The Colin McGregor Justice Building was located in the city of St. Thomas. It contained the St. Thomas Police headquarters as well as the courts. The building was located at 30 St. Catharine Street.
The city council wanted to find an interested party to lease the building but there were no takers for the aging building. Besides the presence of asbestos inside the building, the ground contained contaminates that would require removal.
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This was a nursing home for the elderly, located at 22015 Hagerty Road in Newbury. It’s been vacant since at least 2009. There have been extensions built onto the house. There’s stain glass in the older section of the home.
The property has been demolished.
The Fifth Wheel Truck Stop, located in Grimsby, was part of a chain of restaurants throughout Canada and had been in business for 27 years. The Fifth Wheel truck stop also provided gasoline and offered motel service in the basement.
Approximately 25 staff worked at the Fifth wheel in earlier years, and towards the 1980’s approximately 100 staff were employed. September 20, 2015 was the last day of operations at the truck stop. At 3 PM the doors closed never to reopen.
Losani Homes purchased the land and plans to build residential and commercial properties. Today there is nothing left of the original truck stop.
A man with a dream versus the city of Toronto who were determined to sink it.
Ivan Letnik was born in the republic of Slovenia, in a country of uprising and internal chaos. Realizing that Yugoslavia held no future for him, Letnik attempted to escape to neighbouring Austria. His first attempt failed but he was successful during his second attempt on August 8, 1956. Shortly after his escape to Austria, Letnik attended the hospital where a tumour on his neck deemed to be cancerous was removed. He spent time in Graz, Austria where he lived with distant family members and volunteered for the Red Cross helping people who had also fled their homeland. Letnik never informed his parents that he was leaving the country, they found out weeks later when Austrian authorities contacted his parents.
When a Red Cross official offered Letnik an opportunity to go to Canada, he accepted it. On August 8th, 1957 a year to the day since he’d fled his home country Letnik left for Canada by boat.
Letnik arrived in Canada speaking no English and with only two dollars to his name. A German speaking couple directed him to resources where he was able to obtain work at the Toronto Golf and Country Club. When the club closed for the season, Letnik found work as a dishwasher at the year round St. Georges Golf and Country Club in Etobicoke. It was there that he learned how to cook food and to speak English. Letnik worked his way up to a cook and was eventually promoted to sous chef by the time he was 19 years old.
The work allowed Letnik to save up enough money to bring his girlfriend over to Canada in 1959 and the couple were married. Letnik had been in Canada for four years now and decided that he’d reached a crossroads where he could either remain at the golf course or he could open his own restaurant. He took the initiative and opened a thirty seat restaurant named the “Pop-In” located at Dundus and McCaul. The restaurant served basic meals such as breakfast, and dinners such as pork chops and potatoes which cost 45 cents.
Around 1966 Letnik bought the building that his restaurant was located in, and sold the business. In 1966 Letnik’s restaurant had earned him enough money that he was able to purchase a 1966 Chevrolet Impala and boat passage to Europe. He drove to New York where he boarded the SS France which took him to La Havre, France. Letnik drove the remaining 1500 miles to Yugoslavia where he was reunited with his family. He remained in Yugoslavia for three months and made the return voyage back home to Toronto.
The Normac
The Normac began as the “James R. Elliot” built in 1902 to serve as a fire tug. The boat was then sold to the Owen Sound Transportation Company where it was converted into a freighter and passenger ferry. The boat was renamed Normac after Captain Norman McKay who was the founder and manager of the Owen Sound Transportation Company. The Normac was used to ferry passengers and cars through Northern Ontario waters. It was retired in 1968 and then sold to a private owner.
It was the voyage upon the SS France and the dinners served on the ship that sparked an interest in Letnik to open a floating restaurant. His search for a suitable boat took him three years, a search that resulted in the purchase of the Normac.
A year later on July 23,1969 the Normac having been purchased by Ivan Letnik, made its way from Wallaceburg to Toronto. The ship was painted white with a red hull in order for the ship to stand out from the street. The Toronto Harbourfront Commission permitted Letnik to temporarily leave the ship in the Toronto harbour. At the time the area wasn’t an a place where you’d find tourists and restaurant patrons; it was a shipping area filled with warehouses, cargo ships and dock workers.
“Captain John’s” floating Restaurant (1518756 Ontario) was officially opened on August 8th, 1970. The business became a popular tourist location that attracted famous Canadians such as Brian Mulroney, Mel Lastman, Robert Campeau, Steve Stavro and Bob Hope. The business brought tourists to an area of Toronto that offered little in the way of tourism and helped to increase popularity of the waterfront.
While the arrangement to dock the ship in the Toronto harbour front had always been temporary, and Letnik had originally intended to move the ship to Ontario Place, the ship remained where it was until it was damaged years later.
Philanthrophy
Letnik never forgot what it was like to have nothing to your name. Each year his restaurant in co-operation with the Salvation Army held a free dinner for those less fortunate. Captain John’s also sponsored various city events such as the Hazel McCallion Golf tournament.
The MS Jadran
Letnik had been looking at purchasing a second ship and became interested in purchasing a 296-foot ship named the MS Jadran (‘adriatic’ in Yugoslavian). The ship was constructed in 1957 and contained five levels, 355 staterooms and room for 500 people. In the fall of 1975 Letnik along with a crew of sixteen men sailed to Yugoslavia to bring the ship back to Canada. The ship was purchased from the Yugoslavian government for one million dollars. It arrived in Toronto on November 27, 1975. The trip back to Canada took three days.
The 355 rooms were removed and the ship was renovated for use as a restaurant. In May of 1976 the Jadran opened as a secondary location for banquets and conventions. It was situated alongside the Normac.
Disaster
On June 2, 1981 a Toronto Island paddle-wheel ferry named the Trilllium went off course and struck the Normac. The resulting collision sent shocked customers and dishes to the floor. Several patrons took their wine bottles with them as they fled the restaurant. There were approximately 270 customers on board at the time.
Letnik wasn’t aboard at the time but arrived shortly after to assist in evacuating people from the ship.
A transport engineer concluded a hydraulic lock prevented the Trilllum from reversing when it approached the slip it shared with Captain John’s. The Trillium’s bow wasn’t sharp enough to cut the Normac in half. A two foot hole in the ship was patched with a one inch thick metal plate. The repair didn’t hold however and the boat sunk days later on June 16, 1981.
Letnik took the City of Toronto to court for the damages but the amount awarded wasn’t enough to have the boat raised. The ongoing legal battle would take eight years as it worked its way through the appeal courts but Letnik was eventually able to raise the boat, repair it and sell it.
A second level was opened on the Jadran to accommodate the additional customers after the 1981 sinking of the Normac.
That Sinking Feeling
Since 1991 the City of Toronto allowed the Captain John’s property to be leased on a monthly basis rather than annually. This made it difficult for Letnik to have any peace of mind in way of long-term planning for his business.
The economic situation of the past 20 years and poor tourism seasons have taken their toll on the restaurant. The celebrities that once patronized the restaurant were becoming fewer as were the corporate parties and weddings. Letnik attempted to negotiate deals with the nearby hotels in which tourists received discounts.
In 2002 the restaurant filed for bankruptcy protection as it owed over $5 million to various creditors. Letnik’s bankruptcy proposal involved the repayment of all unsecured creditors owed $5000 or less and a repayment of no more than $30,000 to all other unsecured creditors.
In August of 2008 the public health unit ordered the restaurant closed after finding 11 infractions including ‘Operator fail to maintain premises free of sewage back-up’ and ‘Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated’. Letnik was fined $2,160.
In 2009 Letnik’s lawyers argued that the ship didn’t rest on a foundation and couldn’t be assessed for property taxes. A judge ruled that since the ship had been moored to the shore since 1975, it could be taxed. Letnik attempted to appeal this ruling but was denied.
That same year Letnik put the restaurant up for sale at a list price of $1.5 million which was subsequently reduced to $1.1 million. Despite nearly forty years of operation, Letnik was unable to sell the restaurant.
Around this same time period the reviews for the restaurant began to indicate that the level of service and quality of food was diminishing.
The Final Blow
In June of 2012 the Toronto Port Authority rescinded the lease agreement for the slip where the ship was moored. Their reasons were that the restaurant owed over $500,000 in back taxes, rent and utility payments.
The City of Toronto shut off the supply of water to the boat. This resulted in Letnik having to cancel four buses full of Montreal tourists destined for his restaurant. The decision to turn off the water in turn forced the Health Department to issue an order closing the restaurant due to the staff’s inability to sanitize dishes and wash their hands.
Letnik was given until July 27, 2012, to remove the boat’s gangplank and all restaurant signage. The Toronto Port authority invoked marine law which prevented the ship from leaving the dock until its debts to the city and Port Authority were paid.
The gangplank decision was later rescinded by Waterfront Toronto, and Letnik was allowed to stay on board his ship. It should be noted that Waterfront Toronto only came into existence in 2001 and yet were given authority over a ship that had been in Toronto for over 40 years.
The removal of the ship would be no easy task as the engine has been removed and the ship is mirred in mud. Unable to find an interested buyer, Letnik was given an additional month by Waterfront Toronto.
By 2013 Letnik owed the city of Toronto $648,947 in taxes, water charges and penalties, and $216,871 to the Toronto Port Authority in rent. There was also more than $650,000 in mortgages. The city of Toronto began processes to seize the ship which led Letnik to declare that he wouldn’t abandon the ship and might even chain himself to it.
The question became, was this a ship or was it property? How could one prevent a ship from leaving the dock while at the same time taxing the ship annually for $40,000 in property taxes. Letnik attempted to have his residence aboard the ship be deemed a tenancy under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA). He felt this was further enforced by the city billing him for realty tax. In addition, the city terminating the supply of water would be considered a violation of the RTA. Letnik’s claim was heard on April 10, 2014.
By March of 2014 according to documents filed with the Federal Court by the Toronto Port Authority, Letnik now owed $1.7 million in realty taxes, insurance, berthing, mortgage and other fees, some going as far back as 2002.
Letnik, who had been living aboard the ship for years now retreated to his rental property on Glen Everest Road.
The Toronto Port Authority gave a deadline of August 22, 2014 for the Jadran to be removed and scrapped. Three bids were submitted for the process.
A court ordered appraisal listed the ship as a $125,000 liability because the cost of insuring and scrapping the ship could run as high as $725,000, greater than the $600,000 scrap value. One bidder even asked to be paid to take the ship off of the city’s hands.
On July 31, 2014, the Federal Court of Canada declared the winning bid to be that of entrepreneur James Sbrolla of the North American Seafood Exchange who offered to purchase the ship for $33,501. Sbrolla had hoped to restore the boat into a floating restaurant. Plans for a new berth for the ship fell through so Sbrolla proposed to have tugboats tow the ship to a private slip where it could be stripped of scrap metal by Priestly Demolition.
In October 2014 the Toronto Port Authority terminated the deal and returned payment to Sbrolla. They indicated that they “didn’t feel comfortable” with having the ship torn apart in the harbour.
“We don’t feel comfortable proceeding with a plan at this point that involves tearing the ship apart in the harbour. We want to be sure we’re doing this right, mitigating risk and removing the ship in a manner that is safe from an environmental and public safety standpoint.”, said port authority spokeswoman Erin Mikaluk.
A documentary about Captain John produced by Shasha Nakhai was released in 2014. It’s titled “The Unsinkable Captain John”. Ivan “John” Letnik lives in his rental property in Toronto. He is divorced and has a daughter in Washington.
After two teenagers were caught vandalizing the property in January of 2015, the Port Authority removed the gangplanks and further reinforced any possible ways into the ship.
On May 28, 2015, the vessel was towed out of Toronto’s harbour before a large audience of spectators and a musical band. The event was broadcast live on CP24 Television.
Sources:
1) Wikipedia
2) savecaptainjohn.org
3) http://www.theglob…e/article20187446/
4) http://www.ssmarit…an-and-Sisters.htm
5) Photo collection of Anton Heuff
6) Mike Filey’s Toronto Sketches
This was the location of Behind The Bit Equestrian Center, a rescue farm for neglected horses and ponies.
In 2018, York Developments sought to develop the property. They purchased the land and informed the rescue farm on January 3rd, 2019 that the lease would not be renewed and that they had until January 30th to vacate.
The owners of the business tried to fight this in the court system. The presence of the heavy machinery, hydro being disconnected and often having the driveway blocked was a huge inconvenience for the rescue farm.
York Developments then sought a cease and desist notice to stop having people ride horses on the property due to potential liability from people being injured riding. This also affected people who had horses boarded at the farm.
The owners of the horse farm were left with no choice but to move to a new area to continue the business.
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The Blue Bonnets Raceway opened on June 4th, 1907 in the city of Montreal. It had originally been located on the Jos. Decary farm, but in 1886 the Ontario and Quebec Railway laid down tracks effectively splitting the raceway in half.
In 1858, Jean-Louis Levesque added a mult-million dollar clubhouse on the grounds. The racetrack rivaled many Ontario race tracks at the time. From 1961 to 1975 the Blue Bonnets Raceway was the official home to the Quebec Derby.
Ownership of the track was passed onto the municipal government in the early 1990s which rebranded the racetrack as The Hippodrome.
When thoroughbred racing ended at the track, the profits began to decline. In 1997 the City of Montreal sold the land to a provincial company named Attractions Hippiques. Attractions Hippiques were the owners of four horse-racing tracks.
On June 27, 2008 Attractions Hippiques ended horse racing and sought bankruptcy protection. After 16 months of creditor protection, the racetrack closed permanently on October 13, 2009. Assets were sold off with proceeds going to creditors.
The band U2 did breath a little life back into the track when, on July 8th and 9th 2011 they performed at the Hippodrome.
In 2018 the City of Montreal announced they were ready to move forward with demolition of the property.
During out visit in 2017, there was 24/7 security. They allowed us to look around but wouldn’t allow us entry into the stands.
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The Talisman Ski Resort was built back in the 1960s. It closed in 2011 due to bankruptcy. After it closed, it became an area popular with hikers and dog walkers.
An auction was held for sale of the 200 acrs property located at 150 Talisman Mountain Drive. The minimum bid was $2.39 million. Secondary properties were auctioned off but the municipality didn’t receive any bids on the resort itself.
Arson on the same day as auction
Grey County OPP received a call for mischief to the property at 9:20 p.m. on Monday, August 12 after five males were observed entering the property. The caller heard glass breaking.
Police arrived on scene and detected smoke on the second floor. Grey Highlands Fire Department attended the fire, and extinguished it quickly. There was minimal damage to the building.
The fire department ordered the building to be secured but at the same time, explorers had the ski resort on their radar now. Some days you could find an entry point, other days you could not.
In May of 2015, new owners purchased the property for $1.8 million. The invested a further $10 million retrofitting the resort.
A happy ending.
There was so much to explorer here: the ski shop, the dining area with chandeleir, the ski hill, hotel area and bar.
This is an abandoned building in front of the Monaghan Mushroom Farm. The dormitory building was previously home to migrant workers who hailed primarily from Latin America. At least one room still has house rules in Spanish on the door. The main floor has numerous rooms. There is also a basement, which is in two sections. Based on the artifacts and stickers on the wall, it appears that the last time anyone lived here was 1988.
Motel 400 is located along Highway 89 in Cookstown. It closed around 2018. Reviews for the motel suggest the conditions of the hotel weren’t the greatest.
The location was used for a fictitious motel named Do-Si-Do Motel in the television show Titans.
It had been owned by the same family for over 25 years.
On March 8, 1968, four sisters from the Ceppetelli family from the subdivision of Gatchell (Sudbury) purchased property located at the corner of Falconbridge Road and The Kingsway. The Ceppetelli sisters were already experienced in hotel management. They were owners of a Lorne Street hotel by the name of The Four Sisters Motel, a business still in operation to this day.
The sisters opened up a new business venture under the name of The Ambassador Hotel. The hotel’s location was ideal. Situated at the corner of the Kingsway and Falconbridge Road, it would be one of the first hotels that visitors arriving to Sudbury from Highway 17 would see. The close proximity to the airport was another selling point for guests to stay at The Ambassador Hotel.
The hotel was also close to tourist attractions such as Dynamic Earth, Science North, Laurentian University, Bell Park and the city’s two colleges.
(Discrepancy: The year of the photos is marked as 1966 while the year of opening is said to be 1968)
The two floor Ambassador hotel had a capacity of 45 rooms. The rooms featured air conditioning, wireless internet and guests had access to concierge service. The upstairs restaurant also offered food for take-out to eat in your room.
Carol, one of the four sisters, married Bill Czerwinec. Another of the sisters, Norma, married a man named Richard. The nephew of one of the sisters, Michael Clement, was the general operating manager. Michael’s sister Laura Jeanne also worked in the hotel. It could very well be that Norma was the owner and namesake of Norma Jean’s.
Approximately 50 people were employed at the hotel which generated approximately $8.45 million annually (1).
Wedding Planning Service
The Ambassador Hotel offered their own wedding planning service. The service included offering a decorated hall, an officiating Minister, customized dinner menus, Jacuzzi Bridal suites, limo service and rehearsal dinners. For the gift opening ceremony, a brunch meal was available. The bride and groom could host their wedding at The Ambassador without worry about how guests would get back to their hotels.
Business Suites
For guests attending on business, The Ambassador offered Executive Suites. The Executive Suites featured a clock radio, coffee maker, large cable television, work desk, national newspapers, Wi-Fi, in-room refrigerator.
Depending on the size of your business meetings, there were three rooms available: The Empress Room allowed for up to 200 people. For smaller business meetings, the Summit Room could fit up to 40 people and the Executive Boardroom could fit 10 people comfortably. The rooms offered audio/visual equipment and internet access. A Conference Coordinator would handle customizing food and drink menus for the attendees, including dinner.
That was then…
Pool / Exercise Area
The lower floors of the Ambassador contained the indoor pool, spa and exercise room. These rooms were completely dark, the power having been cut long ago. A somewhat rare feature was the childcare area where children could be cared for by staff, while guests used the exercise room or pool.
Laura Fratelli’s Italian Eatery
In 1982 the upstairs portion of the Ambassador had its own restaurant by the name of Bogarts.
Bogarts was eventually replaced with Laura Fratelli’s Italian Eatery. Laura Fratelli’s offered baby back ribs, gourmet pasta dishes, and an extensive collection of wines, rotisserie chicken and Canadian AAA beef. Guests staying in the Ambassador didn’t have to leave the hotel to go for dinner. The prices of course were somewhat higher than other restaurants in the area. Online reviews for Laura’s were favourable with a 4.7 out of 5 star rating.
The restaurant featured a large wall mural of Little Italy (an area of nearby Copper Cliff) painted by Sudbury artist Bob Hastings (who passed away May 11, 2020).
That was then…
This is now. My photos taken in 2020 after Laura Fratelli’s closed:
Various Nightclubs
An added attraction to the Ambassador Hotel was the nightclub that operated in the eastern wing of the hotel. The nightclub saw a series of name changes over the year including: Big Al’s, Faces, Norma Jeans, Yesterdaze and Chevies.
Decades ago the hotel had two bars. One was the “Ladies and Escorts” for the women and a separate bar for the gentlemen with draught beer costing .25 cents.
Please correct me if you can help with the time-frames below. The following bars operated from the Ambassador:
Big Al’s (1980s)
Norma Jeans (late 1980s)
Yesterdaze Lounge (1990’s to 2004)
Ten Lounge (2007-2019)
During the 1980s, Big Al’s attracted rock-and-roll acts such as Lee Aaron, Killer Dwarfs, Helix, and Kickaxe. One former audience member recalled a time when one act came up on stage and the singer was quite intoxicated. He made it half way through the first song and ended up falling into the amplifiers. He then tried to fight the bouncers as they carried him out.
I’ve often wondered how the hotel’s guests felt about having loud music and drunken people outside in the parking lot.
Carol’s husband, Bill (aka Mr. Shevies) was a part of The Ambassador management. He’s said to have been a good bartender, assisted in renovations during the Norma Jeans club and was a remarkable man who treated employees like his family. He has since passed away.
The last night club to operate out of The Ambassador was Ten Lounge and Nightclub. The night club featured two dance floors, three full service bars and up to four DJ’s.
Popularity of the night club was, as most of Sudbury’s night life, based on complete randomness. I went there with some friends one Friday evening, to find under a dozen people inside. The doorman told us that if we came back the following night, there’d be a lineup to get inside. He was right. The club was packed to capacity. Attendees of the club were primarily in their early 20’s, and as much as it was a popular place to party, I always felt that I was too old even in my 30’s. We had the luxury to be on the ‘list’ which allowed us to bypass the lineup, because one of us knew the Clement’s family.
In the men’s washroom there would be a young fellow who’d have an assortment of men’s perfume lined up on the counter. When you’d go to wash your hands, he’d pull off a paper towel from the dispenser and hand it to you. People would tip him for using his services, such as using some of his colognes. I wasn’t fond of having someone touch a cloth that I was going to wipe my face with, some things I prefer to do on my own.
This is now… my photos from 2020:
Saying Goodbye
In 2019 the family announced that they’d received an offer to purchase the property and were subsequently ceasing business operations. August 26, 2019 marked the final day of business.
A Farewell party was held on September 20, 2019 at The Coulson to pay tribute to The Ambassador. Four days later an online auction was held to sell off the furniture and other assets inside the hotel. Leveredge Asset Solutions was hired to auction off more than 2,500 pieces of furniture, lamps, exercise equipment and more.
The following photos were taken from the Leveredge Asset Solutions Online auction page, showing some of the items available for auction. Items included Halloween werewolves, clowns, ghouls, witches, skeletons and Christmas decorations.
The Vancouver-based Sandman Hotel Group (yes, I thought of Metallica too) purchased the Ambassador Hotel. What plans they have for the former hotel are unknown at this time.
Photographs taken during my 2020 visit:
Our Visit
I had the opportunity to visit this abandoned(*) hotel in 2020. We arrived in Sudbury late one Thursday night and proceeded directly to the Ambassador to see if there was a way inside. To our amazement we were successful. We took a quick look around the pool area and then went for a late supper. We debated whether we should head back to take some photographs, unsure if the way inside would last until the next day.
Given my fatigue, I suggested we return the following morning. And so at approximately 9 am we arrived at The Ambassador. A man and a woman were walking the property and we overheard them mention something about having to repair the fallen demolition fence. I surmised that they were from Extendicare next door.
We tried the door that was previously open the night before and to our dismay it was locked. Fortunately we found another way inside and began our exploration. There’s a large amount of water damage on the main floor where the night club was. Mold hasn’t yet begun to grow but it won’t be long.
(*) We use the word ‘abandoned’ in the context of no longer serving it’s original purpose, not in the context of being without an owner.
Sources:
1) https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.benc_hotel_holdings_limited.cd98845a6f3f723caf942af6f8bb2c05.html
There may be some inaccuracies in this write up, I haven’t lived in Sudbury for quite some time.
July 2021 – Demolition has begun
