The City Club in Plymouth had an auction today. It was selling all the items that might have value. Chairs, stools, neon beer signs, blenders and almost anything that wasn't nailed down.
The owner, Harry Stroebel died several months ago. There was no will. He left a tavern/restaurant business. The assets consist of a large old wood building with lots of rooms filled with junk. The task of sorting through the mess goes to the nieces and nephews (children of Harry's siblings). The estate will get split 6 ways. I think Harry had one living sister who gets 1/6 of everything. One brother, previously deceased had nine children. Each child gets 1/9 of 1/6 share. You get the idea. Lots of people to share in the spoils. Probably lots of arguments.
Your mom and I got to tour the City Club. It is for sale! It hasn't changed in 25 years. It also has had very little improvement in 25 years. Roofs need to be repaired, water leaks are prevelent everywhere and there isn't a flat surface in the whole building. Almost every room was filled with some box, furniture or article of clothing. My Grandma Myrna's apartment hadn't been used in 25 years. The kitchen I painted after a fire 50 years ago has the same paint and trim. A temporary shower I installed as a kid 50 years ago is still in place (and it isn't even warping). I missed my calling as a handyman.
The City Club seemed smaller than I remembered. Lots and lots of little rooms. The room that Great Grandpa John Roberts and his wife Mary occupied 45 years ago is still there, totally unchanged.
It baffled me that Harry was making money on the "draft beer" and sandwich operation. I couldn't invision enough cash flow to support the operation.
Little did I know. Harry dumped the draft beer years ago. You could only buy bottled beer and hard liquor. Fish lunches and sandwiches were daily offerings. The real money was in the "gaming" machines. These are electronic machines that allow you to play games of all types. The electronic machines are connected to the internet to allow instant changing of the different games. The people who leased the machines to the City Club knew exactly at any moment, how much money they were making on the machines via the internet. The City Club got a percentage of all "gaming" revenue. Big bucks! Some of the gaming revenue was cash. I don't know how all of that worked?
To revive the City Club would be a tremendous undertaking even if the cash flow was good. The investment to meet code on anything associated with food will be expensive. An argument could be made for tearing it down and building something brand new.
I got to see my childhood family apartment. The kitchen was the same. Bootsy's (our dog) closet was still there. I didn't realize all the floors in the apartment were hardwood. Addie's bedroom was still being used as a bedroom. Yep, it was all there.
The visit to the City Club was a stroll down memory lane. It reaffirmed mental images of what I remember. It was older and more decrepit than I could envision. The City Club represents "an era past". It deserves to remain there.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that you can't go back. Memories are snapshots of times past. My good memories out-number the bad ones. There is no desire on my part to recapture part of the past. Always look ahead!
Love,
Dad