Long Beach Motel
The Long Beach Motel is the last stop on our drive through the southern part of Elizabethtown along Highway No. 2 going from East to west.
This hotel is now gone and nothing remains of a building that held wedding receptions, dances, great meals and rooms for overnight travelers.
It started out as a small two story hotel and restaurant with rooms attached. Unfortunately there was a fire and the eastern part of the building burned and was removed leaving only the main building hat now stands today.
We are very short on the history of the Long Beach Motel, the name was later changed to The Flying Dutchman. The one thing that we do have are some photos of this one time great motel.
A Brief History of Motels
The 1950s and 1960s was the pinnacle of the motel industry in the United States and Canada. As older mom-and-pop motor hotels began adding newer amenities such as swimming pools or color TV (a luxury in the 1960s), motels were built in wild and impressive designs. In-room gimmicks such as the coin-operated Magic Fingers vibrating bed were briefly popular; introduced in 1958, these were largely removed in the 1970s due to vandalism of the coin boxes. The American Hotel Association (which had briefly offered a Universal Credit Card in 1953 as forerunner to the modern American Express card) became the American Hotel & Motel Association in 1963.
As many motels vied for their place on busy highways, the beach-front motel instantly became a success. In major beach-front cities such as Jacksonville, Florida, Miami, Florida, and Ocean City, Maryland, rows of colorful motels such as the Castaways, in all shapes and sizes, became commonplace. [Wikipedia]
Motel building boomed in the ‘50s and ‘60s and establishments began to offer families the adventure they were seeking right at the site. Tourists could engage in recreation at the motel site, keep their cars outside the door, lock their belongings in the room, and employ a chain lock to keep out intruders; adventure and security offered in one package. The enormously popular Holiday Inn formula moved the trend in lodging more toward the old hotel form and started eroding the original motel form. Motels bypassed by the interstate system left once thriving businesses [America’s Roadside Lodging: The Rise and Fall of the Motel Lori Henderson]
January 13, 2017 @ 11:20 pm
This is an awesome post. My family moved to Long Beach in 1947, long before the road to the Parkway was built. My Dad purchased a large plot of land and then bought the small store that was beside the garage in those days and moved it across the road,eventually he built an addition and stayed there till the 1990s, at least my Mom did because Dad passed in 1974.My first job was at the Long Beach Restaurant, as was my sisters.I was 15 at the time.The strange part of it was that in 1977 my husband and I took over the Gulf garage that was in front of the motel,we stayed till 1980 when my son then took it over.The family of seven grew up there and many changes were made. Some of Dads’ property was used for the 401 and for other housing in that area. I shall save this post and try to get it printed for my scrapbook. Thank you for the interesting posts you put on.
January 14, 2017 @ 4:47 am
*** Audrey: — You might help those reading your comment, by providing us with some of your family’s names. Such as, who was your father and mother, as well as your sister? — We are interested in knowing who you are talking about. — Doug Grant
January 14, 2017 @ 4:41 pm
My husband and i and friends use to go there a lot to eat and listen to a live band ONE MAN Band JOHNNY JACKSON. I really miss those days.
March 12, 2018 @ 9:54 pm
Gloria.I became friends with Johnny(his real name was Jack Neal) and his wife Sandra,who lives in Woodstock Ont-Jack passed away about 4 years ago, Sandy used to travel with jack,in fact she managed the Dutchman for Ron Cassidy if he was away.Jack would there for several weeks then would go to the Kitchener Flying Dutchman(which Cassidy also owned)or he would do other gigs he arranged.He also did some work in Japan.He had a good following wherever he went.
April 10, 2020 @ 11:57 pm
Hi Mac! Fancy meeting you here. I was searching google for history on the Flying Dutchman motel and found this site. You were one of our greatest fans, and a swell friend also. So what happened to the motel? I see it’s leveled and the property fragmented. Did it burn, like most of them do eventually? lol I remember the Cassidy’s very well. Nice folks to work for. Cathy and I did a few gigs at the Kitchener Flying Dutchman too. I remember spending an afternoon on Johnny’s cabin cruiser one time with you and a few others. The week before it blew up, as I recall. Take care and see you on Facebook Mac. <3
April 10, 2020 @ 11:46 pm
Goria, do you remember a musical duo called Randy and Cathy who played at the flying Dutchman regularly? I’m the Randy! lol We really enjoyed playing there. It was a great gig and the setting was fabulous along the river. Roy the chef, made the best scalloped potatoes, served regularly on the buffet.
January 14, 2017 @ 5:41 pm
Spent many happy days a the motel. I worked there part time in the evening during the rush hours. Mr and Mrs Jones were just wonderful people to work for.
Ontario Hydro workers stayed at the motel and they landed their helicopter in the grassy area where the road makes a loop in front of the motel rooms.
March 13, 2018 @ 2:01 pm
I can tell a million stories of the place and the Gulf gas station in front of it. The Cassidy family owned the Flying Dutchman when I was young, my dad worked as a bouncer during his off time from the Brockville Police Dept. The Moore family ran the gas station and the store next to it,the time line would be early 1980’s. Then in 1982 the Chell and Robinson family bought it I was 10 years old and made friends with the new owners children as well as the owners children of the Gulf station. I can still remember Petro Canada buying Gulf and having Mr Moores name on the sign you see his name was Roger so they tagged it 007 on the sign, it was good for a laugh. We would swim every hot summer day in that Dutchman swimming pool it was an old concrete one with a spring board and every spring we had to paint it blue. We raced around on dirt bikes, bicycles, fished, and swam in the river. I have so many memories of that place and even today if I run into some of the older people that remember some of us from our childhood days we still get called the Long Beach Boys…
March 15, 2018 @ 8:13 am
Thank you for sharing this story, if you have any other stories we can post them directly onto the website if you send them to me at lynmuseum@gmail.com
Thanks again, John
April 14, 2018 @ 8:28 pm
H i lived in the area half a mile away across from ben foleys car lot on number two highway when the Cassidy family owned the hotel i remember a old condemned hotel beside the gas station cant remember the name of it does anyone know the place im talking about i used to play in that old biulding
April 15, 2018 @ 7:23 am
What I think you are referring to is the original Long Beach Motel that was attached on the esat side of the garage. There was a fire in the building and it was eventually torn down. You can see it in some of the photos on the story of Long Beach.
October 30, 2020 @ 8:50 pm
Thanks John just read this post from my history you are right i was in the area around 1970 . ten years old going to lyn school stayed there till now .I am 60 now and still around the long beach area thanks for the memory.
November 25, 2020 @ 8:15 pm
My Grandfather (last name Zigman) owned a cottage behind the hotel. That area was the best years of my life (born 1978). Spent alot of time either in the pool (met Chubby Checker at that pool) or the river behind the hotel. Appreciate the post Doug
November 3, 2018 @ 6:46 am
Chris My grandparents lived right across the road and my aunt Audry and cousin Rodger both owned the garage at one point, I remember that old building as well and played in it many times, I think it was a restaurant at one point.
October 30, 2020 @ 8:57 pm
Thanks Shawn just found this old post . Do you mean Rodger moore ? I knew them well Did they own a convenience in brockville also on cedar steet.
October 25, 2018 @ 10:36 am
We used to sneek in and use Roys pool when we were young bucks….one Sunday morn. Roy never yelled at us to get out..he just walked down his road to the river….then a tow truck arrived…we went down tothe river and Roy had drove his wifes Chysler Imperial into the river..Roy was lucky to get out through the back window……thats one of many memories of Dutchman I have.1
October 25, 2018 @ 4:53 pm
Thanks for sharing, John
April 22, 2020 @ 4:36 pm
I work d asa waitress around 1960 for the Jones’s, they were great people, I even some times when needed cleaned rooms at the motel.
I worked at the restaurant hat burned down, it as next to he garage.
Loved working there.
Sheila
December 19, 2020 @ 8:01 am
We did the same as youngsters many times plus use to go down to the river fishing behind the Dutchman, a sadly missed icon the Dutchman was the focal part of the area in those days.
January 15, 2023 @ 7:12 pm
I remember this. What a great site to find regarding LBM. I was a long time friend of the family, worked there as a kid for many summers & learned the business. I was treated as a second son to Dave (my long time friend). The Jones, who I referred to as my Aunt & Uncle sent me to Paul Smiths College in NY state to get a degree in Hotel Management, that resulted in a long & successful career. I will visit this web site for more information & hopefully get a copy of all this information. brucewmilton@gmail.com
April 10, 2020 @ 11:46 pm
Goria, do you remember a musical duo called Randy and Cathy who played at the flying Dutchman regularly? I’m the Randy! lol We really enjoyed playing there. It was a great gig and the setting was fabulous along the river. Roy the chef, made the best scalloped potatoes, served regularly on the buffet.
July 10, 2020 @ 6:53 pm
Many whiskey sours were drank at the good old Flying Dutchman !!!
My ex Shawn Stewart drank so many whiskey sours there that I thought they might name the place after him.
Lisa MacDonald
December 19, 2020 @ 7:57 am
Yes Chris I did mean Rodger Moore, Rodger’s Mom Audrey did own the convenience store on Cedar street after owning the gas station in Long Beach for many year which was once owned by Rick Paquin and before that Frank Slake.
January 10, 2024 @ 9:03 pm
I remember you, Chris. I was looking at an old photo of the swimming pool today and it prompted me to find this site. I was very close to the Cassidy family and wish I had not lost touch. My name was Susan Macdonald then.
June 14, 2024 @ 2:23 pm
Hi Chris, yes Rodger Moore and Audrey is my Aunt, yes she owned a little corner store on the corner of Brock and cedar streets…
My grandparents owned a house directly across from the Motel so many many summers spent in and around the Motel.
Rick Pacquin also owned the gas station at Long Beach at one point I think he bought it from Rodger if I recall
My father told me when he was a kid that when the 401 was built they cut my Grandfathers property in half.