The Wildcat Cafe
THE WILDCAT CAFE
The Wildcat Cafe is one of Yellowknife's earliest buildings. It was built in 1937 by Willie and Margaret Wylie and Smokey Stout. It was later owned by Carl and Dorthy Jensen, and then by Mah Gow until it closed in 1951. Meals cost a dollar. Early patrons were served caribou meat and lake trout. The basic fare eventually included fresh meat and vegetables flown in from "outside".
The cafe was a meeting place for pioneers of the pre-war entrepreneurial expansion into northern Canada -- prospectors, geologists, pilots, miners, bankers, lawyers, businessmen, trappers, and missionaries.
In the late 1970s City Council agreed to lease the abandoned building to the Old Stope Association. With the collective efforts of many local volunteers and businesses, the Cafe was renovated and reopened in 1979.