Glebe Report

At Thanjai Restaurant at 108 Third Avenue, I met with a very enthusiastic entrepreneur, no stranger to the cuisine of Southern India, Rajesh Kumar Tyagi, who lives in Montreal. Thanjai opened in Montreal in 2012. Partners run the Ottawa establishment and Tyagi spends a number of days here each week. The restaurant has been open in Ottawa for about six months.

The dean of Glebe barbers has hung up his clippers after 48 years and more than 100,000 haircuts. Ernesto Falbo bought the Martella Barber Shop at 887 Bank in 1970 and renamed it Ernesto’s. Now 75, he decided over the last weekend in April it was time to retire and he left the next Friday. “I was just going to take a month off,” he said.

A provincial election will be held on Thursday, June 7. Go to www.elections.on.ca for information on the upcoming election, how and where to vote, etc. Here are statements from the candidates running (six at time of press) to become the Member of Provincial Parliament for Ottawa Centre.

With spring finally in the air, a reminder about the Great Glebe Garage Sale: this neighbourhood-wide garage sale and celebration of spring is coming up soon, on Saturday, May 26, from 8 a.m. till 3 p.m., though depending on the weather, keen shoppers may be out much earlier. Bank Street merchants are also getting ready for their fantastic sidewalk sale. Here’s hoping for great weather!

What is now the Glebe Annex neighbourhood narrowly escaped from Ottawa’s Great Fire of 1900, which saw more than five square miles of land go up in flames, destroying more than 3,200 buildings. The fire raced from Hull through Lebreton Flats to what is now Little Italy, and south to the Experimental Farm and was held back at Booth Street (then Division Street) just one block from our neighbourhood.

The Glebe has welcomed several new businesses recently. Learn more about the chocolate at Alicja Confections, the tasty treats at Yummy Meat Pies, the Stag Shop and the all-natural soaps at the Purple Urchin.

When the people of Ottawa reflect upon the great fire, the vast majority think of the 1900 fire that started in Hull and tore through Lebreton Flats down to Dow’s Lake. However, many people do not realize that an earlier, much larger fire, the Ottawa Valley’s Great Fire of 1870, came upon Ottawa’s doorstep, threatening much the same area.