Cabbagetown - THe Gerrard Hotel - History in pictures and words

THE GERRARD HOTEL (Hotel Gerrard)
Click on image to see a larger version A 'grainy' photo taken from the northwest corner of Gerrard and Parliament Streets. You'll notice the marquee sign that says "Hotel Gerrard" which was the official name, but we always called it The Gerrard Hotel. It's official address was 293 Gerrard Street East. The front entrance led into the lobby, to the left was a large lounging area with couches and chairs. To the right led into the Men's Beverage Room which also had an entrance from Parliament Street. The Gerrard Hotel Section would not have been possible if it weren't for a visit to our website by Mr. Gary Megaffin who's father owned the hotel until the land was expropriated in 1950 to build Regent Park. Gary Megaffin kindly provided us with pictures, history and descriptions of the hotel and it's various rooms. Thanks you Gary Megaffin! It is people like you who help to make this a truly community (past & present) generated and oriented web site.	More Photos: Click on photos to see a larger version and to read the descriptions. Will open a new browser window Lobby Dining room One of the Hotel Rooms Men's Beverage Room Ladies & Escort Room Preferred Room
My Grandfather, Major David W. Megaffin was a Major in the First and Second World Wars who became involved in the hotel industry in the early 30's. He had four sons who were eventually proprietors of their own establishments in Pefferlaw, Kingston and Oakville. He was one of the first to open with the advent of draught beer by the glass in 1934 and was known throughout the Province having served as a member of the Provincial and Director of the Toronto Hotel Associations. When he died in 1944, his son and my father Louis Megaffin, assumed the ownership and operation of The Gerrard Hotel, while my grandmother continued to live at the hotel. I was born in 1936 and lived at the Gerrard Hotel until my two brothers were born then my family moved to Parkdale in 1942 while my father continued operating the hotel. While I was living at hotel, and even though I was very young, I remember some of the interesting characters that were seen in the area. There was 'Snuffy' the cab driver, a very 'large" man from the taxi office right next door to the hotel. Bruce The Barber across Gerrard Street and the Badali family with their fruit market on Parliament Street just up from Gerrard where they let me, a five year-old kid, operate their cash register. One of their family, a cousin named Joe Lamantia used to baby-sit me from time to time. You may recognize his name, Joe became the time-keeper for The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club who just recently retired. My mother used to take me to Riverdale Park in the winter to enjoy the snow and before it became the CBC Studios, she used to take me to The Parliament Theatre for a Saturday afternoon matinee. There was Penrose Drugs on Parliament Street and I got to know Mr. Penrose when picking up items for my grandfather. My father became friends with the proprietors of the Winchester Hotel and The Avion Hotel, two other area establishments on Parliament and Gerrard Streets. In 1950 The City of Toronto expropriated my father's hotel and the land on which it stood to make way for a new housing project called Regent Park. In those days, the Liquor Licence Board of Ontario stipulated that in order to retain a liquor licence without the need to re-apply, you must build within a certain time and within a certain distance from the site of the original licenced establishment. My father's brother Basil who operated The Halton Inn in Oakville, sold his hotel and he and my father merged and bought several houses across the road from the site of the hotel and built The Gerrard Tavern. The difference of course was the absence of renting rooms. They operated The Gerrard Tavern until 1959 when it was sold. I understand the building is now used as a Goodwill Store. Hope that bit of 'Cabbagetown' information is useful. I'm in my mid-60's now, but will always remember my childhood days there and the fine people I was fortunate to meet. Gary Megaffin We asked: "When was it built?" Gary Megaffin: "From the information I researched, the original property was a Dominion Store in the early 30's and my Grandfather bought the property then remodeled the building into what became the hotel. As for the rooms upstairs, it apparently was a rooming house over the store and he integrated the top three floors into the hotel. This was done around 1932-33, then he obtained his liquor licence and began serving beer in 1934...one of the first to receive a licence after prohibition. In those days and up to 1947, there were no licences allowed for distilled liquor, only beer."	;