Social Infrastructure at Westgate Mall

Westgate was Carlington and the West End’s local mall, exemplifying the importance of a third place: a social space beyond home and work that shapes how communities connect. More than a postwar suburban shopping centre, Westgate Mall, over its seventy years, gained significance beyond profit, shaped through its memorable moments and varied uses.[1] Westgate’s changing role as a local hub demonstrates that even so-called dead malls can foster shared experiences that bridge public and private, social and financial, communal and corporate divides, illustrating their relevance and value.[2] By considering the diverse ways people use space, including within dead malls, we can gain greater insight into Westgate. 

Westgate, seen in this light, and as Parlette and Cowen describe, reveals "a wealth of relations and contestations that would otherwise remain concealed."[3] Local journalist Charlie Senack says Westgate was more than retail for generations of West End Ottawa residents.[4] It was where people made memories: buying their first records, meeting neighbours, or gathering at Clark’s Dairy Bar. These community reflections reveal that Westgate Mall is a symbol of local history, community significance, and enduring affection.

For Ramon Carballude, owner of the former Westgate Barber Shop, Westgate Mall was his world. “My life is here,” claimed the eighty-five-year-old barber in a July 2025 interview with CBC News Ottawa.[5] Carballude arrived from Spain in 1965: three years later, he took over the mall’s barber shop, running it with pride and weaving it into his new community. In July 2025, several months before the mall closed on October 31, Carballude and his loyal team chose not to retire. Instead, they moved several blocks down Carling Avenue, where they opened the New Westgate Barber Shop and continued their historic work.[6] Carballude now works part-time at the recently opened shop, while colleagues continue the legacy that began in the late 1960s.  

Along these lines, historian Dave Allston observed that local mall businesses like the Westgate Barber Shop play vital social roles beyond retail. Amid high-end salons and trendy services for younger generations, the Westgate Barber Shop was "so old-school," said Allston in a July 2025 article in the Ottawa Citizen.[7] Carballude and his team offered very affordable cuts. They provided personalized service and a warm, inclusive atmosphere. Going to Westgate was “a social thing to do,” explained Allston: “Anytime you lose a mall, you lose that.”[8]

In 2015, when RioCan Management first announced plans to redevelop Westgate Mall, local resident Risa Upton expressed hope for community improvement and concern about changes. In a December 2015 CBC News Ottawa comment, Upton and others expressed their worries about future amenities and reduced transit during construction.[9] These concerns were shared at a RioCan open house that month, where Upton also acknowledged that revitalizing local business "will be good for the community."[10] "It’s a good idea to have maybe a grocery store in there and really get business going," Upton said of the redevelopment.[11]

Despite seeing potential benefits, Upton, who lives nearby and visits the mall regularly, still has concerns. "But then it will be sad," Upton noted, "because people won’t be able to hang out there."[12] Upton’s comments reflect that Westgate’s community valued the mall as a space for informal social interaction, not just for retail. Although the redevelopment plan may meet some local needs, it restricts these social opportunities, as highlighted in residents' feedback. 

The closure of Westgate Mall unsettles many in the community, forcing Carballude’s Westgate Barber Shop and Rockin’ Johnny’s Diner to find new locations. The beloved 1950s-style diner faces the bittersweet task of revitalizing its business and hopes to keep serving loyal patrons elsewhere.[13] Franchise owner Enzo Mastromattei opened the diner in 1991, making it a neighbourhood staple where customers and employees formed strong bonds. Among Rockin’ Johnny’s loyal patrons, Kim Gagnon and her son Matthew visited weekly for 14 years, always greeted by a server who knew their names. Angela Nunn, a Rockin’ Johnny’s server of seven years, fondly recalled a regular patron in an October 2025 CBC News Ottawa article.[14] “We call her the Queen,” Nunn said of Pauline Nicholson, a local senior who visited every Sunday for breakfast.[15]

Nicholson, 93, with no nearby family, often ate at Rockin’ Johnny’s and socialized in the mall to fight isolation and inactivity.[16] Amid the closure, Nunn expressed concern, acknowledging the comfort and warmth the diner brought to regulars and local seniors lacking nearby family. Echoing this sentiment, Gagnon told the Kitchissippi Times in September 2025: “This is the closest restaurant in the area, and we know the people, we’ve known them for years, so it’s hard to say goodbye to the people, let alone the restaurant.”[17] Recent news reports and online comments have established that many people view Westgate Mall as a cherished community hub, valuing its personal connections and social activity more than its commerce.

Westgate Mall’s cherished memories and experiences span decades. From 1955 to 1978, Clark’s Dairy Bar was a popular, modern, family-friendly spot.[18] Fondly called the Milk Bar, it offered everything dairy. There were ice cream cones and sundaes. You could also pick up staples like butter and eggs. By its tenth anniversary in 1965, ten years after opening in 1955, the Milk Bar remained ever-popular. During that time, it served about 3,000 ice cream cones on an average summer day. Likewise, during its peak in the 1950s and 60s, Freiman’s department store operated a snack bar offering sweet treats.[19] This fondness for Westgate’s snack spots is also shared by customers of Freiman’s department store. 

In an October 2025 article for CTV News Ottawa, resident Helen Assad recalled Freiman’s malted milkshakes: “Very good memories,” she said.[20] “And when we came with our mother,” noted Assad, “there was always a special treat if we behaved in the store.”[21] In the same article, historian Allston confirmed the mall’s family link, stating: “At its peak, you would have had this lot full every day with families coming in. Housewives coming in during the day to do shopping. People coming in to buy clothes for their family, to come to restaurants for a family meal.”[22] 

[1] Charlie Senack, “Ottawa’s oldest mall closes today after 70 years,” Kitchissippi Times (Ottawa, ON), October 31, 2025, https://kitchissippi.com/goodbye-to-westgate-a-look-at-the-malls-historic-past/. 

[2] Vanessa Parlette and Deborah Cowen, “Dead Malls: Suburban Activism, Local Spaces, Global Logistics,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 35, no. 4 (2011): 797, 807, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00992.x.  

[3] Parlette and Cowen, “Dead Malls: Suburban Activism, Local Spaces, Global Logistics,” 807.

[4] Senack, “Ottawa’s oldest mall closes today after 70 years,” https://kitchissippi.com/goodbye-to-westgate-a-look-at-the-malls-historic-past/. 

[5] Isabel Harder, “Decades-old barbershop to shut its doors ahead of Westgate Mall demolition,” CBC News Ottawa, July 27, 2025, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/decades-old-barbershop-to-shut-its-doors-ahead-of-westgate-mall-demolition-1.7595039. 

[6] Joanne Laucius, “Westgate mall barber Ramon Carballude’s not retiring at 85, he’s just moving,” Ottawa Citizen, July 19, 2025, https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa-barber-85-westgate-mall-close. 

[7] Laucius, “Westgate mall barber Ramon Carballude’s not retiring at 85, he’s just moving,” https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa-barber-85-westgate-mall-close. 

[8] Laucius, “Westgate mall barber Ramon Carballude’s not retiring at 85, he’s just moving,” https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa-barber-85-westgate-mall-close. 

[9] Kate Porter, “RioCan aims to build highrises at 3 Ottawa shopping centres,” CBC News Ottawa, December 17, 2015, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-highrise-shopping-centres-1.3369134. 

[10] Porter, “RioCan aims to build highrises at 3 Ottawa shopping centres,” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-highrise-shopping-centres-1.3369134. 

[11] Porter, “RioCan aims to build highrises at 3 Ottawa shopping centres,” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-highrise-shopping-centres-1.3369134. 

[12] Porter, “RioCan aims to build highrises at 3 Ottawa shopping centres,” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-highrise-shopping-centres-1.3369134. 

[13] David Cummings, “Rockin’ Johnny’s searching for new diner space after Westgate closure,” Kitchissippi Times (Ottawa, ON), September 28, 2025, https://kitchissippi.com/rockin-johnnys-searching-for-new-diner-space-after-westgate-closure/. 

[14] Guy Quenneville, “Patrons and shop owners of 70-year-old Westgate Shopping Centre mourn its closure,” CBC News Ottawa, October 30, 2025, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/westgate-shopping-centre-closure-9.6956832. 

[15] Quenneville, “Patrons and shop owners of 70-year-old Westgate Shopping Centre mourn its closure,” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/westgate-shopping-centre-closure-9.6956832. 

[16] Quenneville, “Patrons and shop owners of 70-year-old Westgate Shopping Centre mourn its closure,” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/westgate-shopping-centre-closure-9.6956832. 

[17] Cummings, “Rockin’ Johnny’s searching for new diner space after Westgate closure,” https://kitchissippi.com/rockin-johnnys-searching-for-new-diner-space-after-westgate-closure/. 

[18] The Historical Society of Ottawa, “Sundaes, Milkshakes & Sodas, Oh My! Remembering the Westgate Milk Bar,” The Historical Society of Ottawa. June 20, 2025, https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/blogs/hso-blog/sundaes-milkshakes-sodas-oh-my-remembering-the-westgate-milk-bar. 

[19] James Powell, “Temples of Commerce,” The Historical Society of Ottawa, accessed October 17, 2025. https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/ottawa-stories/important-public-and-private-buildings-in-the-city/temples-of-commerce. 

[20] Peter Szperling, “Here’s when Ottawa’s first shopping mall will close and be demolished,” CTV News Ottawa, October 29, 2025, https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/heres-when-ottawas-first-shopping-mall-will-close-and-be-demolished/. 

[21] Szperling, “Here’s when Ottawa’s first shopping mall will close and be demolished,” https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/heres-when-ottawas-first-shopping-mall-will-close-and-be-demolished/. 

[22] Szperling, “Here’s when Ottawa’s first shopping mall will close and be demolished,” https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/heres-when-ottawas-first-shopping-mall-will-close-and-be-demolished/.