Archived Topics

Pictures

Posted By: Ernie Gesner <egesner@aol.com>
Date: Sunday, 31 December 2000, at 1:18 a.m.

Tom, thanks for putting the photo of the Shell Chateau in the Picture Gallery. It brought back a lot of memories. My Dad worked there and at the Lighthouse in Columbia from 1946 until 1954. The people that worked there all seemed to have had varied and interesting life styles. One was a singing waiter named Eddie and another was a hunch backed chef named Albert who would leave for months or years at a time. There was even a special booth in the dining room where some of our Town Leaders used to play some after hours high stakes Gin Games. It got exciting and busy when the Greyhound and the race track buses stopped there. It's sad that it burned down as it was the center for dining and entertainment for the area. 

Posted By: William Brainard <p020188b@pb.seflin.org>
Date: Tuesday, 2 January 2001, at 11:59 p.m.

In Response To: Pictures (Ernie Gesner)

I recall going to the Shell Chateau with my parents for a Farm Bureau meeting back in the 1960s. It was exciting to go there. The last time I went to the Shell was in 1974, '75 when my father was in the Connecticut legislature and he had some sort of luncheon meeting there. As a tiny child I remember my mom going shopping in downtown Willimantic Thursday evenings. We'd drive down Pucker Street in Coventry going to the city. The trees weren't so tall then and I can see those colored lights in my minds eye on the Lighthouse in Columbia. It was very exciting. Didn't the Chateau have colored neon lights outlining it at night?