Wong's Restaurant / Radio Cafe, Market Street, Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Kim Wong at the Radio Cafe in 1961

Wong's Restaurant - Market Street, Liverpool, N. S.

Wong's Restaurant Building around 1900

Kim Wong opened the Radio Cafe on Market Street in Liverpool in 1937. For almost the next 60 years it remained in the same location. Several renovations took place over the years and the name changed to Wong's Restaurant but the quality of the food never changed. Most of us recall going there for dinner, supper, to a party or family gathering and we all enjoyed delicious chinese food like you could get at no other place. My mom worked there when she was in her later teens as did many local girls. Many members of the Wong family worked here too, not just Kim. Also his wife, Lily was there often, daughter Mary Godfrey worked there for years, and sons Alex and Gordie did too. The Wongs lived on Milton Road where the building is presently located that housed the Movie Gallery and I lived across the street so I knew them since I was a little boy. Many times, Mrs Wong would call over to tell me they had chicken fried rice and I'd run over and get some. She was definitely a sweet lady. They eventually sold that house and moved above the restaurant. In my travels over Nova Scotia, when people would ask where I was from and I'd say Liverpool, many times people would comment that they would come to Liverpool and always go to the chinese restaurant there. Entering town coming over the bridge, people would soon notice the big sign WONGS sticking out from one of the first buildings they would see. Even after Kim passed away in 1985, the family kept the restaurant going for a few more years. Wong's Restaurant was a well known place in town, and the Wong family a very well liked and well respected family.

Mary (Wong) Godfrey at the Radio Cafe 1961

Radio Cafe Renovations 1961

Radio Cafe Renovations 1961

Page 2 of Flyer

This flyer was distributed in the late 1980s

The Liverpool Town Hall & Opera House, Main Street, Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Yesterday I posted a photograph of an old Liverpool home. I knew where it was but thought it would be fun to see if anyone could guess which house it is and where it is located. It got the most comments of anything I've added to my blog so maybe I've stumbled across something. My readers like a challenge!!



Tammi Hayne and Allen Fownes guessed which house it was. Today it is located at 46 Court Street next to the MT&T building but it wasn't always found there. It was on Main Street on the site of the Liverpool Town Hall and was moved by oxen to it present site on Court Street. One can only imagine how long it took to move a building of this size by oxen around 1900. Certainly a tough job but they did it.

The new Liverpool Town Hall...note there is no War Memorial in front!

The Town Hall and Opera House was built around 1900-1901 and served our Municipal Government well until the amalgamation took place of the Town of Liverpool and County of Queens, forming the Region of Queens. The new Municipal Offices were moved to White Point Road.

Anyone recognize this house?

This house is in Liverpool,  I know where it is located but I thought I'd play a game to see who might know where this house is. If you think you know then comment...let's see who gets it right! I'll give it a couple of days then I'll do my story on it.

Mersey Townsite, Milton, Nova Scotia

Building the Mersey Townsite 1929

Mersey Townsite 1930s

When I was 7, my family moved to Milton from Liverpool. I became friends with an old lady who lived across the street from us. Her name was Marjorie Stewart and since her 2 grandchildren lived out west, I kinda filled in as a grandchild. I paid many visits to her and have lots of fond memories of the stories she shared with me. She and her husband had moved to Queens County from Halifax, her husband worked for the Power Company. They moved to Milton in an area known as the Mersey Townsite. Until last October I never really knew where it was but had heard many stories about it from her. So last October 5th, myself along with Albert Laing and Gerry Ball visited what remains of the Townsite. It was a small housing development up the River Road in Milton, where the permanent operating staff lived for the power development on the Mersey River. The power development was a fair distance from Milton & Liverpool so housing was needed for the workers. The Stewarts, the Balls, the Laings, the Andersons, Urquharts, Penneys, and Nieforths were names of just some of the families that lived at the townsite. The houses and a school were built in the later 1920s. Eight of the houses were connected to a central sewer and water system, something not common for that time. Everyone had indoor running water and indoor bathrooms.The houses had hardwood floors, fireplaces and gardeners who cared for the properties. Maintenance for the houses was also taken care of by the power company. When you enter the property there is a circular driveway and in the center were beautiful gardens and a flag flying high on the flagpole. It was known as the "pancake". Once again the gardeners cared for this area. The properties had hedges too. They had an outdoor rink, with electricity from late October until the spring. By 1960 the families had all left and moved to Milton and Liverpool leaving the Townsite deserted and eventually many of the houses had been vandalized and stripped of all of their beauty. The houses were eventually torn down and when we visited last October all that exists are a few cements steps and cellars. It was great to visit the Townsite, it was something I had always wondered about for many years. Even better was to go with 2 guys who lived there as kids and could share their memories with me. I videoed my day with Gerry & Albert and watched it tonight, almost a year later. What a treasure!

Mersey Townsite - Pancake and Flagpole can be seen on the left!

Downtown Liverpool in March 1990 - VIDEO

Found this little treasure a while back, glad I thought to do video this back in 1990. Lots of businesses that were in Liverpool back then are no longer. Great memories!

The Taxi Stand on Jubilee Street, Liverpool, Nova Scotia

Looking down Jubilee Street - Taxi Stand on the left

Looking down Jubilee Street - Taxi Stand on the left

Taxi Stand Sign

It's difficult to imagine that at one time on the end of Jubilee Street, taxis would park, waiting for customers to come along for a drive to their destination. I remember it, though I was quite young. If you are on Main Street and look up Jubilee Street, the taxis would be parked on the right hand side along where Royal Bank is located now. Ferris "Bobby" Cross, Asa VanNorden, Archie Croft, Robert "Bob" Balcom were well known taxi drivers in Liverpool though I personally don't recall Archie Croft and Bob Balcom. Asa or Acey as he was more commonly known as, was a real jokester. He always like to carry on and laugh with his customers. Bobby Cross's taxi I remember always spotless. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere and it always smelled clean and fresh - like it was a brand new car. If you were in town and had finished running your errands, you could just walk to the taxi stand, grab a cab and get a drive home. You didn't need a cell phone back then because you didn't need to call a cab The taxi drivers would stand around chatting with one another. When a customer would come and get into the taxi parked in front, it would drive away and the cabs would all drive forward. This way the cab that had been second was now first to get the next customer. There was a bench actually on the property of the Dewolfe House (now site of the Royal Bank) and Henry Hensey would sit there on a daily basis. No doubt he was talking to the cab drivers or people who walked by. I'm not sure when the taxi stand became history but I would guess around 1980 or so. Walking by Jubilee Street today, you would never know this little piece of Liverpool History ever existed.

Another Old Queens County Phone Book....year unknown!

In my boxes of Queens County treasures, I found another Queens County phone book. Unfortunately this one I have no idea what year it is from and from looking at names on it, I'm almost tempted to believe it's older than the 1953 phone book that I put on here a few days ago.