The history photo this week says so much about simpler times.
It’s a photo of Vernon’s Jeff Hurmuces in his home on Christmas Eve, 1952.
Look at the fantastic black-and-white photo courtesy of the Museum and Archives of Vernon. Look closely.
Photos of family framed, hanging on the wall, some level, some askew. The Christmas tree in the corner, clearly a live tree with a star on top, minimal lights and the always-present tinsel at the time.
Christmas cards were regularly hung from string going wall to wall, and you can see Mr. Hurmuces received at least 19 cards that year.
And the food. My word, the food. The drink. Something for every palate in this pic.
Hurmuces was the co-owner of the highly successful National Cafe, in the old National Hotel, according to his niece, Gayle, who lives on Vancouver Island and who pays tribute to her uncle on her website, Eatinscanada.com.
Hurmuces owned the cafe with another Vernon legend, Nick Alexis, as well as Tom (Curly) Pulos and Gus Haros from 1935-1963.
Curly’s daughter Evinia (Pulos) Bruce wrote a letter to The Morning Star in 2004 explaining how the National Cafe had a chocolate factory in the back and a soda fountain up front, where such concoctions as the Graveyard Milkshakes ( a mix of every available flavour) and the Three Men In A Tub original sundaes were created and dished out.
The National Cafe, said Bruce, was the “largest and most known restaurant in the block (2900-30th Avenue) all during the Second World War due to the thousands of soldiers training at the army camp on Mission Hill.”
On Dec. 9, 2021, the highly popular Facebook page Vintage Vernon ran the exact same photo, courtesy of the museum.
Gayle commented that her uncle Jeff was her best friend when she was a little girl. The same photo hangs in her home, she said.
And a man named Ronald Smith commented that “Jeff was a real gentleman, and was always very kind and polite with my mother and me.” Smith also mentioned that he worked for Capitol Taxi as a kid and had many interactions with Curly Pulos.
