Historic Halifax

[HalifaxRetales]

[OldDartmouthMark]

^ Cool shot. Barrington St. in the 1980s I presume?

I recall a time (well, the tail end of it actually) when many businesses had neon signs, which tended to cast a warm glow on the street below. They were usually vibrant, colourful and IMHO quite attractive. Sometimes they had animated features as well.

Here's a pic from a postcard on the Halifax libraries site that illustrates this a little. There isn't a date included, but I assume it's probably sometime in the 1960s?



Source

There are modern LED versions that are close, but IMHO don't quite capture the optical characteristics of real neon. However, it would still be nice to see more signs created in this style using modern technology.

[OldDartmouthMark]

As a side note, Vancouver used to have an impressive array of neon signs. This was somewhat typical for most mid 20th century cities, but Vancouver seemed to do it on a level higher than anybody else. Click on the link to see the article:

https://www.can-design.ca/blog/2025/vanc...the-city-became-the-worlds-neon-capital/

[Saul Goode]

Mark - there's confirmation of the Paramount sign being green!

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Mark - there's confirmation of the Paramount sign being green!

Your memory is spot on!!

[someone123]

There's still a fair amount of neon on Granville Street in Vancouver today, although not to the level of those photos, and it is a bit sketchy. Granville has a collection of nice old performance venues like the Commodore and Orpheum. The Orpheum is roughly the Vancouver equivalent of what the Capitol would have been in Halifax. It had an unfortunate 70s era facade redo but the interior is nice and has a sense of grandeur. There is also the Queen Elizabeth Theatre nearby which is the maybe the premiere performing arts venue in the city, to which Halifax doesn't really have an equivalent.

I remember Odyssey 2000 but I think it was.. around Robie maybe, in the 2000s? It's interesting to me how these businesses moved around.

[HalifaxRetales]

the shot was a still from the 1983 Movie Siege and shot in october/november of 1981

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Your memory is spot on!!

You're very kind to say so...but I think "spotty" would be a more accurate term these days..

Anyway, what that shot of Barrington in the rain really made me think of was, ironically enough, Gottingen Street. In that era it was still a very active shopping street and hosted a fairly spectacular concentration of neon signs for blocks on end. Great memories...the French Casino was the first ostensibly "upscale" restaurant I can remember being taken to (Halifax didn't have many back then). I would've been 6 0r 7, maybe. It had one of the coolest neon signs on the street.

Also, though I thought I remembered downtown quite well, I have absolutely no recollection of "Leeds". Must've disappeared before I was of an age to remember such things.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Also, though I thought I remembered downtown quite well, I have absolutely no recollection of "Leeds". Must've disappeared before I was of an age to remember such things.

No recollection here either.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

There's still a fair amount of neon on Granville Street in Vancouver today, although not to the level of those photos, and it is a bit sketchy. Granville has a collection of nice old performance venues like the Commodore and Orpheum. The Orpheum is roughly the Vancouver equivalent of what the Capitol would have been in Halifax. It had an unfortunate 70s era facade redo but the interior is nice and has a sense of grandeur. There is also the Queen Elizabeth Theatre nearby which is the maybe the premiere performing arts venue in the city, to which Halifax doesn't really have an equivalent.

I remember Odyssey 2000 but I think it was.. around Robie maybe, in the 2000s? It's interesting to me how these businesses moved around.

It’s cool that Van has kept some of its neon, and has attached some kind of historical significance (and protection?) to it. There is not much left in Halifax that I can think of. Right off the top, The Chickenburger in Bedford has the most intact and functioning neon in the city that I’m aware of. The Esquire Restaurant on the Bedford Highway still has some, but only about half of it is working. The Esquire Motel (now a quasi strip mall) had a great period neon free standing sign until Hurricane Juan bent it up like a pretzel. I recall that the Stardust Motel in Bedford used to have a functional twinkling neon sign that I used to refer to as Little Las Vegas (kind of comical in a sense in that it has always been a modest motel) - I did dig the sign, though.

There were many others, like the progressively spelling E-S-S-O sign on Nantucket right off at the Dartmouth side of the Macdonald Bridge, and the Dartmouth Shopping Centre sign not far away. Lots more that escape my memory at the moment…

Long ago, I mused that if I ever won an obscene amount of money in a lottery, that I would take it upon myself to pay for the copying and reinstatement of some of the more memorable neon signs in Halifax, as my gift to the city. Alas, it hasn’t happened yet…

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by HalifaxRetales

the shot was a still from the 1983 Movie Siege and shot in october/november of 1981

Ah, thanks!

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

You're very kind to say so...but I think "spotty" would be a more accurate term these days..

Anyway, what that shot of Barrington in the rain really made me think of was, ironically enough, Gottingen Street. In that era it was still a very active shopping street and hosted a fairly spectacular concentration of neon signs for blocks on end. Great memories...the French Casino was the first ostensibly "upscale" restaurant I can remember being taken to (Halifax didn't have many back then). I would've been 6 0r 7, maybe. It had one of the coolest neon signs on the street.

Also, though I thought I remembered downtown quite well, I have absolutely no recollection of "Leeds". Must've disappeared before I was of an age to remember such things.

It’s interesting and kind of sad that between that time and the time I started retaining significant memories of Gottingen Street, it transformed from a significant shopping area to a place that your parents warned you to stay away from, given the increase of crime in the area during the 1970s. My parents used to tell me that when they were young adults, this was the place to shop in Halifax, along with Barrington (my mom worked at Eatons on Barrington when she was young). I don’t remember much about Gottingen other than it being rundown and kind of sketchy, TBH.

I don’t recall Leeds either, and I am not an authority on fashion, but the gowns in the window are looking more 1950s to me than 1960s or later.

[Keith P.]

That picture of Barrington at night is interesting and raises some questions for me.

On that side of the street, Leon Neima was on the corner, then we had I believe a ladies wear store that cycled through a number of iterations but was called "Belgium" for some time. Then you had Condon's jewelry, and Offman's jewellery (lots of jewelers, and I don't know if that was the same family that ran the namesake furniture store). I believe next to Offmans is a Sally shop. I suspect the color (or perhaps colorized) photo is from quite early, maybe the '40s or even earlier.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Found this ad online for the Peppermint Lounge circa 1962 and thought I'd post it alongside the pic posted by Fenwick16 (RIP) years ago.


Source

The streetscape of Barrington north before being demolished was such classic Halifax.
The trams, delivery trucks, corner store (Trading Post), signage and varied architecture is so defining and sadly lost.
When the Cogswell redevelopment first came to light, I envisioned some sort of plan / recreation of what was lost on a small percentage of the site. The recreation of the Pentagon building would be a good place to start. However, there hasn’t been a single word of how this opportunity site will unfold. I suspect medium rise plastic sided apartment buildings. I think in the current environment, the city could govern a plan that sees quality historic development along side innovative modern high-rise structures

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Empire

I think in the current environment, the city could govern a plan that sees quality historic development along side innovative modern high-rise structures

It has been demonstrated to be possible to do something like The Jade and Green Lantern which have the lowrise masonry facade and then a highrise above. If the height limits were relaxed it would add more development potential and budgets as well as more of a mix of heights. Having some 6-8 storey buildings and some 35 is more appealing than everything being squat 20 floor buildings filling a uniform height envelope.

The notion of having to pick between highrises and having character or respect for history in a city isn't accurate. And often taller or larger developments have better urban design and more room for high quality design and materials.

I think it'll also be a miss if there isn't some truly memorable public space and civic building or complex in the Cogswell area.

[HalifaxRetales]

More stills from Siege (1983) filmed late 1981

Sackville St (of note Tex Park)



The Power Plant on Lower Water (now Discovery Centre and NSP HQ)




Granville Mall



Historic Properties IIRC that was the 2nd or 3rd Roots store ever outside of Toronto



Before the Maritime Centre added floors
and I recall that car Dealership as Citadel Motors

[HalifaxRetales]

it also strangely contains what is believed to be the only archived video of the 81 Halifax Police Strike

https://halifax.retales.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Halifax-Police-Strike-1981-i8T_SBRFTL4.mp4

[Keith P.]

That Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac dealership was Citadel Motors for a long time but was sold to Toronto dealership chain Dean Myers in the early ‘80s. They exited a few years later when they sold the property to allow the Cambridge Suites to be constructed.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

That Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac dealership was Citadel Motors for a long time but was sold to Toronto dealership chain Dean Myers in the early ‘80s. They exited a few years later when they sold the property to allow the Cambridge Suites to be constructed.

Interesting. I had not remembered the Dean Myers period. I recall walking around the dealership, thinking it was a cool building, with its two level layout built into the slope, and unusual for that style of business at that time, when most dealerships were moving to the cheap generic steel building in the middle of a huge flat surface lot mode. Then it was gone.

[HalifaxRetales]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

That Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac dealership was Citadel Motors for a long time but was sold to Toronto dealership chain Dean Myers in the early ‘80s. They exited a few years later when they sold the property to allow the Cambridge Suites to be constructed.

Thanks