comings and goings at Sparks and O'Connor

The Ottawa Journal, May 13 1924

When I was about ten, my mother opined that I "really should" learn to play tennis so that I could "meet the right people". Sometimes I wonder if she read P. G. Wodehouse without getting the whole business about twits (Wodehouse himself dismissed tennis as "outdoor Ping-Pong"). No matter. The tennis player above serves (haha!) to bring up the subject of Bryson-Graham Limited.

Bryson-Graham occupied the SE corner of O'Connor and Sparks, and a warren of adjoining properties. They operated between 1880 and 1953. Urbsite has assembled a comprehensive history of the business here. A directory listing from when they were doing gangbusters reads like this...

The Ottawa City Directory, Might 1923

William James Topley, April 1892, LAC MIKAN no. 3318414

"Sharry's" in situ, unknown photographer, circa 1970

Bryson-Graham was a bit before my time. I do remember Sharry's restaurant though, later Yesterday's and now Nate's. Sharry's opened in June of 1954. You can read a discussion of the 55-year Sharry's/Yesterday's tenure in a CBC story, here.

An announcement in the Ottawa Journal (June 15 1954) begins...

Something exiting and new has happened to Ottawa — at the old Bryson-Graham corner, Sparks and O'Connor. It's another step toward the beautification of our National Capital.

Sharry's new restaurant now occupies the corner, inviting one and all to come and enjoy tempting meals in a luxurious, colorful atmosphere.

The restaurant is under the ownership and management of Saul and Joe Ages, and Murray Macy, three well-known Ottawa businessmen, who have toured the Continent for different ideas and modern treatment... 

The remainder of the article is striking for the many lines devoted to seating, (155 over two dining areas) atmosphere, and decor (which included a pair of rather startling "3D" mountainscape murals by Basil Armstrong*). There's a near total lack of menu information, save a passing mention of bread and pastries. And for God's sake don't ask about wine, they'll think you're from France. In 1954, any new restaurant in Ottawa was a big story — and you ate what you were served, sober.

Regarding those murals, I remember them well. For a small child, they were at least half the fun of going to Sharry's. I don't know what happened to them but I expect they were painted over. In the 1950s and 60s, you could smoke in restaurants and those walls surely took a beating. Mr. Armstrong's work might have been rated gaudy or tacky by today's standards, but they'd be the highlight of any irony-laden retro bar. As it was, the Journal article took pains to mention that Armstrong was from London, England, presumably better than any artist Canada could come up with. Back then most of us were not yet familiar with the work of Tom Thompson and Lawren Harris, both of whom are now known to have painted mountains and that sort of thing.

I find no visual record of Armstrong's work, but I did locate a brief written account of the man. In her autobiographical Life Before Stratford, Canadian actress Amelia Hall remembers Basil Armstrong working as a set painter for the Ottawa Little Theatre...

Life Before Stratford, Amelia Wells Hall, 1989, Dundurn Press, Toronto

And now you know what an artist looked like back in the day. The four movies mentioned were all British, produced between 1944 and '46. And c'mon — David Lean? Laurence Olivier? The shizz of it all man, the shizz...