A Black Diamond business that’s stood out for years has also stood the test of time.
What began as Dorward Electric at 114 Centre Avenue West in the 1940s - built five feet further south than other buildings on the north side of Centre Avenue - served as a butcher shop, dress shop, television repair shop, barber shop and tattoo parlour, plumbing store, business supply retailer, salon, spa and restaurant the past 70 years.
Today it’s Soft Rock Bistro, a popular restaurant that serves poutine, smoked meat, pizza, burgers and homemade desserts.
When electrician Fin Dorward built his shop in the '40s, he wanted it as close to the front of the property line as possible, putting it about five feet further south than the others.
While there were many debates with the then Village of Black Diamond over the location, it remained where it was constructed and where it still stands today.
In the 1960s, Dorward Electric was converted to Keller’s Butcher Shop and then in the 1970s to Snethlage’s Television Repair.
While several nearby buildings were demolished to make way for new buildings over the decades, this building survived busts and the Great Fire of 1949.
When Colin Rollo began renting the one-storey wooden building in the late 1980s, which he bought a year later, he said it was boarded up, as were many others along Black Diamond’s main drag
“At that time, in the winter you could drive down Main Street and make tracks in the snow, it was pretty dead,” he said. “There was boarded up buildings all over the place.”
Rollo said the price was good.
With the option to buy he thought it would be perfect for his father to sell secondhand books out of.
“He was retired so he needed something to do,” said Rollo. “He had the store about a year or two.”
The building then served as a video store, called Video Vibrations, which Rollo’s brother operated for about seven years.
It served many purposes later, including a satellite office for a short time while Rollo was a realtor.
“We did renovations and a facelift on it through the Main Street program,” he said, adding he was on the Main Street improvement program committee. “At that point we stuccoed the building and did some decorative exterior work and put on a false front. Since then I put a peaked roof on it.”
For the past six years, it’s served as Soft Rock Bistro, a busy restaurant owned by Nelson St-Pierre and his wife Christina.
St-Pierre said he’s decorated the building to create a western theme, putting old cedar fence boards along the inside walls to give it a barn look and adding a porch on the front to keep the cold out in the winter months.
“It’s a nice and cozy place, quiet,” he said.
The restaurant has become popular over the years, known for its homemade soups, homemade salad dressing and locally-sourced food.
“What people like most is the homemade cooking,” said St-Pierre. “You don’t see that much anymore with all of these chain restaurants.”
