After only living for a short time on the homestead he had filed near Simpson in 1906, Eli “Tom” Tikotsky was tired of homesteading. One day, he went to his neighbours’ house and told them he was going to build a hotel in town. Even with the proceeds from the sale of his land, Tikotsky was not a wealthy man. He had to borrow some money and in 1912 built the Adanac Hotel – the same hotel still stands today on the corner of Railway and George Street in Simpson.
The two-storey hotel provided accommodation for the travelling public, and it also had a small bar that sold beer, whisky, even champagne. It became a meeting place for the men of Simpson and area. There were no seats; patrons stood at the bar with a foot on the bar rail. Cuspidors (spittoons) were set on the floor for tobacco chewers. By 1915, Tikotsky’s venture was a success. He sold the hotel, paid off his debts, and moved to Edmonton where he had a successful business career as the owner of several restaurants.
With the advent of Prohibition in July 1915, the bars closed and, like all Saskatchewan hotels, the hotel in Simpson lost a lucrative source of income. The Adanac Hotel changed owners almost every year between 1915 and 1924, the years of Prohibition in Saskatchewan. In 1925, H. Leung and G. Yok bought the hotel in Simpson and renamed it the Royal Hotel. They operated the hotel into the 1930s. In 1935, when the government once again allowed hotels to serve beer by the glass, the Chinese owners were not permitted to hold a liquor license because they were not naturalized Canadians. Roger Cave of Simpson had to apply for the license in their place.
Cecil D. Grant owned the hotel from 1938 to 1944¸ calling it the Grant Hotel. Some improvements were made to the hotel, as financial circumstances improved during the years of the Second World War. According to Simpson’s history book, “It comprised a small lobby which was seldom used, a good-sized café which served excellent and generous meals, and a beer parlour. The hotel was not blessed with running water in those days, but the Grants tried to make it as comfortable as possible, redecorating and refurbishing the rooms, and eventually having the outside of the building stuccoed.” Grant’s daughter, Olive, remembered some of the people who frequented hotel during those years. “For a short time, Dr. McFarlane, a dentist from Regina, came once a month and set up his practice in the upstairs parlour,” she writes in Down Memory Lane. “Then there was Miss Margaret McCullip who came by from Liberty and gave violin lessons, returning home on the last train.”
During the late 1940s, Mrs. F. Borgonofsky owned the Simpson hotel. It must have been a management challenge for her, because, as a woman, she was not allowed to enter the bar of her own hotel.
Extensive renovations were made to Hotel Simpson during the 1950s by owners Morris (Mo) and Ruth Kliman. The kitchen was relocated, a walk-in refrigerator was added, running water was installed from the hotel well, and a new bar was added. On April 1, 1959, the province’s Liquor Licensing Act was passed which allowed women into licensed dining rooms and beverage rooms. Regulations required that hotels make renovations to their beverage rooms to accommodate mixed drinking.
Other owners of the Simpson Hotel were:
1959-61: Stan Gilley
1961-68: Adolph Kopp; Daisy Tebay ran the hotel cafe
1966-71: Cliff Hagen
1973-76: Adolph and Frances Kopp
1976: Jim and Sandy Zitaruk
2011: Jean Robert Matte and Helen Wallas
Today, the Simpson Hotel has eight guest rooms, with a daily rate of $35 for a single. There is a licensed restaurant and bar/lounge in the hotel.
SOURCE: Down Memory Lane, Simpson History Book Committee, 1987.
