Something different today. I scanned this old photo last night and was trying to clean it up. (My wife and daughter are down at her mom's for a week, so you see how I spent my wild & crazy Saturdaynight) Met with limited success, but I was fascinated with it because I hadn't looked at it in a long time. I cropped it to more easily see the people in the photo.

The photo was taken sometime in the late 30's. The only thing more I can add about when was that it was around 8:42, probably p.m. and it was during the Christmas season (note the Christmas tree). To the extreme right, behind the bar is my grandfather. Next to him is my Uncle Nick, my dad's younger brother.

What I find amazing about old photos, especially ones in which you know something about the people in them, is their ability to bring back memories that you hadn't thought about in ages. I remember being in this building as a young kid. It had long since been closed. The bar was still there and so were the booths. The other furniture had long since been removed. As had almost everything else. I can even remember the musty smell and the light.

It was called the South Erie Grill and was located beside a bridge that crossed a river where there were several steel mills located. My dad and uncle told me that on paydays the place was wall to wall with workers cashing checks, buying drinks, lined up three deep at the bar.

The steel mills are gone now. So is the building. When I was around 8 or 9, it was seized by the state via eminent domain to make room for a new bridge that was replacing the existing bridge and was to be built adjacent to the existing bridge. The building was in the way and had to go. I can still remember my grandmother and other adults in the family sitting around the kitchen table discussing it.

This past November, I went back there for the first time in 18 years. The now, not so new bridge is still there, but there's not much left on either side of it these days. A 'bridge to nowhere' of another sort.

Quote for the day: "Puritans, it is said, are bothered by the idea that someone, somewhere, is enjoying himself. Paleo-puritans thought that this would condemn you to hell. Neo-puritans think that it causes cancer, obesity, and heart disease. Both of them are bound and determined to remove all the joy from our lives, for our own good. Thanks for your concern, but no thanks." - S. Denbeste
©Tim P (Click on photo to enlarge)