The First Steak Pit in Saskatchewan: Maryfield’s Arlington Hotel

Maryfield's Arlington Hotel, September 2012. Source

In 1976, Reg and Louise Dlouhy, along with Louise’s brother Ivan Findlay, bought the Arlington Hotel in Maryfield. One year later, they opened what is reported to be the first steak pit in Saskatchewan -- some say the first in Canada. Whatever the case, the steak pit proved to be a major attraction for Maryfield, which is located between Moosomin and the Manitoba border in the southeastern part of the province.

The Dlouhys had spent many years on the road, touring with the Regina-based band, Gene Dlouhy and His Swingin’ Canadians. Click here to hear the band's song, Drinking Wine,released in 1964.Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, Reg played saxophone with his brother Gene, who played trumpet. In 1970, the band moved to Calgary. They were in the process of moving to Las Vegas when Reg suffered a heart attack. Since Louise was from Maryfield, the couple decided to move there with their three children and get into the hotel business. 

Bartender at the Arlington Hotel, Maryfield, July 18, 1978. Regina Leader-Post.

“I think it was the travelling we did, and our association with supper clubs that gave us the necessary insight into the business,” Reg explained to the Regina Leader-Post in July 1978. “We have seen some beautiful places, and some that weren’t so nice. And we have taken the best of all of them and tried to mold it into our own district.” That same month, the Dlouhys served their 5,000^th steak in the eight months since they opened the steak pit.

Louise Dlouhy watching a customer grill his steaks. Regina Leader-Post, July 18, 1978.

The Dlouhys bought their beef from the Co-op in Brandon, Manitoba. “We never freeze the steaks – well, they aren’t around long enough to be frozen,” Reg told the newspaper. Customers could pick and cook their own steaks on a natural gas grill. The only food that came out of the kitchen was salad, a potato, and bread to accompany the steak.

History of the Arlington Hotel

The Arlington Hotel at Maryfield, c1912.  Source

Built in 1906, the three-story Arlington Hotel on the corner of Main Street and Assiniboine Avenue in Maryfield, Saskatchewan, featured an attractive front porch and second-floor balcony. The hotel had a ballroom, a dining room, and – of course – a bar.

Oluf Olson and his wife Dolly did their best to make their hotel guests comfortable. The bar in particular was very hospitable. In 1910, Olson was fined $50 plus court costs for keeping the bar open after hours. The Canada census shows that, in 1911, the hotel was a thriving business. In addition to the Olson family, the hotel had 18 registered “lodgers,” four chambermaids, two Scottish porters, two telephone operators, an Irish bartender, and a Chinese cook all residing within its walls.

When Prohibition began on July 1, 1915, Maryfield’s Arlington Hotel managed to stay open for business under the ownership of James Anderson. All the beautiful fixtures in the barroom – the gleaming brass and the long, polished wood bar, were removed and replaced by a pool room. Operating a hotel during Prohibition had its challenges. Without bars, hotel values plummeted.. In 1919, John Dodds purchased the Arlington Hotel and under his watch, the thirsty traveller was able to satisfy his wants. The town’s local history reports, “Mr. Dodds … was caught on at least two occasions by a [provincial] liquor inspector and paid the appropriate fines for his indiscretion.”

John James (J. J.) Harris and his wife Florence owned and operated the Arlington Hotel from 1922 to 1944. In 1935, when the Saskatchewan government finally permitted the sale of beer by the glass, Harris applied for a liquor license. A “local option vote” was held in Maryfield and the vote passed by a margin of only six votes – 79 to 73. The Arlington Hotel was able to serve beer once again.

Fire Destroys the Hotel 

 

One evening in late February 1945, Falmer and Louise Skallerup were preparing dinner for the Arlington’s guests. They had purchased the hotel in 1944 and were run off their feet. It was the first day of the biggest men’s curling bonspiel that Maryfield had ever hosted, and the hotel was full. At about 4:30 p.m., a fire broke out in the kitchen. Thanks to Mrs. Skallerup, all the hotel occupants were alerted and got out of the building safely – just as the fire swept up the stairwell, engulfing the entire building in flames. Firemen from Moosomin, 30 miles away, raced their pumper truck to Maryfield where townspeople had formed a bucket brigade to try and save the hotel. By the time the firemen arrived, the flames had destroyed the hotel and were threatening nearby buildings. Despite the disaster, the men’s bonspiel went ahead, with the curlers accommodated in a temporary dormitory set up at the Maryfield auditorium.

 Out of the Ashes, Into a Steak Pit

The Arlington Hotel was rebuilt a year after the fire and still stands in Maryfield today. When the Dlouys bought it, they completely remodeled the building, reducing the number of guest rooms from thirteen to nine in order to accommodate their family of five.

 

Maryfield's Arlington Hotel, 2009. Google Maps

Today, Chilly's Pub & Steak Pit in the Arlington Hotel still features cook-your-own steaks accompanied by salad, garlic bread and baked potato. Apparently, the chicken wings and ribs are also very good.

 

© Joan Champ, 2018. 

Simpson Hotel: The Bar Spells Success

Simpson Hotel, cafe entrance, 2006.  Joan Champ Photo

Eli “Tom” Tikotsky was tired of homesteading. He had lived for only a short time on the homestead he had filed on in 1906 – NE 24-29-26 – near Simpson. One day, he went over to his neighbours' house and told them he had decided to build a hotel in town. Even with the proceeds from the sale of his homestead, Tikotsky was not a wealthy man. He had to borrow some money, and in 1912 he built the Adanac Hotel – the same hotel that still stands today on the corner of Railway and Main in Simpson. The two-storey hotel provided accommodation for the travelling public, and it also had a small bar that sold beer, whiskey, even champagne. It became a meeting place for the men of Simpson and area. There were no seats; patrons stood up to the bar with a foot on the bar rail. Cuspidors (spittoons) were set on the floor for tobacco chewers. By 1915, Tikotsky's venture was a success. He sold the hotel, paid off his debts and moved to Edmonton where, it is said, he became the owner of several restaurants. 

With the advent of Prohibition in July 1915, the bars closed and, like all Saskatchewan hotels, the hotel in Simpson lost a lucrative source of income. The Adanac Hotel changed owners almost every year between 1915 and July 16, 1924, when Saskatchewan voters ended Prohibition in a province-wide plebiscite. In 1925, H. Leung and G. Yok bought the hotel in Simpson and renamed it the Royal Hotel. They operated the hotel into the 1930s. In 1935, when the government once again allowed hotels to serve beer by the glass, the Chinese owners were not permitted to hold a liquor license unless they were naturalized Canadians. Roger Cave of Simpson had to apply for the license in their place. 

Grants Hotel, Simpson, c. 1940.  From Down Memory Lane, 1986

The Simpson hotel bar, c. 1950

Cecil D. Grant owned the hotel from 1938 to 1944¸ calling it the Grants Hotel. Some improvements were made to the hotel, as financial circumstances improved during the years of the Second World War. According to Simpson’s history book (1986), “It comprised a small lobby which was seldom used, a good-sized café which served excellent and generous meals, and a beer parlour. The hotel was not blessed with running water in those days, but the Grants tried to make it as comfortable as possible, redecorating and refurbishing the rooms, and eventually having the outside of the building stuccoed.”  Grant’s daughter, Olive, remembered some of the people who frequented hotel during those years. “For a short time Dr. McFarlane, a dentist from Regina, came once a month and set up his practice in the upstairs parlour. Then there was Miss Margaret McCullip who came by from Liberty and gave violin lessons, returning home on the last train. Many people who worked in the hotel bring back pleasant memories:  our invaluable waitress, Elida Pederson who whistled like a bird when she worked; Rita French, Flunky (Elwood) Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ellams, Roger Cave, Percy Jarvis and many others.” 

While their husbands enjoyed a beer in the men-only bar of the Simpson Hotel in 1953, their wives visited in the cafe. From Down Memory Lane, 1986

During the late 1940s, Mrs. F. Borgonofsky owned the Simpson hotel. It must have been a management challenge for her, because, as a woman, she was not allowed to enter the bar of her own hotel. This at a time when¸ according to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, two thirds of the gross income of Saskatchewan hotels came from the sale of beer in 1949.  Extensive renovations were made to Hotel Simpson during the 1950s by owners Morris (Mo) and Ruth Kliman. The kitchen was relocated, a walk-in refrigerator was added, running water was installed from the hotel well, and a new bar was added.  On April 1, 1959, the province’s Liquor Licensing Act was passed which allowed women into licensed dining rooms and beverage rooms. Regulations required that hotels make renovations to their beverage rooms to accommodate mixed drinking.  Other owners of the Simpson Hotel were:

1959-61:  Stan Gilley

1961-68:  Adolph Kopp; Daisy Tebay ran the hotel cafe

1966-71:  Cliff Hagen

1973-76:  Adolph and Frances Kopp

1976:  Jim and Sandy Zitaruk

2011:  Jean Robert Matte and Helen Wallas

The Simpson Hotel beverage room, 2006.  Joan Champ photo

Entrance to the bar, Simpson Hotel, 2006.  Joan Champ photo

Watch video of the main street of Simpson, October 2008: YouTube link

© Joan Champ, 2011

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