Indian Head Walking Tour Brochure & Map.pdf - Tourism ...

43. 428 Grand Avenue:
Offering Your Favourite Flavour
On the south side of the brick exterior, observant
visitors to 428 Grand may discover lettering
advertising McCaul’s furniture store, the building’s
original occupant in 1895.
The building’s role as the Vic Jones’ Pool Hall and
Barbershop is mentioned in Hec Blair’s memoir. No doubt
the lure of billiards in the back room was to give Jones the
edge over other local barbers George Flude and Bill Lang.
Until the 1920s, when the upper floors were remodeled
as apartments, they provided lodge rooms for Oddfellows
(IOOF) and Masons.
Eventually the building became Aubrey McDonald’s coal
office. Then, as cars became more popular, horses were
replaced by tractors, and it became a dealership for Chrysler
and for J. I. Case and Oliver Farm Machinery. The McDonald
family lived in the apartment on the second floor. When son
Harold (Bucko) married Beth (nee Nichols), the newlyweds
lived in the west apartment. Meanwhile, daughter Vera, and
her husband, Doug Roberton, lived on the third floor. Aubrey
McDonald died in 1948, but Norna, his wife, kept the building
until 1978, when she sold to Donald Liggett, who rented the
main floor to the Community College. In about 1980, Larry
Sentes turned the building back into a furniture store. It also
housed L&J’s Arcade, featuring video games and a pool table
and run by Les and Jean Michalycka.
In 2009, Dan and Dana Beauregard (see 1100 Buxton)
transformed the main floor and entrance yet again and
introduced the old-fashioned pleasures of the Indian Head
Ice Cream Parlour. Justine and Scott Hodge have recently
bought the business, reopened in April, 2011 and restored
the tradition of backroom pool hall. AK + DT
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