The Glen Godlonton Real Estate Team

At the St. Regis Hotel, some customers were such permanent fixtures in the tavern, manager Shirley Corsie joked they had to be moved with the chairs on which they sat in order to conduct renovations a few years back.

"They've been coming so long they're like pieces of furniture," said Corsie. "They all had their spots where they always sat."

The fixtures included 80-year-old Jack Clarke who was nostalgic as he drank his last glasses of draught beer at Legends Tavern in the St. Regis Sunday.

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Shirley Corsie, tavern manager at St. Regis Hotel, tries to keep her spirits up despite serving customers for the last time at the longtime establishment on Sunday.

Lorraine Hjalte, Calgary Herald

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At 5 p.m., last call was announced for the last time at the 95-year-old downtown establishment.

"I've been coming here too long, 20 years maybe," said Clarke. "I've got to know the staff, got to know a lot of good people here."

Clarke lives on a fixed income in the East Village and says he will likely start going to the Royal Legion No. 1 next door to the Regis now.

"I liked it here," said Clarke. "This is my spot. I like to watch the (VLT) games. Watch everybody lose their money."

Matthews Development Alberta -- the firm overseeing the massive Bow Tower project for EnCana -- will use the 100-room hotel and bar for office space for project supervisors and staff.

Once the 58-storey building is complete in 2011, the St. Regis may be turned into a boutique hotel.

Remaining residents who were living in the low cost housing units at the St. Regis have all found alternative accommodation, said Corsie.

Staff and customers -- past and present -- spent the weekend celebrating the history of the establishment which opened at 124 7th Avenue S.E. in 1913.

Bands and DJs played Friday and Saturday nights attracting a packed house.

On Sunday, it was the diehards that remained including Jim Hamilton who first started going to the Regis in 1969.

The 59-year-old Hamilton described the tavern as a stable oasis that remained the same as the downtown evolved and changed around it.

"This was one of the last mainstays in the core," said Hamilton. "There were a lot of hotel taverns at one time downtown.

"This was an anchor of the original Calgary, the frontier Calgary. Now it's gone."

Unlike taverns at the defunct St. Louis and the soon to be sold Cecil Hotel, customers and staff say an aggressive zero tolerance policy for drugs and violence kept the city's seedier elements out of the Regis.

With an exposed brick wall behind the bar, and dark wood paneling, the tavern was turned into a comfortable and safe haven.

Residents living in the rooms could also come down to the bar to pick up the basics -- tins of chili and pasta sat beside bottles of Southern Comfort and Jack Daniel's for purchase.

After 37-years working at the Regis, Corsie has two more weeks of work cleaning out rooms and offices before she goes on a lengthy vacation.

The new owners bought everything in the hotel and bar including tables and chairs so she doesn't have to worry about moving furniture.

"It really hasn't hit me yet," said Corsie. "When I lock the door and turn the key for the last time knowing I'm never going to come back -- that's when it's going to hit home."

smyers@theherald.canwest.com                       MORE

© The Calgary Herald 2008