Diner rising from the ashes
Belmont has ties to city’s culinary history
It’s been nice to feel the love LAURIE VILLENEUVE, BELMONT DINER CO-OWNER
A popular Marda Loop diner shuttered by fire in October is expected to reopen in the coming months after facing some delays lining up contractors.
Belmont Diner’s loyal customers, who once lined up in droves on 33rd Avenue S.W., will return to the same mahogany booths and counter, the restaurant’s claim to a slice of Calgary’s history.
The dense Honduran wood furniture, which escaped the fire’s wrath, is believed to trace back to the early to mid-20th century, when immigrant restaurateur and confectioner Jimmie Condon owned cafes throughout Calgary.
Laurie Villeneuve, co-owner of the Belmont, said she felt blessed to have preserved the restaurant’s relics that give it the feel of an oldtime diner. She said customers have told her by email, on Twitter and in person that they are eager to fill those seats and chow down on their breakfast favourites.
“It’s been nice to feel the love,” said Villeneuve, who hopes to reopen in February or early March, having faced some trouble securing bids from busy tradespeople.
The electrical fire ravaged the diner’s food prep room and a couple of washrooms, but Villeneuve said insurance will cover renovations and some of her lost income.
Harry Sanders, a local historian, said it would be nice to have the neighbourhood diner operating again, but he said what sets the Belmont apart is the authentic feel that’s rooted in the historical Condon furniture.
Jimmie’s Cafe was a landmark business on the corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street S.W. from 1934 to 1948 when, legend has it, Calgary’s first milkshakes were served, according to Sanders’ book, Historic Walks of Calgary.
Condon had earlier run Mount Royal Tea Room on 14th Street and 17th Avenue S.W., from 1913 to 1918. But the building burned down, likely in the early 1960s, replaced by the Jimmie Condon building that is now home to Fair’s Fair used bookstore, Sanders said.
Brad Myhre, a modern Calgary restaurant owner, said that before he built Belmont Diner roughly 12 years ago, he had been contacted by a Condon relative who had a garage filled with relics from the old cafes, including booths, the counter and wall panels.
Myhre suspects some of the panels and booths came from the 14th Street cafe because they appear to have been scorched by fire. He also believes some of the booths and the counter trace their roots to the highly popular downtown location, which is rather fitting, given Belmont Diner’s mass appeal.
“Having this old furniture gave it that air of a classic kind of ’30s, ’40s or mid-century diner,” Sanders said. “But even more so than that, it was authentic. He knew where the stuff came from and revived the memory of the place, which resonates with a lot of people.
“My mother remembered Jimmie’s, so we took her to the Belmont to go sit in the booth that she probably sat in decades ago downtown.”