Windsor Hotel memory bank

Located in the Sault’s downtown, it just recently re-opened as the Windsor Place Retirement Residence. Owner Feroze Virani took over the iconic Windsor Park Hotel during Covid and over the past few years, has restored the downtown jewel into what is hoped will be a return to prominence.

Personally, I have good and vivid memories of the Windsor Hotel (pictured above) that date back to my youth.

In fact, beginning in 1972 when I was still in high school at Sir James Dunn, I worked at the Windsor Hotel as a waiter and bartender.

Known as the Windsor Men’s Bar, it was one of a number of shops that operated within the main floor of the venerable, nine-story establishment.

Besides the men’s bar, the hotel was home to the Windsor Coffee Shop, the fine-dining Oak Room, the Imperial Room Banquet Hall, the Windsor Lounge, the Windsor Smoke Shop, and the Sportsmen Barber Shop.

Working at the Windsor Hotel was a good gig. Back when I started there, the minimum wage in Ontario was $1.80 an hour but the Windsor Hotel was owned by Algoma Steel — and was thus, unionized — and being a waiter in the men’s bar paid $3.39 an hour.

I liked working there enough to maintain the job beyond high school and into when I attended Sault College, then Algoma University. In fact, when I landed my first media job in 1975, a part-time gig that paid $3 a sportscast, I stayed on at the Windsor Hotel.

What stands out about my time during the Windsor Hotel glory days were the people I worked with and those who I waited on in the men’s bar.

The coffee shop — which faced Queen St. — featured a number of young, attractive waitresses such as Carol Hodgkinson, Janis Forman, Kathy Hepburn, Elaine Stewart, Wilma Weeks, Kathy Weeks and a lass from Newfoundland, whose first name was Gerri. (Sorry, I can’t remember her last name or whatever became of her.)

My job in the men’s bar had its share of characters that included senior bartenders Oscar Herzog and George Doucette and a cast of fellow waiters such as Larry Shackleton, Joe Armour and Bill Paolini.

And the patrons included good guys like Joe (Giuseppe) Lavoratore, Jim Traveson, Henry Alisat (who with his dad, Henry Sr., owned and operated the nearby Sandwich Shop), Mike Buckley, Lynn Winkleman, Wolfgang Werner, Jim Landry, Jim Nevin, Jim Running, Ken Theriault, Bill Souliere and Russ Johnson. (Russ, when he had a few too many bottles of Molson Canadian, was fond of calling me “Rhonda”, in reference to my long hair. Revenge, though, would be sweet for the long-haired waiter.)

Anyway, circa 1975, the Windsor Hotel was sold to brothers Gene and Gerry Nori (and partners) and they made changes that included the introduction of what became the popular Tiffany’s Disco Bar.

It was in early 1976 that I went from part-time to full-time at CKCY Radio and could no longer fit in working at the Windsor Men’s Bar. But working there has resulted in a retention of positive thoughts that have remained in my memory bank.

And I am just one of many with a particular interest in the downtown area of the Sault who are happy that the old Windsor Hotel is now active and moving forward now, thanks to owner Feroze Virani and Co.

Outside the new Windsor Place Retirement Residence.