THE STORY

Duffy’s started as the Fraser family home, built in 1870. Alec Duff bought the place and converted it into Duffy’s Tavern in 1940. The roof of the original house still sticks up in the middle of the popular watering hole, which has since gone through a number of expansions.

Zarko Vucinic, a Yugoslavian-born Serb who came to Canada in 1948, worked a number of jobs, including at a tobacco farm, before he and two friends bought Duffy’s. The business associates soon left, but Mr. Z stuck around with his wife Bessy.

He added the motel in 1972 and expanded it in 1989.  His waterside joint with the slogan, “The best host on the Canadian coast,” started rocking. Besides night life, it was known for a mixture of pub and fancy food, with such dining room menu items as frog legs, orange roughy, king crab and Kentucky-style chicken.