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Go 4 THE HAMILTON SPECTATORFRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2010 thespec.com

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LOCAL PEOPLE Dan Kislenko, gopeople@thespec.com

This was Susie’s place, a skinnyperiwinkle-tiled diner on JamesNorth that had been closed fordecades.

Shizue (Susie) Toyosaki wasthere all that time, sitting in theback, beyond the booths and longcounter, watching the street go by.

Husband Tom died 25 years agoand Susie stayed on, watering herplants in the front window, feed-ing her pigeons out on the side-walk. She had no children.

Last Thanksgiving, people onthe street realized they hadn’tseen Susie for a while. The policefound her inside. Her ashes weresent home to Japan.

Tonight, being the second Fridayof the month, is the James NorthArt Crawl. The street will bepacked.

And tonight, life returns toSusie’s, with the official openingof the new quar-ters of the WhiteElephant.

“We hopeSusie would likewhat we’vedone,” says JaneLaBatte. Sheand friend Hol-lie Pocsai runthis shop. It isnot a diner. It isa place whereyou can find allthings vintage.A globe bankfrom the 1930s. A biscuit tin fromold London. A Centennial flag.Kathie Winkle dishes. Plus hand-made jewellery, scarves, bags, andPigott-building wallets. And now,vintage clothing too.

Jane, 27, and Hollie, 26, met inGrade 9 math class at St. Mary’s.

Fractions weren’t their strongsuit, but they aced on stage. To-gether they directed a high schoolplay that brought home a prize atthe Sears Drama Festival.

So they knew they could worktogether. They also knew theywere both collectors out of con-trol, going to flea markets every-where.

Maybe, they decided, we couldsell this stuff on the Web. Fortu-nately, Hollie’s husband is a skilledgraphic designer. They pay him inold comics.

On day one they were shocked tosell 45 items, china owls and other’60s treasures. That night theyhad to run around to the liquorstores for shipping boxes. Thatwas the fall of 2007.

A year later they added a store tothe mix. The Web is fine, Jane says,“but it’s a lot more rewarding to beable to display things and actuallymeet the customers.”

“And we knew it had to be on

James Street North,” Hollie says.“Everyone shares the same visiondown here.”

They located just south of Can-non, beside the Mixed Media artshop.

And now they have moved rightacross the street into Susie’s place.It’s only 12 feet wide, but it’s deep,so there’s triple the space.

Neither woman has surrenderedher day job yet. Hollie is a “digitalasset co-ordinator” with AstralMedia in Toronto. She’s at thestore each day from 11 a.m. to 2p.m., then charges off to the GObus for a three to 11 shift.

Jane is a travel counsellor atTourism Hamilton from 8:30 a.m.to 2 p.m., then jogs up James to thestore.

It will be open late tonight forArt Crawl, with a Hootenanny fea-turing Fiddling Katie and Stoney.

Somebody’s bound to ask aboutone item on the floor, a largebrown-leather suitcase.

It’s not for sale. The tag tells thestory. That weathered piece ofluggage belonged to Susie.

In the space across the street va-cated by White Elephant, JeremiahBoyter has a soft opening tonight.He had a shop in Montreal, but iscoming home. His place features“mid-century modern” design,that sleek Scandinavian and

Canadian teakpopular in ’50s.

On the sameblock, crews arenow working onthe restorationof the formerDominion Fur-niture building.

One of the in-vestors in thatbig project isTim Potocic.“We’re totallycommitted toseeing that the

momentum on James North does-n’t die,” he says.

Thirteen years ago, he and part-ner Mark Milne — owners of SonicUnyon Records — made their firstpurchase in the neighbourhood,the building on Wilson Street thathoused Sam Manson sports.

They got it cheap, made it work.Now it houses a recording studio,art studio, film company, clothingdesigner.

And early this year they and acouple of other partners boughtSusie’s building. They paid just$122,000, but it was in roughshape. They’re now turning thefloor above White Elephant into alive-work space.

They are sorry Susie’s could notbe a diner again. There would havebeen just too much work andmoney required.

But they’re happy about the MyDog Joe cafe, opening just up thestreet this summer.

Patrons there will enjoy thecomfort of genuine-Naugahydebooths imported directly fromSusie’s shrine.

StreetBeat appears Monday,Wednesday and Fridaypwilson@thespec.com905-526-3241

GARY YOKOYAMA, THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR

Long ago, it was Suzie’s diner, now it’s the White Elephant.

Hollie Pocsai, left, and Jane LaBatte sell vintage stuff from

the ’50s and ’60s at their James Street North store.

New life,vintage stock

on James St. N.

PAUL WILSON’SSTREETBEAT

‘We knew it had to be onJames Street North.Everyone shares the

same vision down here.’

— Hollie Pocsai