Legendary Le Hibou to open again in Ottawa

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I saw this in the local news this morning and thought I share it with you.

It was rumoured among the hip incrowd for some months already, but today, Coffee House Le Hibou will open its doors again on Sussex Drive at its original location when it closed 51 years ago. Jamie Talmeyer and a former colleague are giving it a go again.

Those who frequented the coffee house in the 1960’s and early ’70s will have fond memories of the laissez-faire atmosphere Le Hibou was known for. Even former Beatle George Harrison is said to have visited the place at some point when he was travelling in North America to promote the Magical Mystery Tour movie. Last Sunday’s Juno Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Joni Mitchell performed there, as did Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot and Van Morrison. And Bruce Cockburn and Leonard Cohen. Although it was popular at the time and it saw hundreds of artists passing through, times changed and it had to declare bankruptcy in 1975, leaving memories only.

The capital of boredom

Founder and owner Dennis Faulkner later recalled that “Ottawa, in the 60s was, of course, very different from what it is now. It was, for people outside of Ottawa, considered the capital of boredom. Although its inhabitants protested, they secretly concurred with this assessment. If you happened to be 21, and you were a student at the University of Ottawa, you would head to the Besserer Hotel. But that was far from being a very congenial place. There was a men’s room for men only and another room for women “with an escort.”

Formative years at Le Hibou

Chip Jones, now in his seventies, remembers Le Hibou as the absolutely best place to be. “Those were my formative years”, Mr. Jones shares with us as we visit him in suburban Bells Corners. “I would not have guessed I would have ended up in Bells Corners after that Sturm und Drang period of mine”, he laughs. The part time poet enjoyed going for coffee and discuss life in his younger years, he says, and he was sad to saw it closing eventually. I have always hoped for a renaissance of Le Hibou and I am thrilled to hear they give it a go again. “But I am not sure I’ll go back”, he says with a chuckle while leaning on his cane.

Le Hibou in the late 1960’s (from Le Hibou website)

In 1960 Le Hibou started as an idea to bring together jazz and folk music. And espresso! Over time it evolved into an ‘it’ place with space for poetry, dance, theatre and even a chess tournament. In November 1962, Le Hibou started a Cine Club to watch classic movies together, rented from Astral Films in Montreal. The coffee house always had two projectors as at the most dramatic moment, the light bulb would often die. There was theatre, (think Eugene Ionesco). There were hootenannies, a freewheeling, improvisatory musical event with audience participation. It was all about conviviality.

From Yellow Jell-O Salad to espresso coffee

“It was a lot of fun and a very unique place”, laments Betsy Arbuckle via Zoom from her room at the Unitarian Church retirement home in Westboro. I particularly enjoyed the hootenannies. They were so much fun. As a farmer’s daughter from Richmond, the world just opened up for me at Le Hibou. I went straight from Yellow Jell-O Salad to expresso coffee and Indonesian sateh so to speak. The jazz, the blues, the theatre, it was all so new.”

Le Hibou was not always on Sussex but ended up there in 1965. It never had a liquor licence but it did serve food: Indonesian chicken sateh for $1.20, cabbage rolls for $1, curry of lamb for $1.20 or meatloaf with mushroom sauce for 90 cents.

A black and white image of a cafe in the 1960's. IT shows round tables with a checkered design, foldable chairs, a piano on a small stage — The interior of Le Hibou on 521 on Sussex 60 years ago (from Le Hibou website)

A place where creative people can hang out

“I wanted to recreate that unique, kind of living room atmosphere” says Ottawa native Jamie Talmeyer who is initiating the resurrection of the fabled coffee house: “In this age of mobile phones, streaming music and divisive, polarised social media, I felt very much the time is right for a place where creative people can hang out and where artists have a small stage to experiment and gain experience. “While I wasn’t even born yet when it closed, I have heard and read a lot about it.”

“Everyone I talked to had this nostalgic glow in their eyes when I asked about Le Hibou”, he continues. So me and my business partner decided to give up our not so exciting careers as senior policy officers at a government department, wrote a business plan and got going. Luck had it that the exact location was available, so it all came together”.

Formula from yesteryear with some adjustments for Le Hibou

Are the new owners not nervous about History Ottawa, the new 2000 person capacity venue next door, operated by Live Nation, that is scheduled to open August 20? “They are not our competition”, says Mr. Talmeyer, “in fact, it is good for an area to have choice. I think it will actually be mutually supportive. The Byward Market doesn’t have the greatest reputation currently, so this will be good for everyone. We are planning to continue the formula from yesteryear with some adjustments: music, poetry, movies, perhaps even hootenannies again”.

As a nod to the past, the gingham table clothes are back too as shown at a pre-event last weekend (Photo: K. Aydinov)

And what about parking? “Ha ha, I am not at all worried, parking is so 20th century. The LRT station is like 300 meters away, if it is running. Why would anyone even consider taking a car to the Market? In our research, interested people indicated that parking is the least of their concerns: they will walk, bus, bike, train or Uber”. And what about 2026 prices? “In terms of food and drinks, we have to be realistic, it won’t be a dollar for a chicken dish anymore, that is for sure”, says Jamie, ducking the question, “but you’ll get great entertainment, and that is worth something too”.

Le Hibou opens tonight at 521 Sussex Street in Ottawa.