SYDNEY, N.S. — Faye David cried when she heard the building at 413 Charlotte St. was destroyed by a fire that led to its demolition.
It was where she and her husband Isaac (Ike) raised their family. It was where they owned and operated Ike’s Delicatessen and it was a piece of downtown Sydney history.
“I cried and I think my kids did too, we spent a lot of time up there. I was there 52 years,” said the 91-year-old who grew up in New Waterford.
“I was thankful nobody was hurt.
"I’m getting so many phone calls from people telling me about all the memories they have from there.”
The building was built in 1875 by Donald MacLean, a cabinet maker and merchant originally from Malagawash. After his death in 1901, a tailor named J.B. Morrison, who owned a men’s wear shop next door, took ownership.
A fire on the first floor in 1921 led to the house being raised and the front section split into two stores — McInnis’ Jewelers and Carroll’s Drug Store.
A Mrs. Cohen opened a delicatessen in one of the storefronts and Ike David bought it from her in 1950. In 1960, Ike and Faye bought the building two years after they married and ran the restaurant until 1989 when they retired.
The couple renovated the building, adding a back section, and making apartments for tenants. Faye said they weren’t planning on living above the restaurant, but when she had their second child, she was “too comfortable to move” and stayed in the building until she sold it in 2016, a few years after Ike died.
“We worked very hard and put in long hours (from 8-12 a.m.). My fondest memories were the people coming in being nice,” she said
“When the Vogue (movie theatre) was going, we had a lot of people coming in after the movies. The movies used to end at 11 then. We grew it into a wonderful business. We had a good reputation and we were very proud of what we did. We made a lot of friends there and I still have them.”
Faye’s son, Phil, remembers working in the family restaurant. He said he was happy to do so when he was a child, but a little less happy when he was a teen. He also remembers how busy Charlotte Street was, with lineups for the Vogue Theatre that stretched around the corner and late-night bar crowds heading home
“I went to bed my whole life, until 18, with Charlotte Street being noisy and packed,” said the 55-year-old who now lives in Toronto.
“I came to a quiet Halifax neighbourhood to go to university and I couldn’t sleep.”
Phil played road hockey on Charlotte Street and did the “strip” with friends as a teen — driving the loop to go down the one-way road, checking for other teens and young adults hanging out downtown.
“Dad hated people using his parking spot,” Phil remembered fondly. “So he’d go on the balcony and watch the people driving by. When my sister and I would be out, he’d count how many times we’d do the strip, then calculate the gas. Then the next day he’d say, 'You went down 15 times, that’s $5.'”
Like his mother, Phil was devastated by the news of the fire that forced firefighters to demolish the building, not only because it was his family home, but also because it held historical significance.
“To me, there are stores like Ike’s, Yazar’s, Jacobson’s that are iconic Sydney businesses, that were such a big part of the history of the city,” he said.
“When they burn down or get torn down, we lose that part of that history. I used to be able to go home and look at that building and remember. Now I can’t do that anymore," he said.
"It’s like having a piece of your life removed.”
