Antique & Vintage Postcards

Couples stroll past the vine-shaded façade of the Pillar and Post on King and John Streets in Niagara-on-the-Lake — one of Ontario's most beloved heritage destinations — in this crisp pen-and-ink artist's postcard that evokes the genteel colonial revival atmosphere the restaurant famously cultivated. Niagara-on-the-Lake, the handsome Loyalist town at the mouth of the Niagara River, became a major tourist draw in the 1970s partly through the Shaw Festival theatre and a wave of boutique restaurants and craft shops that catered to the influx of visitors; the Pillar and Post was among the most celebrated, advertising "colonial atmosphere, subdued lighting and costumed waiters" serving steaks and lobster — a thoroughly 1970s vision of period dining. A horse-drawn carriage waits at the right of the scene, reinforcing the town's deliberate old-world charm. Phone number 468-2123 on the back is a period detail delightful to telephone-exchange historians.