> The elderly Strathcona Hotel in Edmonton is still there on the
> corner of Whyte Avenue and the Calgary Trail (that's what 104 St and
> Highway 2 used to be called) but it is no longer a rundown dive bar
> with SROs upstairs rented by the week and month but a fully restored
> heritage building (built in 1891) with a faithful replica of the
> original bar plus some upscale retail stores.

A faithful replica - I've enjoyed divey places but
don't really want to put myself in mortal danger,
so that might be just right. I've been in enough
joints where I've been viewed with suspicion,
sometimes butting up on hostility. When traveling
with Lilli, if it's really hot out, we'll sometimes
duck into a tavern where we'd (or any mixed-race duo)
be out of place, sometimes with suboptimal results.
Perhaps a Disney bar would be up my alley in my
current condition, you know, get my small beer in a
dimly lit slightly musty room while animatronic thugs 
glower and It's a Small World plays in the background.
That kind of describes Cheers, I guess.

> where the banks and merchants all were. That railhead is now a
> riverside park with an antique train in the centre of it. It was
> the site of my first wedding.    

We do have a quite wide range of life experiences
represented here on the echo.

> ask me for ID. When I looked a little surprised he said, "We're
> expecting a raid later tonight." My group left and we got drinks a
> couple of blocks away. Sure enough, there was a raid later that
> night but not a single underage drinker was caught! Obviously the
> fix was in.

At the aforementioned Wursthaus, we'd have an 
assortment of ages at our gatherings, including some 
quite young ones, but our decoy was an elementary 
school teacher named Ruth, who as with many of that 
profession appear to be either extremely old or 
extremely young. She would be the only one who ever
got carded, though she was well into her 30s and 
the oldest of our company.

> and then a cab to the golf course and concert venue which was
> out on the highway back when she was single. The event that made the
> effort worthwhile for her was Frank Sinatra for a $5 cover (she was
> making $200 a month in 1944 so that was serious coin).

Remember that Sinatra in addition to his not 
inconsiderable fee also was accompanied by a
bandleader and a band as well as assorted bodyguards 
and hangers-on. In the 1940s the salary for a backup 
band member was 400-500 a week. When I did the same 
job in the '80s it was 400-500 a week, live music
having taken a hit in the late '40s by radio and
thereafter being more an indulgence (and a self-
indulgence by those who chose it as a profession).

> By the time I got there the golf course was sold and the clubhouse
> had become a huge dive bar. The Rose Room was upstairs, where you
> took a date. Bands like Sha-Na-Na, Octavian, the Staccatos (later
> the Five Man Electrical Band) played there.

Sha Na Na I'm the most familiar with - one of the 
most successful of the cover bands and of my 
approximate vintage.

> The Green Door below was where you went with the guys to get drunk.
> Both held more than 500 customers each. Downstairs you bought a
> quart as a matter of course; only girls drank pint bottles. The
> servers all had bus driver type change machines on their belts. And

Reminds me of McSorley's, where you could buy only 
6 oz beers (175 mL), but you had to buy them 6 at a 
time. Subsequent orders were of a minimum of 3. The 
first time I was in New York, ladies were not admitted, 
but that changed in short order when some NOW people
filed suit.

> there was a massive very tough bouncer who kept the French, the
> Irish, the paper mill workers, the bikers and the students from
> battling each other.

He had to be tough.

> The restaurant upstairs had an amazing Sunday brunch run by a
> family of Polish Jews who owned a number of delis and steakhouses
> around the city. It had four food lines: breakfast things, kosher
> style deli things, the hot food line featuring cold whole salmon in
> aspic and prime rib and finally a massive dessert line.

Somehow brunch buffets don't hold the same appeal
as they used to. At the best of times I can eat a
pound, pound and half of meat nowadays.

> when we moved from the country to Ottawa). By the 70s it was quaint
> and old fashioned but by the 90s it was retro cool and I swear the
> ancient waiters were the same guys who served me in 1962. The
> menu hadn't changed either, except of course for the prices:

Jacqueline Kennedy's Beef Stroganoff 
categories: French, New York, main, stews, retro cool
servings: 4

2 lb boneless beef sirloin
salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 tb all-purpose flour
4 tb butter, divided
2 c beef broth
1/2 c sour cream
3 tb tomato juice or paste
1/4 c grated onion
fresh sliced mushrooms

Ask butcher to cut beef into strips. Season beef 
generously with salt and pepper. Cover and let 
stand 2 hr in cool place. 

In large skillet, whisk flour and butter over 
low heat until mixture bubbles and forms a 
smooth paste. Slowly add beef broth, stirring 
constantly until mixture thickens. Let boil 
2 min. Reduce heat and add sour cream 
alternately with tomato juice, still whisking. 
Simmer slightly 1 min; do not let boil. In 
separate skillet, quickly brown beef and onion 
in remaining 1 tb butter over medium heat. Add 
contents of meat pan to sauce; season with salt 
and pepper. Simmer very gently or cook over hot 
water in double boiler 20 min.

M would wilt the onion over medium low heat,
letting it brown a bit, then brown the meat
as hot as possible as short as possible. 
Probably 1 Tb Cognac or Bourbon in the sauce.
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