May 24, 1962 New Restaurant Is Opened On Geneva Street

       The May 24, 1962, Interlaken Review noted, “Interlaken has a new restaurant, opened recently by Mr. and Mrs. Nick Candido at their home on Geneva St. The Candidos will specialize in Italian Cuisine. The building was formerly Roarks Hotel, back in the heyday of Railroad. Located directly across Geneva Street from the Lehigh Station, the hotel became a landmark of this area.”

Looking between the pillars you can see

the Roarke Hotel in the background.

Interlaken Historical Society photo #453.

       I was able to find a number of references to the Roarke Hotel or sometimes Hotel Roarke in the Farmer Review. March 16, 1901, “Fox chase at Farmer this afternoon at 3 o’clock. Headquarters at Hotel Roarke.” October 5,1901, “Hotel Roake has been greatly improved by a coat of paint applied by Johnson & VanDusen.”

       April 24, 1903, “John Marshall has moved from Hayt’s Corners to Farmer and opens Hotel Roarke on May 1^st.”

       The Interlaken Review listed the Bell Telephone customers in Interlaken in the April 7, 1905, issue. Included in that list, “Hotel Roarke now has a Bell ‘phone.”

       A new sidewalk was installed in May 1907, Interlaken Review May 31, 1907, “Thos Briggs has completed a cement walk for C. K Yates, on Geneva Street extending from Hotel Roarke thru to Cayuga street…”

      

1910 Sanborn map showing the former Roarke Hotel

       The Hotel would change hands over the years, retaining the Hotel Roarke name. Michael Roarke died on May 30, 1928. His obituary in the Interlaken Review June 1, 1928, did not mention the Hotel, but it would be part of the settlement of his estate. Interlaken Review January 10, 1941, “Notice of sale as part of the last will of Michael Roark, ‘Such premises being known as the Roarke Hotel’…”

       Some locations retain their earlier designation after ownership or business use have changed. On May 21,1937, Under the headline “Local Fire Department Answers Two Alarms” a second alarm occurred when “fire was discovered in rooms occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Lester Covert, in the south part of the former Hotel Roarke near the Lehigh Valley station.” The article continued, “The flames were confined to the kitchen and one room on the second floor, and except for the fact that an abundant supply of water was available from a nearby hydrant, probably would have destroyed the entire structure.” This was the first reported use of the new village water system in fighting a fire.

       Even into the 1940s, the Hotel was still a known landmark. Interlaken Review August 25, 1944, “James Drake has purchased the vacant lot…just north of the former Hotel Roarke and plans to erect a feed store on the site as soon as possible.” A few years later, the feedstore would be purchased and become the Interlaken Pennysaver offices.

       Do you recall dinning at Interlaken’s Italian Restaurant? Some memories linger for many years, often seeking an outlet to share. In trying to find out more about Candidos Restaurant I was able to trace the history of another of Interlaken’s older buildings.

       While there were a few other references to the restaurant, the one ad I found was this Christmas ad from the December 23, 1965, Interlaken Review.

       Antonio “Nick” Candido was born February 23, 1903, in Italy. He died October 21, 1981, and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Ovid. He was a Korean War veteran. [www.findagrave.com]

 

Dewitt’s Diary Tuesday, May 24, 1949, Temperature 58 degrees, rain. Light rain again this morning. Bunny, Leland and I tried bullhead fishing, no luck. Tried night fishing tonight. They bit for an hour until the wind blew us off the lake. I caught 2 at night, small ones for the 1^st of the season.

 Darling Restaurant May 10, 2024

       Have you found yourself looking at the “Can you Spot the Difference” puzzles and found most of the items, but not all? Today, we have two photos taken within minutes of each other, but can you spot the difference.

       Photo #2197 was given to the Interlaken Historical Society many years ago. It is taken in front of the Darling Restaurant, formerly located at 8379 Main Street. The heading on the photo is rather interesting, “Interlaken round table about 1950.”

       In 2004, photo 2197b was given to the Historical Society. I instantly recognized what it was. Back to the question of spotting the differences:

       In the first photo the full front and sign of the building are shown, and the men identified. Well, all but one gentleman, second from the right. There is a question mark for his name. Most likely we will never know who he was.

       In the second photo Mr. Unknown is replaced with Myron Bassette. Myron was known for taking multiple photos of events. If he wanted to be in the photo, he would ask someone walking by, a bus driver or delivery driver, to step into the photo. In turn Mr. Unknown would then take the second photo with Myron present.

       Who were these gentlemen? John Kellogg was the Interlaken Postmaster. Bill Wheeler was a director and teller at the Bank. Lou Bell owned and managed Lake View Stock Farms. When Myron died in 1961, Mr. Bell, a member of the board, was appointed interim president. Dr. Edgar W “Doc” Thompson was the local dentist, and president of the Chamber of Commerce. Clare Wyckoff had the insurance agency and served on the bank’s board of directors. Don Hanford had the hardware store at the corner of West Ave and Main Street. Myron Bassette was president of the Wheeler National Bank, and Howard Peterson owned Peterson Dry Goods Store. It would truly be a roundtable for discussions when they met.

       A more recent addition to the Historical Society collection is this plate, given by Phyllis Betzler. The note she attached to the plate tells the rest of the story. “One of the plates from Ida and Bert Darling’s Restaurant. Ida gave [several] to Mother (Dorothy Wickes) after she moved to Blanche Millage’s apartment. Mother took meals to Ida on these plates.”

Dewitt’s Diary Saturday, May 10, 1924: Partly cloudy and fair today. Father, Francis and I went to Ithaca. We fished a little in the canal while father had the fender on his car fixed. We brought back one of the wagon wheels which we are having new tires put on. I caught one sucker in the canal. Mr. Predmore, Francis, and I went spearing tonight in Sheldrake creek. We got 21 suckers which weighed 46 lbs. Francis speared one sucker that weighed 4 lbs.

Father is D.C. Bassette Sr., Francis is Dewitt’s youngest brother, and Mr. Predmore is Dewitt’s father-in-law. Myron is the oldest of the four Bassette brothers, sons of D.C. and Catherine Bassette.

For more about the Darling Restaurant building see November 7, 1914, First Silent Movie in Interlaken