Seventy-plus years at Main & Sherman
A corner grocery, a hand-painted circus and a whole lot of eggs. This is how a neighbourhood diner became part of Hamilton.
From corner grocery to the Big Top
In 1952, Gerry Kavanaugh took a small grocery store at the corner of Main Street East and Sherman Avenue and turned it into a restaurant. He called it the Big Top, and he meant it.
Inspired by Barnum & Bailey, Gerry designed a circus mural that ran across the west wall, and an apprentice named Mary Muzyka helped him paint it. Clowns, a carnival barker, a strongman named Mousie Morris, and kids clutching candy floss. Breakfast came with a show.
The sign out front still says what's been true ever since: family owned and operated since 1952.
The circus that came back
Over the years the mural vanished under drywall and wallpaper. Old-timers swore it had been there; everyone assumed it was gone for good. Then, during renovations in 2013, a scrape at the back wall turned up a clown's leg. Pull off the drywall, and there was the whole circus, still in its colours.
A short history of the Big Top
The tent goes up
Gerry Kavanaugh converts a Main & Sherman grocery into the Big Top Restaurant and paints the circus mural with Mary Muzyka.
A neighbourhood fixture
Steelworkers, students, families and Sunday-morning crowds. The menu grows to include Greek souvlaki and a long list of full-course dinners, and the mural quietly disappears behind a renovation.
The mural returns
Renovations uncover the original 1950s circus wall. The story makes the local news, and the Big Top's past is back on display.
Still family owned
Breakfast served all day, burgers from fresh-ground beef, fries cut by hand and homemade pies and rice pudding. Kids who grew up here now bring their own.
Same promise since day one
Honest food made from scratch, in portions that send you home happy.
- Burgers made with fresh ground beef, never frozen
- French fries cut fresh in our kitchen
- Homemade meat sauce, pies and rice pudding
- Breakfast all day, every day
- Coffee poured hot and refilled often
