64 FOCUS - JUNE 2017 & & & Then& &Now Then & Now is an excerpt from the Rewind Scugog series of books by J. Peter Hvidsten. Rewind Scugog books are available at Book’s Galore & More, Perry Street, Port Perry . . . By J. Peter Hvidsten 2016 This family restaurant opened on this piece of property owned by Bill Tripp at the west end of the causeway, on July 27, 1961. The restaurant was the first in the town to acquire a permit to serve liquor with meals in September 1971. The Conway restaurant was later leased by Doug Hillier, who changed the name to Conway Place. Mr. Hillier was forced to close the restaurant, and his Bayshore Take-Out, in October 1988 to make way for a massive development proposal. A year earlier developer Hans Moehring unveiled a $25 million project for the site, which included 90 condos, 100 seniors apartments and a large indoor shopping plaza. Developers began work in 1988, 1989 CONWAY GARDENS RESTAURANT installing a stone seawall along the properties lakefront, and the following year twinned the sewer line from the Queen St. pumping station along Water St. to the project. The developers ran into serious financial problems and the entire project was called to a halt. Investors in the project took the developers to court. In1995, the Supreme Court approved the sale of the Conway property and the property was sold to IPCF, a company owned by the Loblaws chain. A large, new supermarket, “Reid's Independent” opened on the former Conway/Bayshore property in November 1996. The store is now Vos' Independent, operated by Terry and Christine Vos.