Elida Peers | Contributed
It’s only natural kids will migrate to where they can get soft drinks and fast foods, and the hot dog stand pictured here in 1946 was one of the first for Sooke.
While this structure, covered with signs advertising cigarettes, stood at the western end of Sooke River Bridge, near where the Welcome to Sooke signage is today, its tenure brief.
The MacFarlane family who owned it, replaced it with a small restaurant, Bellevue Chalet, which also had a short life as it went up in flames a few years later.
On the eastern side of the river, another little business, not so ramshackle looking as this one, which attracted the young folk as well, called Cliff’s Cafe. That little building still stands on Derbend Road, behind the B.C. Transit Park and Ride. Over the years, it has become a substantial little cottage.
The building has withstood the test of time, served as a restaurant, family home, Milne’s Landing Post Office, a bed and breakfast, and it looks like it has gone back to a comfortable little home today.
The café was built by Cliff Baskerville around 1943, coinciding with the establishment of Milne’s Landing army training camp, and at that time, the street we call Derbend today was the route of the regular Sooke Road, running from Saseenos past St. Rose church to Sooke River Bridge.
Cliff Baskerville did the cooking, (his brother Norman cooked at the fishtraps cookhouse), while daughter Norma was the café’s waitress.
In 1946, with the war over and the army training camp closed, Milne’s Landing High school opened on the army site.
Cliff’s Café definitely became a hangout for kids – yes, I was one of them; but I wasn’t a pool player, so wasn’t as late getting back to class as some. If we weren’t hanging out at Cliff’s Café we might be over at the MacFarlanes.
While today Sooke residents have a series of fine restaurants to choose for a night out, or a business lunch, we notice that outlets offering snacks and sodas attract a stream of youngsters at noontime, such as the young folk making the journey along Edward Milne Road to the corner store. With the spanking new Tim Hortons opening soon, at the other end of Edward Milne Road, one can imagine that may become a popular hangout as well.
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Elida Peers is the historian of the Sooke Region Museum.
editor@sookenewsmirror.com
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