Search This Blog

Friday, October 21, 2011

Today's OTR: NBC presents Jerry Gray and his Band of Today.....6-8-1951 Edgewater Beach Hotel-Chicago

A nice, smoooth one, today.........for your dancing pleasure.....the mellow, Miller-esque sounds of the Jerry Gray band, direct from the beautiful beach walk of The Edgewater Beach Hotel, in Chicago. June 8, 1951. Tommy Traynor, and Tony Gray on vocals. Very nice.

Jerry with Artie Shaw




A rare pic of the Edgewater from it's earliest years


A note on the Edgewater:

The Edgewater Beach Hotel was a hotel in the far-north neighborhood community of Edgewater in Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1916 and owned by John Tobin Connery and James Patrick Connery, it was located between Sheridan Road and Lake Michigan at Berwyn Avenue. 

The complex had a private beach and offered seaplane service to downtown Chicago. During its lifetime, the hotel served many famous guests including Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Charlie Chaplin, Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, and Nat King Cole, and U.S. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The hotel was known for hosting big bands such as the bands of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Xavier Cugat, and Wayne King, which were also broadcast on the hotel's own radio station, a precursor to WGN with the calls WEBH.

On June 14, 1949, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus was shot and nearly killed by an obsessive fan at the hotel; this later would be a large part of the inspiration behind Bernard Malamud's novel The Natural.

The 1951–54 extension of Lake Shore Drive from Foster Avenue to Hollywood Avenue cut the hotel off from the beach leading to a reduction in business. The hotel closed in 1967 and the main buildings were demolished shortly after.The Edgewater Beach Co-op or Apartments, built in 1928, is the only part of the hotel complex to survive and is part of the Bryn Mawr Historic District where many Art Deco buildings can be found.

The developers also built a sister hotel, the Edgewater Gulf Hotel, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Both projects were designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Marshall and Fox.

 The apartments today

11 comments:

  1. Wow, just finding your blog. Good stuff here. I'm going to put a link to my blog to yours! Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like yours, too! I'll link to you :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What's up Dear, are you really visiting this site daily, if so after that you will without doubt obtain nice know-how.

    Here is my weblog :: peace corp

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it whenever people come together and share opinions.
    Great site, keep it up!

    My homepage ... friendsseeking.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am really thankful to the holder of this web site
    who has shared this impressive piece of writing at here.


    my website: http://ilflussocatalizzatore.it/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I could not resist commenting. Very well written!


    Have a look at my blog article-promotion.info

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject?
    I'd be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Thank you!

    Also visit my website: seo-for-website.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for every other informative blog.
    Where else may I get that type of information written in such
    a perfect manner? I've a project that I'm just now running on, and I have been
    at the glance out for such information.

    Also visit my page ... http://myfriendsunited.co.uk/index.php?do=/profile-4619/info

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
    you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent,
    as well as the content!

    Stop by my web blog; exercises to increase vertical jump

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello there, You've done a fantastic job. I will definitely digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this website.

    Check out my blog post; vertical leap workouts

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, yup this paragraph is in fact pleasant and I have learned lot of things from it regarding blogging.
    thanks.

    Here is my website ... workouts for vertical jump

    ReplyDelete