A Living Link: Canadian Hotel Lion’s Deck

[Written by Larry Burchall]

You probably rush by this Living Link several times a week. Perhaps you didn’t even know it was there. In the 1920’s, in the city of Hamilton, there was an establishment that catered to Bermudians who sought high class entertainment. Or as high class as could be achieved within the social strictures of that era. The place was on Reid Street East, but four-storey’s up off Reid Street.

I first heard about it from “Philly” Philpott, an old pipe-smoking shipwright from Somerset. He called it the “Lion’s Deck”. The Lion’s Deck was in the “Dick Richard’s” building that, today, is mostly boarded-up and beginning to fall apart. {Dick Richards is another story….}

According to Philly, being allowed entrance to the Lion’s Deck was a sign that you were deemed to be socially acceptable. It seems that there was a kind of class, not race, barrier and that dress standards were very high. Suits and ties were ‘de rigeur’. Men often appeared in formal evening dress or tuxedos; which, in that era, was quite common – for men. Philly said that the women always dressed beautifully because it was known that only high class men went there.

Once on the Deck, according to Philly, there would be good music from a live band, lots of drink and lots of pretty women. Whether these were Bermudian or not was not absolutely certain, but as I recall, he seemed to think that they all were.

From Philly, I gathered that the Lion’s Deck was the equivalent of a high class nightclub that had live entertainment every night and that catered to a black and Bermudian clientele. Philly said that on occasion, and to his knowledge, white folk did turn up but that most of the time, the Deck was full of just black folk – invariably Bermudian – who were out to have a good time.

Want to see the Lion? Stand on the corner of Reid and Court Street with your back to Front Street. Look half-right and up to the fourth floor of the old decaying yellowy building that is across the street; you will see a stone Lion. He sits on a ledge with his face to the west. Just below him are the words “Canadian Hotel”.
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The Lion is silent now. There is a green bush growing near his tufted tail. This bush is just beginning to give him some shade from Bermuda’s hot summer sun.

As you rush by on your way into town, before you get to the traffic lights at Court and Reid, or while waiting at those traffic lights, take the time to glance or look up at that resting Lion. Think that ninety years ago, Reid Street East was a hub of Bermudian society. Think of how much that old Lion has seen and experienced. Think of the tales he could tell.

Make sure you look at that old beast. One day, that link with our Bermuda heritage will be gone.

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Category: All, History, News