Memories from Alan Arkin’s Favourite Cape Breton Cafe
CAPE BRETON– Claudia Roach was working alone at the Frog Pond Café and Art Gallery on a rainy Sunday eight years ago. There were no customers because of the bad weather. Then, in walked an older couple. They made their orders and Roach invited them to sit in a cozy room that had mood lighting and magazines. Roach insisted they could relax while she made their drinks.
The mood in the room was also being set by Roach’s Spotify playlist, which pumped jazz music through the room’s speaker.
“It took a minute to make these espresso drinks that they had ordered,” recalled Roach, who managed the café on behalf of her in-laws, William and Linda Roach. “I brought them in, and he said to me “nice music you have playing.”
The two then shared their appreciation for jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond.
“And because there were no other customers, I chatted with him and his wife. it must have been 45 minutes. It was a long time. And they introduced themselves after a while.”
As the couple left, someone else came into the parking lot. It was only then that Roach got an inkling that the man she had just met was someone of great importance.
“’Oh, was that Alan Arkin?’ The person asked. And I said, ‘I have no idea.’ If you would have told me he was Alan Arkin, the name would have not meant anything to me. So I said ‘yes, the man’s name was Alan.’ I thought to myself, that’s funny that you know, him.”
Roach may not have recognized the name, but it’s surprising his face wasn’t familiar. That’s because Alan Arkin had a film acting career that spanned nearly seven decades. His death last Friday at age 89 dominated internet chatter and news headlines.
Arkin was a Hollywood rarity. In a cruel industry where people’s acting roles diminish as they get older, Arkin was an outlier. Many of his best roles came when he could have qualified for old age social security benefits — roles in movies shows such as Argo and The Kominsky Method.
Then, of course, there is the role he is most known for: Little Miss Sunshine, where he played the central character’s heroin-snorting, foul-mouthed (yet loving) grandpa. That role earned Arkin his lone Oscar win.
Arkin and his wife became familiar faces around Cape Breton. For years, the island was their holiday home during the warmer months. In interviews, he would often give shout outs to the Frog Pond Café, saying it was his favourite place to hang out.
The next time Roach saw Arkin and Suzanne, she jokingly admonished him for hiding his celebrity status.
“I said to him, ‘no more sneaking in incognito!’ I know you’re a big movie star now.”
Arkin and Suzanne quickly became regulars and the Frog Pond. They often spent six months in Cape Breton and they would come into the Frog Pond twice a week at least. Roach recalls how health-conscious Arkin was, always ordering his drink with soy milk.
But throughout all the years that Roach knew Arkin, it didn’t feel like she was serving expressos to a big star. Arkin and Suzanne were as down-to-earth as two regular customers could be. And, true to the reputation of polite Maritimers, the locals wouldn’t hound Arkin for pictures or autographs.
“They were unassuming. They were kind people,” said Roach. “People recognized him most of the time but I’ve never witnessed anybody bother him. They just said ‘Oh, hi, Mr. Arkin’ or ‘great movie.’”
“I think that was a part of why they liked it, because they could just be themselves and just sit down, do their orders, and chat. And they loved the gallery.”
Out of curiosity, Roach once asked Arkin what it was like to be so recognizable.
“For me, I wouldn’t like that. It’s an awful idea that, wherever you go, everything would be under scrutiny. So I asked him once, ‘Do you mind when people recognize you? And he said, No, no, no.’”
“And then his wife looked at me and she winked and she said in a low voice, ‘he loves it.’”
Roach got to know the Arkins so well that she would email them from time to time when they weren’t staying in Cape Breton. Roach says the couple didn’t make it in 2020 because of the pandemic and doesn’t think Arkin made it back again before he died. According to Roach, it became more difficult for Arkin to travel toward the end.
“For health reasons he needed to stay in a warmer climate. It was getting a little bit [cumbersome]. The trip from where they lived to Cape Breton had a lot of interconnecting flights. Unfortunately ever since Covid, to my knowledge, they didn’t make it back here.”
During one of her email exchanges with Arkin, Roach brought up the subject of movies and his acting career. That’s when she got an insight into Arkin’s witty nature.
“In one of the emails, he said ‘here are a few movies of my mine that you’re allowed to watch, and everything else would be considered a breach of contract.’ Really funny,” recalled Roach. “So, when I had more time, I started watching some of these movies.”
Like most, Roach came to love Little Miss Sunshine and Arkin’s performance in it. Fittingly. Roach was in the middle of a road trip while she spoke with Huddle.
Although Arkin’s fans will always remember him for his incredible performances in their favourite movies, Roach is one of the people who can remember him for even more than that.
“I think he was a very decent, kind, humble man, and my thoughts are with his wife,” said Roach. But I’m just sad that he couldn’t make it back to Cape Breton. I’m not religious, but I hope that he’s at peace wherever he is.”
The Frog Pond was sold in 2021 and is now known as Freya and Thor Gallery and Café.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].