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Thanks much,

Robert Salthouse
South Hadley Historical Society

Beechwood was post-war jumpin' joint

Beechwood was post-war jumpin' joint

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

It was the late 1940s, and the joints were jumpin'.

Post-World War II America had much to celebrate after the troops came home, and for many, a night on the town meant dining and dancing to a live band in a club chock-a-block with other partiers.

And little South Hadley was home to one of the biggest and most popular clubs in Western Massachusetts.

For nearly a quarter-century - continuing well after the post-World War II glow had faded - the Beechwood and its successor, Conti's Beechwood, was not only an epicenter of area nightlife but also a popular destination for more sedate events such as wedding receptions, testimonials and banquets.

Today, the only evidence that the Beechwood used to border one side of the Beechgrounds on Main Street is a lone pillar, which stands next to the driveway of the apartment building built on the club's former site.

But, before it was demolished some 40 years ago, the hulking two-story edifice was such a trendy place to be that, in the words of former manager Frank Conti, "Some Friday and Saturday nights there would be 1,000 people upstairs and downstairs."

That was something no one could have foreseen when the spanking-new emporium opened its doors in the early 1920s. It was constructed to serve as a "Red Men's Hall," the local headquarters for a now-largely defunct fraternal organization that had headquarters in many U.S. cities (among them Holyoke, Northampton and Springfield).

The building was sold in the mid-1930s to Emile Lariviere, a South Hadley resident. He renamed it the Beechwood and transformed it into a collection of small businesses, including lunch rooms, bars, a cigar shop and even a bowling alley.

But, by 1943, new owner Jimmy Downing had other ideas for the Beechwood. A South Hadley real estate investor who lived less than a mile from the club, Downing also was the leader of the popular Jimmy Downing Orchestra.

Downing's dual interests meshed perfectly. His band had a permanent place to play, and it didn't take long for Downing's "new" Beechwood to catch on, starting with the men in uniform.

"The Westover GIs during World War II kept coming for the nightlife and then all through the years," said Conti.

The Beechwood was buzzing. In its heyday, it wasn't unusual to see lines of would-be patrons snaking down the sidewalk while waiting for admittance; inside, radio stations WACE and WHYN each broadcast live programs on Saturday nights A boxing exhibition with Willie Pep, the featherweight world champion from Hartford, was staged in the 1950s.

Even the more mundane was larger than life at the Beechwood. It hosted 25 consecutive policemen's balls, and it wasn't uncommon for the club to host five wedding receptions going on at once, according to Conti, who says the Beechwood was the site of South Hadley's first television set.

Other acts to play at the Beechwood included Bob Ezold's dance band (a member of the long-time Holyoke musical family and owner of the Pizzitola Music Studio, Ezold also was married to Downing's system, Helen) and Larry Chesky's polka orchestra.

In 1953, the Downings leased the club to Frank and Doris Conti, whose family owned several South Hadley restaurants. But as entertainment tastes changed, the club's business slowly dwindled and the facility closed its doors in 1968 when the Contis' lease expired.

Downing's plans to convert the vacant Beechwood into apartments didn't pan out, leading to its demolition. A new apartment building, the Parkview, instead was built in the early 1970s.

But even as it sat vacant, awaiting its demise, the Beechwood still had some music left in it. Jimmy Downing's son, James III, and his rock band Bear Mountain used the old building as a practice venue. Judy Van Handle is a member of the South Hadley Historical Society. To learn more about the society, go online to http://southhadleyhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/

1936 flood

This is one of the fine photos of the 1936 flood donated by Ken McKenna to the Historical Society in May, 2010.  The caption on the back of this photo is, Flood 1936 Main St., looking up Glasgow Hill - National Guardsman Gerald A. Judge in center."  I presume that World War 1 veterans were made "National Guardsmen" during the flood.

Town athletes have a storied legacy - Click HERE or on the story below for full size

Click HERE for terrific photos of Holyoke

South Hadley Historical Society Newsletter - April 2010 - Click HERE

World War II museum in Natick - not South Hadley, but worth a visit

I recently visited the terrific musuem in Natick MA described at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/24/veil_lifts_on_a_trove_of_wwii_treasures/?page=3. 

The musuem is as good as the story suggests.  I encourage anyone with an interest in World War II to visit it.

The state South Hadley census for 1905

Thanks to the Gaylord Library for this post!

The Census: Moving Forward After Mailing It Back

April 2, 2010

A tagline for the Census this year is “We Can’t Move Forward Until You Mail It Back.” To celebrate this, I have decided to provide a little perspective, by way of the Census of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1905, of the ways we have already moved forward.

Thus, in 1905:
•A total of 940 people responded as “Heads of Family” in South Hadley—785 men (84%) and 155 women (16%). In relation to these “Heads of Family,” 722 women labeled themselves as “wives,” but a category for “husbands” did not exist. 6 women were “matrons,” and presumably due to the College, 572 women were “students.” Interestingly, 4 women responded as being in “other relationships,” not including grandmothers, in-laws, daughters, granddaughters, guests, aunts, nieces, inmates, servants, or assistants. Also of interest, only one person listed themselves as a stepfather to the head of the family, and only 7 people were stepchildren.

•Of the South Hadley citizens “Native Born” (3,806), 2,689 were from Massachusetts (71%), with the second largest category being from New York (8%). Of the citizens “Foreign Born,” (1,248), 352 were Canadian French (28%), 250 were Irish (20%), and 194 were from Germany (15%).

•4 South Hadley residents registered as “colored” and 3 as “Chinese.” The only other categories were white, Japanese, and Indian.

•Occupations in ‘Trade and Transportation’ included: 9) draymen, hackman, teamsters, etc., 10) hostlers, and 11) hucksters and peddlers. For those as unfamiliar with some of these terms as I am, draymen drove wagons without sides (and may still be used by brewery companies for parades), and husksters are “retailers of small articles, esp. a peddler of fruits and vegetables; hawker” (Dictionary.com).

•A section was provided for “Defective Social and Physical Condition” which included “paupers” and “feeble-minded.” Paupers were defined as “all persons from disease, accident, intemperance, misfortune, and any other cause have become dependant upon public charity” and “feeble-minded” was assumed to be obvious, since it was not defined.

•Massachusetts held the fifth place in the production of silk and silk goods, following after New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut.

•The average salary for South Hadley was $1,517.00, which was higher than Northampton ($1,051.64), Amherst ($968.06), and Springfield ($1,261.94).

•34.59% of the Agricultural Products & Property in South Hadley comprised of “Dairy products,” followed by “Hay, straw and fodder” (19.48%) and “Vegetables” (12.30%).

•Inland fisheries in South Hadley generated a $235 value—from bass, eels, perch, pickerel, pout (horned), and trout (the greatest at $150).

To find out more about statistics and data of Massachusetts in 1905, as always, please consult our archives. All the information above can be found in four volumes of the Census: I) Populations and Social Statistics, II) Occupations and Defective Conditions, III) Manufacture and Trade, and IV) Agriculture, the Fisheries, Commerce.