Below is an ad from the Nelson Daily News of Jan. 31, 1953 for Avenue Grill and Groceteria, which operated at 714 Ivy St. in Castlegar, across from Stanley Humphries Secondary School.
I don’t know much about the building, but it’s still standing. BC Assessment indicates it was built in 1949, a year before the high school opened. The proprietor was listed in the 1953 civic directory as M.P. Zaitsoff.
The following appeared in a book published in 1992 on the history of the Castlegar school district:
While the book had the dates wrong, they were correct that it was short-lived, for a classified ad in the Daily News of July 14, 1952 read:
FOR SALE — Grocery store with lunch counter. Eight room home over store. Priced for quick sale. Next to high school. Apply Avenue Grill and Groceteria. Box 453, Castlegar.
The following March, another ad indicated that the equipment was for sale:
For sale — One universal 4-hole ice cream fridge pop cooler, scale, meat cutter, 2 oil heaters, 1 gas grill. Could be seen at Avenue Grill at Groceteria, next to high school, Castlegar.
Avenue Grill was not listed in the 1956 phone book, but Mike P. Zaitsoff was listed as residing at 414 Ivy St, an address that no longer exists — the numbering presumably changed. Listed at 412 Ivy was Greep’s Electric. The former Avenue Grill has been an apartment building since at least the late 1960s.
Updated on Nov. 13, 2021 to add the photo from the school district history book and on May 27, 2023 to add the classified ads.
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