Commerce

Aerial view of downtown Saskatoon (ca 1948)
Source: Saskatoon Public Library, Local History Room (B-270)

The story of the businesses of Saskatoon’s early Greek immigrants is more than just the story of restaurants, hotels, and other endeavours.  It is the story of families – both immediate and extended.  Even though they were competitors, the families that owned and operated these businesses also looked out for each other.  Often, there were family connections, through grandparents or through marriage.  They also shared a common Greek heritage and immigrant experience in a new land.

This section tells the stories of the businesses that were owned and/or operated in the past by Greek families in Saskatoon.  Most of the businesses in this section no longer exist, but there are some which continue the legacy of the founding families but no longer have have Greek ownership or operating connections.

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Princess Confectionary and Tea Room (“The Princess”)
127 Second Avenue North (1914 – 1921)
145 Second Avenue North (1921 – 1930 )

  Owners/Operators (1914 –  circa 1925): George Chronis and Nick Lappas
Owners (circa 1925 –  1929): Gus and George Chronis
Owners/Operators (1930): Charlie Kallops and Nick Lappas

In 1912, the Chronis brothers, George and Gus, worked with the Golf brothers in operating the Royal Confectionery in Saskatoon.  In October of that year, the Chronis and Golf brothers were among approximately 50,000 Greek reservists in North America who had been ordered by the Greek government to return and defend their homeland during the Balkan War of 1912-13.

George Chronis returned to Saskatoon and in 1914, with Nick Lappas, opened the Princess Confectionary and Tea Rooms at 127 Second Avenue North.  This business included a candy factory that supplied confectionery products to retail businesses in Saskatoon and beyond.

Source:  Saskatoon Phoenix, June 30, 1927, p. 11.

The Princess Confectionary and Tea Room continued to prosper under the ownership of the Chronis brothers.  In 1929, they purchased the Gillespie building which their Confectionary shared with a clothing store.    Plans were underway to undertake renovations, but tragedy struck in November 1929, when George Chronis suddenly died.

Gus sold the business to Charlie Kallops, and Nick Lappas who by 1930 had rebranded the business into the Golden Gate Café.  In addition to a full dinner menu, the café continued the Princess’ traditions of candies and teacup readings. Gus continued to own the building into the 1940s. At that time, the restaurant in the building was known as the Cameo Café and was operated by Ted Gardiner.

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From the Ritz Beer Parlour to the Apollo Room (Ritz Hotel)
118 – 21st Street East
Owner/operator:  The Geatros Family

Following a province-wide plebiscite, the Saskatchewan Legislature passed legislation in 1935 which provided a limited number of licenses, based on population, to hotels to operate by-the-glass beer parlours.  The operations were highly regulated.  The Ritz Hotel, operated by the Geatros family, was among the first beer parlours licensed in Saskatoon.

The Ritz beer parlour was initially a men-only facility.  In 1960, renovations were undertaken to expand and convert the facility into a license beverage room that sold more varieties of alcohol and that could accommodate a section for “women and escorts”.

In 1970, the beverage room was redecorated with a space theme featuring large mural photographs of the Apollo 15 landing on the moon.  According to Diane Stratas (daughter of the William and Effie Geatros) the development of the theme was a family effort: “My sister Mary chose the name Apollo, and my other sister Helen designed the décor.”

The Apollo Room opened at a time when the city’s “bar scene” was changing.  According to a long-time customer, the Bessborough Hotel began enforcing stricter dress requirements.  Many of the younger drinkers were offended when they were not served because of their appearance and attire; they responded by moving their business to the Ritz.  The Apollo Room attracted a diverse clientele – including working-class residents, university students, and members of the city’s gay and lesbian community.  The Star-Phoenix described the Apollo Room as the “home of the 21-cent draft and juke box music ranging from country favourites like You’re the Reason my Children are Ugly, to traditional Greek tunes”.

Interior of the Apollo Room (1974)
Source: Saskatoon Public Library, Local History Room (CP-6910-1)

The Apollo room used its outer space theme to promote the business.  According to Diane Stratas, “Every July 20, we’d give out souvenirs to celebrate the first time man walked on the moon”.  One of the murals was later autographed by astronaut Jim Irwin who walked on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission.

Source: Saskatoon Start-Phoenix, May 28, 1986, p. C6.

Researched by Ken Pontikes, December 11, 2021

Sources: Valerie J. Korinek, Prairie Fairies:  A History of Queer Communities and People in Western Canada, 1930 – 1985 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), p. 162 and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, April 24, 1985, p. D11;  and July 24, 1987, p. B5.

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Ritz Social Club (Ritz Hotel)
118 Twenty-first Street East (1936 – 1942)
Owners/Operators:  William Geatros, Peter Pontikes

The Ritz (Saskatoon) Club was one of the seven commercial poker clubs,  also known as social clubs and poker resorts, operating in Saskatoon in 1942. At that time, social clubs were gambling establishments that provided facilities to play card games. They were incorporated under provincial legislation and licensed under municipal bylaws. Even though they identified as membership organizations, social clubs operated like privately owned businesses. Membership conferred no special benefits on the card players and dues were rarely collected. While these poker clubs operated in the basements of hotels or in the backrooms of pool halls, cafes, or other businesses, they were not clandestine establishments. The city’s Henderson Directory identified most of them.

The Ritz Club, located in the basement of the Ritz Hotel at 118 Twenty-first Street East, traced its origins back to 1912 when that space was leased for a pool hall known as the Saratoga Club. Around 1934, the Saratoga Club closed and then was reopened, on or about 1936, by the owners of the Ritz Hotel, under the Ritz Club name.

Ritz Hotel: the Ritz Social Club was located in the basement and was accessible from the door at the rear of the building.
Photo source:  Saskatoon Public Library, Local History Room (LH-6020)

In 1942, the Ritz Club had two rooms, with a combined area of 1,977 square feet (183.67 square meters). A sign at the front of the building directed players to enter the Club through a rear door, off the adjacent alley. Peter Kyriakos Pontikes, an employee of the Ritz Hotel,  was responsible for operating the Ritz Club. His duties included selling sandwiches, tobacco products, candies, and replacement decks of cards to the players. He also collected a “rake-off”  (which was illegal under The Criminal Code) from the wagering pool (the “pot”) contributed by players during the games.  

 The  Code prohibited the keeper of a house from receiving any direct benefits or indirect benefits, such as promoting sales of other products or services. Players could purchase and pay for refreshments, food, and other products consumed in the club, but indirect payments for these products or operating costs (such as electricity and rent) through rake-offs were not permitted. This requirement made it difficult for commercial card-playing establishments to financially survive. The Criminal Code was further amended in 1938 to clarify that a facility was a “bona fide social club” when the rake-off fee was less than 10 cents an hour or 50 cents a day. This amendment established a legally acceptable rake-off which could be used to finance the club’s operating expenses.  In theory, this was a major concession by the federal government to the clubs’ owners, but in practice, it was not sufficient to guarantee the club’s financial viability. 

 Municipal licensing provided the City of Saskatoon with a tool to control the number, location, and operations of social clubs within the city limits.  In 1934, the City Council directed the police chief, licensing inspector, and city solicitor to investigate and report on these social clubs’ operations. Their subsequent administrative report did not identify any operational irregularities. Police Chief Donald reiterated these conclusions in a February 1935 letter to the City Council: “. . . I have nothing to say against how the licensees have conducted their premises, they being at all times orderly, no sign of any liquor therein, and to all appearances well managed”.  However, Donald did not let up on expressing, publicly, his personal views about the ethics, morality, and social consequences of the social clubs and therefore, his desire to have all existing licenses terminated. He described the clubs as “derogatory to the life of our city” and “making young men into gamblers.” 

 In 1941, moral arguments against social clubs intensified among members of the City Council. The eight licenses for 1941 were approved, after a “vigorous” debate (according to the Star-Phoenix), by a 5-3 vote. The primary arguments against social clubs had shifted from the immorality of gambling to protecting vulnerable and inexperienced players and their families from financial ruin. 

Saskatoon City Council, 1942
Photo Source:  Saskatoon Public Library (LH-9223)

Saskatoon’s seven commercial poker clubs, including the Ritz Club, were in full operation on the last day of March 1942. The card players – all men because women were prohibited from playing — were settling in for an evening of card games that often continued into the early morning hours. Stud poker was the favoured game; however, rummy and bridge were occasionally played.   After several weeks of observation and investigation, police raided all seven licensed clubs on March 31, 1942. The clubs were subsequently convicted, under the Criminal Code of Canada, of taking excessive rake-offs.  

 This police raid was the beginning of the end for commercial poker clubs in Saskatoon. Previous raids on social clubs involved the mass and summary conviction of men directly involved in poker games played in these establishments. This time, the seven clubs were individually charged as incorporated entities for taking excessive rake-offs from the poker games.  

Two and a half weeks after the raid, the seven clubs pleaded guilty to the charges of operating common gaming houses and paid fines of $50 each. However, they described their guilty pleas as protesting an unreasonable law and not an admission that they had done anything morally or ethically wrong.

 A special committee of Saskatoon City Council began deliberating on May 13, 1942, on proposed amendments to the license bylaw that would apply to social clubs.  The views of members of the City Council were beginning to polarize between those wanting the social clubs banned from Saskatoon and those wanting more stringent regulations with the market determining, within these regulations, which ones would survive.  

 The granting of licenses for social clubs remained unresolved until late July 1942. Three social clubs – the Elite Bridge and Recreation Club, the Frontenac Club, and the St. Charles Club – withdrew their applications.  On August 17, 1942, the Council rejected the remaining applications from the Commercial, Madison, Ritz, and Windsor Clubs.  In March 1943, the provincial government revoked the incorporation certificates for the Commercial, Elite, Frontenac, Madison, Ritz, St. Charles, and Windsor Clubs.  Saskatoon’s seven commercial social clubs shut down and no other clubs of this type have operated subsequently in this city. 

 Source:  Adapted from Ken Peter Pontikes, “Social Gambling and the Demise of Saskatoon’s Social Clubs”, Saskatoon History Review, Number 32 (2022), pp. 41 – 54.

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Owners/Operators:  Golf Brothers (Gus and Bill)

 Gus Golf learned to make candy from his uncle in Aegeon, Greece.  He emigrated to the United States in 1904 when he was 21 years old.  A year later, he moved to Canada.  His 18-year-old brother, Bill, followed in 1907 and together they settled in Saskatoon in 1910. 

Shortly after their arrival, the Golf brothers were successfully operating the Royal Confectionery Company.  This company was among the first Greek-owned businesses in Saskatoon.

The  Royal Confectionary Company operated a candy-making factory in the Hunt Block on 23^rd Street.  The brothers then moved the factory to a “shack” located on property on Third Avenue  that would be later developed into the Ross Block on Twentieth Street in Saskatoon.  Demand for its products required the Company to relocate again to a building on the east side of Second Avenue between 20^th and 21^st Street.  The candy factory was on the second floor of the building.  A confectionary and ice cream operation were on the ground floor.

In 1915, Royal Confectionary was the “only wholesale confectionary business, including manufacturing, between Winnipeg and the coast” (Saskatoon Daily Star, April 23, 1915, p. 12.)  It supplied chocolates and candies to retailers throughout Saskatchewan.

By 1916, the brothers had two retail stores – one at 266 Second Avenue South and another at its 20th Street factory location. A third store, known as Golf’s Tea Room, opened at 134 Twenty-first Street East in 1917.  The three outlets sold candies and chocolates manufactured in the Golf family’s candy factory, which was relocated to the second floor of their building on 21^st Street.   The factory was supplying chocolates and candies to retailers throughout Saskatchewan.  Approximately 30 people were employed in these stores and in the factory.

Source:  Saskatoon Daily Star, June 30, 1927, p. 46.

Golf’s Electric Bakery, 1923
Source:  Saskatoon Public Library, Local History Room (PH-2016-30)

 In the 1930s, Gus moved his family to Greece where he felt, the climate would better suit the health challenges faced by one of his daughters.  In 1932, Bill Golf died. Gus returned to travel frequently between his family in Greece and his businesses in Saskatoon. When World War II broke out, Gus was in Saskatoon but was separated from the rest of his family who were still in Greece.   A family reunification in Saskatoon did not occur until 1946. 

Golf’s Chocolate Shop and Café, 167 Second Avenue South, circa between 1922 and 1933
Source:  Saskatoon Public Library, Local History Room (A-1007)

Golf’s Chocolate Shop and Café, 167 Second Avenue South, 1949
Source:  Saskatoon Public Library, Local History Room (B-2202-2)

Source:  Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, April 17, 1953, p. 17

Researched by Ken Pontikes (October 31, 2023).

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Tinos Kortes Registered Architect (717 Victoria Avenue)
Owner: Tinos Kortes

Tinos Kortes was a well-known architect in Saskatoon who received his Bachelor of Architecture
degree in 1949 from the University of Manitoba. He initially worked as an architect with Webster &
Gilbert, an architectural firm in Saskatoon. Shortly afterwards, he established his own firm which he
operated until his retirement in 1987. He was a member of the Saskatchewan Association of Architects,
as well as the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Mr. Kortes designed many buildings in Saskatoon. These included educational facilities (Lorne
Haselton Elementary School which is now occupied by the Saskatchewan Abilities Council,
Montgomery Elementary School, Ogle Hall which was formerly St. Pius X Seminary at the University
of Saskatchewan), recreational facilities (Gordie Howe Kinsmen Arena), office buildings
(Saskatchewan Teachers Federation Building, Remai Building), churches (St. David’s Trinity United
Church), restaurants (Jay Dees, The Suburban), and residences.

Saskatchewan Teachers Federation

Researched by Ken Pontikes (October 31, 2023).

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Zenith Bowling Academy
136 Second Avenue North and 157 Third Avenue North
Owner/operator:  Sam Serif (1928 – 1932)

 In 1928, the Greek-born owner of the Zenith Café (136 Second Avenue North), Sam Serif, converted the second-floor ballroom in his building into a five-pin bowling alley.  The Zenith Café continued to operate on the main floor.

Sam was responding to the growing popularity of bowling in Saskatoon as a recreational activity.  The public – men and women, young and old – responded enthusiastically to the modern, clean, and well-ventilated facility.  According to an article in the Star-Phoenix: “From one of the minor amusements with a hundred or so people playing in one or two leagues to more than eight hundred playing . . . [this reflects] the rapid advancement bowling has made in Saskatoon in the past few years.”  (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 18, 1929, p. 22.) The Star-Phoenix suggested that the bowling lanes at the Zenith Café “marked the beginning of a revival of bowling in Saskatoon” (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, November 7, 1929, p. 11).

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 25, 1928, p. 15

The bowling lanes proved to be popular and Sam decided to expand his operation by building a new bowling facility at the south-west corner of Third Avenue and Twenty-third Street (157 Third Avenue North).  The reinforced-concrete building and its interior equipment cost approximately $185,000.  The facility consisted of a one-storey structure (110 x 120 feet) with a basement.   The 27-lane facility opened in October 1929.  Eleven alleys were located on the first floor, with another 16 in the basement.   Five hundred spectators could be accommodated in the basement alleys and another 250 on the first floor.  Around 75 people were employed in the facility during the winter months.

THE BASEMENT FLOOR-ZENITH BOWLING ACADEMY-16 ALLEYS
GROUND FLOOR-ZENITH BOWLING ACADEMY-11 ALLEYS

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, December 31, 1929, p. 16

When it opened, the new facility was the home of 190 teams in fifteen leagues.  A “board room” was also included in the building; this room was made available as a meeting space for sports clubs.  A thirty-foot lunch counter operated in the basement.

By December 1929, the popularity of bowling in Saskatoon supported two large (the Zenith Bowling Academy and Mike Fingard’s 18-lane Bowladrome in the basement of the Avenue Building) and two smaller bowling establishments, providing a total of 54 lanes.   Approximately 50 leagues, accounting for over 400 teams and 2,000 bowlers, participated competitively.  Another 2,000 people were recreational bowlers and not affiliated with competitive teams. The focus of the sport shifted from ten-pin to five-pin bowling and consequently, attracted more women and families. In 1929, 60% of bowlers in Saskatoon were women.  The Star-Phoenix also reported that “the existing bowling alleys are crowded to capacity and sometimes people are turned away because of a lack of alleys on which to play the game” (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, December 31, 1929, p. 78).

Despite the rapid growth in bowling’s popularity, Sam Serif faced financial difficulties in operating his Bowling Academy.  In the spring of 1932, he was forced to sell the facility.  Mike Fingard purchased and renamed the facility as Fingard’s Bowladrome.  The operation in the Avenue Building was closed.

Source:  Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, September 2, 1933, p. 13.

In 1956, the Fingard family subsequently sold the facility to John Rak. The downtown facility was renamed as Rak’s Bowladrome and continued to operate until 1983 when it was closed.

Researched by Ken Pontikes, December 7, 2023.

Sources:  Saskatoon Star Phoenix August 21, 1928, p. 3; October 25, 1928, p. 15; June 21, 1929, p. 11; October 18, 1929, p. 22; November 7, 1929, p. 11; November 5, 1929, p. 15; December 31, 1929, p. 16, 78, and 80; October 19, 1931, p. 10; February 27, 1932, p. 20; August 20, 1932, p. 5; September 2, 1933, p. 13; April 16, 1983, p. 3; and February 12, 1933, p. 3.

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