LAST MEAL AT THE LIDO
LOYAL CUSTOMERS ARE GETTING ALL-DAY BREAKFAST WHILE THEY STILL CAN — THE KENSINGTON DINER CLOSES SUNDAY TO MAKE WAY FOR AN EIGHT-STOREY CONDO PROJECT
After 70 years of classic burgers, Chinese food and allday breakfasts for just a few bucks, Kensington’s muchloved Lido Cafe will serve its final meal this Sunday, making way for the neighbourhood’s latest evolution.
As part of a larger effort to remake the trendy community by building more high-density housing to support local business and transit, construction will begin this summer on a new eight-storey condo development in the 100 block of 10th Street N.W.
It’s the latest transformation of a neighbourhood that just two decades ago was a quiet, residential community populated by families and scattered with ground level retail and restaurants.
The new Lido will keep its namesake but become a new development with 60 residential units, seven new retailers and underground parking.
Lido Cafe owner, Pam Fung, who bought the iconic diner with her husband Ken 24 years ago, doesn’t want to stand in the way of progress, and understands why the area needs more housing.
“This is a place where a lot of people want to live because it’s so close to downtown. And people won’t have to drive, they can just walk. And that’s better for the city.”
The end of their lease this month marks the beginning of their retirement and some well-earned rest, maybe some yoga, and catching up on favourite TV shows like CSI.
But she’ll miss her regulars, the customers that come every morning, and every night, not even needing to order, because the waitresses know what the usual is.
“We do have many people that come in every day,” she said. “They’ve all been so nice, they are sad we will be closing and I appreciate that. I will miss them very much.
“Like her,” she said, pointing to a woman wearing a ball cap, enjoying coffee and breakfast. “I tease her that she should help me, and just work here.”
Carol Chapman has been coming to the cafe for years, and jokes that she’ll need a 12step program to recover from losing her favourite diner.
“This is a huge icon to Kensington. We’ve lost so many of them. But this one will be the hardest to say goodbye to.”
“It’s our Seinfeld cafe. The place where you come in and the waitress just knows what you want.”
Chapman’s booth mate Kelly Turner agrees, asking “where else can you find a place where you can get breakfast, all-day, for just six bucks?”
Chapman and Turner say the staff is like none other, remembering back todays when the Fungs hired the homeless or the poor, to wash windows or help haul garbage away.
“It’s a place where people take care of each other. And I’m going to be a little worried about all the seniors who come here everyday. It’s their place. Where will they go now?” said Chapman.
“It’s simple here. It’s not ostentatious.”
Chapman said community leaders have been pushing for more high density and affordable housing options, but she worries it’s at the cost of losing character, affordable establishments like the Lido Cafe.
“I understand we need to grow up instead of out.
“But we’re getting seven highrises in the next three years in this community. We’re losing our light, we’re losing our sunshine. And we’re losing character places like the Lido.”
Coun. Druh Farrell said the area’s new redevelopment plan calls for more “transitoriented” development that is affordable.
“The single-family housing has just become unaffordable. There just isn’t a lot of choice.”
Traci Wilson, manager of sales and marketing with Batistella Developments, which is building the new development along with the Dobbin Group, said one-bedroom units will start as low as $280,000.
“With more people living here, it will help support existing business and create more business.”
The aged Lido Cafe sign from decades ago will be refurbished and attached to the new building’s facade, a keepsake of memories.
“People will want to live here. There is so much walkability, everything you need is right here,” said Wilson. “We are already 45 per cent sold.”
Turner said while the new development will bring more people and more retail, she worries how affordable a trendy new cafe or eatery might be.
“If a restaurant was smart, they’d learn from this one and they’d bring it here. Nobody wants to pay $20 for an omelette,” Turner said.
Farrell agrees the cafe’s closure will be a real loss, saying she’ll miss its gritty character.
“It was the place my husband and I had our first date back in 1979. We shared a vanilla milkshake.
“But the community is in transition. There was very little development before, very little was happening. But this will bring in more of a population into the community, and we need that.”