and thank him for demolishing an old gas station next door to the Dynes.
Then Howlett moved on to the development of the Dynes property. "I said I hoped he would approach it sensitively. It wasn't a good meeting."
Howlett believes DePasquale has failed to capitalize on a prime waterfront location, a busy new trail going right past the door.
"Where was his serious marketing effort? Have you ever heard a Dynes jingle?
"If he nurtured it more, he would have the success equivalent to his real estate efforts."
He says there's value in the history. "In pubs in Britain and Ireland, they don't tear down the part where people have been walking for 200 years. You take the existing decor, put it on a pedestal, put on an addition that's in keeping with that. Then put some housing around that. That's fine."
The Dynes is no architectural gem these days and it's not a designated property. But it has been a community asset, a meeting place for generations.
Councillor Chad Collins is hearing from his constituents. He says DePasquale's demolition request has been tabled.
The matter goes to city staff to see if the property should be registered under the Ontario Heritage Act. "At least we buy some time to gather information," Collins says.
But any reprieve would be fleeting. The act provides for a demolition delay of just 60 days.
Down by the lake, it's nearly last call.
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com
905-526-3391
Photo#1- SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
The Dynes Tavern was already old when this photograph of a community softball game was taken in 1919.
______________________________________________
It's no beauty, but 160 years on the Beach Strip has to count for something
By Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
More articles by this columnist
(May 14, 2007)
There's no shortage of taverns around claiming to be the oldest.
The Collins, on the main drag of Dundas, for instance. And the Wheat Sheaf on King West in Toronto.
And the house we'll visit today, the Dynes on Hamilton's Beach Strip. It's supposed to have been here since 1847. Maybe longer.
But suddenly it's not looking good for the Dynes. There's word it's shutting down, then coming down.
It's not yet opening time, but Dynes owner Tony DePasquale is at the bar with a tall tomato juice. He doesn't want to talk. Says he hasn't had good experiences with the paper.
We persist, gently. He says he got the place a few years ago from a group that was losing money. No one has made money here for years, he says.
He says his plan was always to tear the place down and redevelop. Maybe townhouses, maybe some commercial as well.
But until he was ready to do that, he would run the old Dynes.
He discovered the city's new smoking ban was murder. The lone bright spot was Wednesday biker events. He ran them for the past two summers and drew up to 500 a night.
Last fall, council told him he can't have amplified music on his patio. The bikers won't like that. Neither will the beach volleyballers.
And DePasquale says the Dynes needs a new roof and new air. There's none right now and the place is stifling. "The bones are broken, " he says.
He's closing the Dynes June 14. Then he'll start tearing it down. "It'll be all done in three days. I own a demolition company."
We'd be interested in knowing what other experience he's brought to the Dynes. The only activity we're aware of is when he ran an outfit called Harbour Front Recycling. That did not go well and he was fined $40,000 under the Environmental Protection Act.
But the moment the recycling outfit is brought up, DePasquale shuts down. "This interview's over."
Would he mind if we took a quick look at the moose head and the old pictures and paintings and artifacts on the Dynes walls?
"You can leave now," he says.
We visit Jim Howlett, 21 years on the Beach Strip. Nobody keeps an eye on it the way he does.
He went down the road a couple of years ago to shake DePasquale's hand and thank him for demolishing an old gas station next door to the Dynes.
Then Howlett moved on to the development of the Dynes property. "I said I hoped he would approach it sensitively. It wasn't a good meeting."
Howlett believes DePasquale has failed to capitalize on a prime waterfront location, a busy new trail going right past the door.
"Where was his serious marketing effort? Have you ever heard a Dynes jingle?
"If he nurtured it more, he would have the success equivalent to his real estate efforts."
He says there's value in the history. "In pubs in Britain and Ireland, they don't tear down the part where people have been walking for 200 years. You take the existing decor, put it on a pedestal, put on an addition that's in keeping with that. Then put some housing around that. That's fine."
The Dynes is no architectural gem these days and it's not a designated property. But it has been a community asset, a meeting place for generations.
Councillor Chad Collins is hearing from his constituents. He says DePasquale's demolition request has been tabled.
The matter goes to city staff to see if the property should be registered under the Ontario Heritage Act. "At least we buy some time to gather information," Collins says.
But any reprieve would be fleeting. The act provides for a demolition delay of just 60 days.
Down by the lake, it's nearly last call.
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
pwilson@thespec.com
905-526-3391
Photo#1- SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
The Dynes Tavern was already old when this photograph of a community softball game was taken in 1919.