By Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
(Sep 13, 2006)
In the 1840s, the potato famine swept through Ireland
and long lines of families trekked to the seaport town
of Cork.
There they boarded crowded, disease-ridden ships for
the six-week journey to North America.
The Irish who ended up here huddled together in the
area bounded by the Mountain and Jackson Street, between
John and Wellington. It came to be known as Corktown.
There's a forest of apartment buildings in this part
of the core today. But much of the old housing stock
remains, simple cottages and brick rowhouses.
At the centre of Corktown, a big man named Dan (Dude)
Sullivan sold groceries and liquor for 62 years. In
broad white apron, he barked and blustered. Known as the
mayor of Corktown, he died in 1931.
His location carried other names through the years --
Gurry's House, Molly Kavanagh's and, for many years now,
the Corktown Tavern. The music in recent times was punk.
Some nights it got nasty. You could call it a dive.
The Corktown was crumbling. Then it went on the
market.
Now there's a new mayor of Corktown. His name is Gary
Ceppetelli, but his heart is deep green. He cares about
the history of the Corktown and in a single month he's
made a miracle at the corner of Ferguson and Young.
Ceppetelli is a modest man with a remarkable track
record in the tough business of running restaurants and
bars. He grew up in Sudbury. He got a degree in
political science, but ended up in a lab at the mines.
It was in the mid '70s that he heard about a new
Hamilton-based chain called Mother's Pizza. He applied
for a job and rose through the ranks.
Next he came up with the concept for Casey's and East
Side Mario's. He sold out after 10 years, when there
were about 50 restaurants in the chain.
But he got back into the food game with Prime Pubs.
The first one would be in a former casket factory on
Bowen, a downtown lane just east of John. Slainte opened
10 years ago this fall.
Other pubs, built the same way with interiors shipped
from Ireland, opened in centres from Toronto to Timmins.
Ceppetelli tired of the corporate scene. One year
ago, he stepped away from Prime Pubs, taking Slainte
with him. Now 62, he considered the pub his retirement
project.
But this summer he heard that the Corktown was for
sale. He did his homework, found the area around it is
changing. Some call it gentrification.
He loved the building, erected in 1888. It's got
history and it's downtown.
"A lot of people don't understand what goes on
downtown," he says. "There's a whole community of
professionals starting to live here. They're here for
the downtown experience. And they're very loyal..."
"Restaurants in the casual segment (the roadhouse
chains) are afraid to come downtown. If it's not a power
centre, they won't go there."
The Corktown, on the other hand, is tucked away in
its own exotic little corner of town. "I want to be off
the beaten track," Ceppetelli says, "something you have
to find."
He didn't even bother examining the books at the old
Corktown. He knew there was nothing to see. He paid
$425,000. The deal closed on Aug 1. Through the course
of that month, he spent another $250,000.
The fake ceilings came down. And the boards over the
windows. And the distressed-pine panelling.
The old Corktown is new again. New floors, furniture,
lights, kitchen.
From Hobo Hardware came a magnificent set of
wood-and-glass double doors, that look just like the
ones in long-ago pictures of the building. Who knows,
maybe it's the same set.
The old Ladies Entrance was uncovered, gold leaf
applied to the glass. That door doesn't open anymore,
but it's a streetscape gem. The exterior is finished in
deep blue and red and black, "Corktown" in gold.
There was no food before. Not a coffee, not a pack of
gum. Ceppetelli brought in a chef and a hearty menu,
from leek and salmon pie to a burger called The Hammer.
Beer has gone up about 50 cents. A 16-ounce glass of
domestic draft is now $4. That's not out of line with
other pubs, but it sent some drinkers elsewhere. That's
fine with the management.
"This place developed a sketchy reputation in the
last few years," Ceppetelli says. "We're going to have
to work hard to prove it's different."
Labour Day was opening day and he packed the place
with a Ticat tailgate party. He filled the Corktown
again this past weekend with the rousing Town Pants
band.
The pub's music plan is an Irish/ East Coast
experience. For that side of the Corktown's rebirth,
read tomorrow's Go section for a report from music
writer Graham Rockingham.
The number of Irish pubs has exploded in recent years
to some 2,000 worldwide. Maybe that's nearly enough, but
the new Corktown is a blessing all the same.
