The Hotel Sagamore in Mimico is still talked about in some circles as an iconic place of many years ago where friends met to lift a glass or two.

The landmark hotel made history when the owners in 1943, who is identified as a Mrs. Doughty, put in a petition to make the Hotel Sagamore the first cocktail bar in Mimico.

She received a license and the Sagamore was operated as a hotel and bar for more than 40 years, from 1943 until its final days about 1984.

For generations it was a popular spot where the community met and drank. Little is documented of the well-known hotel, and fewer people still are with us today who frequented the bar, which closed at least 36 years ago.

It was in the 1940s that the Hotel Sagamore made its name. Its owner was among the first to successfully apply for a cocktail bar or lounge in the community.

Under liquor laws brought in by the Ontario government in 1945, municipalities under 50,000 people can decide by plebiscite whether they want cocktail bars or lounges in their region.

The governing body of Mimico soon gave the thumbs up for booze at the hotel.

The establishment is located at 2472 Lake Shore Blvd. W., at Mimico Ave, for generations. In the early 1980s it was sold to the TD Bank, but remains in the same spot today, next to the Beer Store.