What's The Story With 36 Lewis?

Everytime we mention Lewis St to the 40 and over crowd, the first thing that gets mentioned is 36 Lewis and its wild reputation.

 "That 36 Lewis was quite the place."

 "36 Lewis, you could get anything there!"

 "There's a lot of ghosts of good times over at 36 Lewis."

 "You could always tell a person was a good time if they hung out at 36 Lewis."

We are too young to remember when this was a happening spot, but it sure sounds like there are some good stories an we'd love to here them. Do you have any tales to tell of this great spot? We'd love to put together a collection of stories from the heyday. Feel free to leave them here in comments or send them in email.

Appettite: Now I Feel Old

Lifted from Deadspin.com

"You can taste the bright lights but you won't get them for free"

The seminal sports blog Deadspin is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of Appetite For Destruction by having readers send in their stories of the first time they heard the best album of the decade. Appetite was released on July 21, 1987. Coincidentally, Sad City would start appearing on Craig The Porn Star's WCCC program exactly 23 years later. After a quarter century, it's hard to overstate just how good Appetite was/is. While other music of the era has faded into hipster novelty, Appetite powerfully delivers over and over and over and over and over again.

Hartford's Golden Crowns: The Colt Factory

While the Colt Factory is best known for the iconic blue onion dome, it is actually gold that that sits at the peak of the former weapons factory. At the very top of the dome is a colt, the symbol of Colt Firearms. Built in 1865 after the original Colt factory burnt down, the blue onion dome is perhaps Hartford's most iconic symbol. Unmistakable while driving on I-91, every day thousands of motorosts pass the onion dome.

Hartford's Golden Crowns: The State Capitol

Gilded crowns and Hartford wouldn't seem like a natural fit to the layperson. Said layperson might not be aware that only about 100 years ago Hartford was the wealthiest city in the United States. In the century since, Hartford has squandered nearly all of its advantages and opportunities, yet, like fossils of the t-rex, there remains evidence of power long since faded.

Ironically, Hartford's gild was almost exclusively produced in the city, at the Swift factory in the North End. The factory once employed as many as 500, but closed in 2005 after the death of its 102 year old owner M. Allen Swift, because, as legend has it, Mr. Swift kept all the companies crucial information in his head.

Hartford's First Petrol Station

On the corner of Buckingham and Hudson, across the street from a shoddily maintained dirt parking lot, sits this rather unassuming building. Nestled in a sea of asphalt parking lots and in shadows of the towers of downtown, the AG building, and the Capitol, this modest little mechanics shop is scarcely noticeable. Many a time we passed by without a second look. Then recently, we learned that this little building was Hartford's first gas station. For all you car lovers or haters out there, this is essentially where it all started in Hartford.

Upon closer inspection, one can clearly see signs of the buildings age. The most obvious being the fancy columns on the edges. Apparently petrol stations were built with a little more grandeur back in the old days. We didn't have the heart to look up what a gallon of gas would run as you putted around town back in the old days.

Farmington Ave is said to have roughly the same amount of potholes then as today.

My Life For Thee!!

There has been much commentary about the new state toursim slogan "Still Revolutionary." The internet being what it is, almost all commentary was negative and followed by the commentator trying their best to make a decent joke. Welcome to the 2012 news cycle.

Colin McEnroe did make the salient point that Connecticut doesn't have the history of being all that revolutionary. The best we were able to come up with was rechristening the much needed Hartford-New Britain Busway the "Revolutionary Road." Per usual, when it comes to slogans, we could take it or leave it. It's no "Sad City" but it's certainly not worth moaning about on Twitter all day. In reality, nothing is, it's nice outside.

But what does this have to do with a black iron fence?

The Last & First

While digging through some of our archives we came upon these historical gems, ticket stubs from our last Hartford Whalers game and first Hartford Wolfpack game. The Whalers won the clash 6-3 against the arch-rival Bruins. While the Whalers weren't a good team at this time the Bruins were even worse having just traded Bill Ranford, Adam Oates, and Rich Tocchet for Jason Allison, Anson Carter, and Jim Carrey and on their way to last place and drafting teen phenom Joe Thornton #1 overall.

Hartford Photo Of The Week

This photo was taken by William H. Thompson and owned by the Connecticut State Library. Last week we looked at a few photos from this remarkable collection but did not include this particular beauty. Featured in this photo taken between 1903-1906 are the State Capitol, the Soldier's Memorial Arch and Bushnell Park, all easily recognizable by Hartfordites a century later.

The most noticeable difference from today is the Park River flowing under the Memorial Arch and through the park. While the iQuilt doesn't propose relinquish the Park River from its sub-terrain sentence, it does aim to unearth the bridge and install a faux river in the park.

A really great photo from the William H Thompson collection. Check the whole collection out here.

Do you have a photo that you think is worthy of Hartford Photo Of The Week? Email it in for consideration.

The Boat Building

The Phoenix Building on Constitution Plaza is one the Hartford's most recognizable landmarks. Most often referred to as the "boat building" we've also heard it called the "football building" amongst other things. Completed in 1963, it is the the world's first two sided building. (No truth to the rumor that we will now be seeking out all two sided buildings in Hartford) The unique shape of the building and its windows can lead to some awesome views like this one captured on recent sunny day. The top floor of the Phoenix Building also provides a great view of downtown, but of course the main attraction of this building is walking directly to the spot where the two sides come together, it's really nothing mind-bending but there's almost no way you can not walk right towards it when you get the chance.

William H Thompson Photographs

Main St.

A Sad City friend and reader (the same reader who navigated the Park River) sent us this awesome collection of Hartford photos from the CT State Library. The photos were all taken between 1903-1906 by William H Thompson. The CT Library's Flicker describes Thompson;

"William H. Thompson was a professional photo-engraver with the Hartford Engraving Company in Hartford from about 1901-1917. Thompson from 1903-1906 took photographs of street scenes, river scenes, architecture, statues, and parks of central Hartford. He took these photographs, according to a memo to State Librarian George Godard, because “he thought [they] would later be of historic interest.” In 1918 due to ill health he sold his photograph collection to the State Library."

Historical Hartford Farmer's Markets

The original Lucky Taco truck!

We were recently contacted by Dan Gregory who works Hartford Food System and wanted to share some newly unearthed photographs of old Hartford Farmer's Markets with us. Most of these great pics date back to the 1970's and 1980's. Ahhh, the styles, the fashions. Who wouldn't have loved to be coming of age in the 70's and 80's? Well except for that whole lack of iPhones and instantaneous connectivity to almost any information you could possibly want. Still it had to be great to live at a time where you could impress girls by playing Asteroids, cigarettes didn't make you a social pariah, and the Mets were relevant. Just think of the joys and triumphs ahead for 1980's wunderkinds Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Mike Tyson.

A Succinct Synopsis

We all have the tendency to sometimes overlook the simpest and most prevalent things. Such is the case with this sign that gives a brief and succinct early history of Hartford. Located at the edge of The Ancient Burial Ground between the Center Church and the Gold Building, we walk by this sign all the time. Many readers probably also do and surely some have these facts memorized. We've read it before, but it has been a while and we would fail a pop quiz on this sign. It sure packs a lot of early Hertford history into six sentences. Very cool and if you haven't in a while, worth taking five minutes out of your day and giving it a read or two.

Black Baseball In Hartford

Mahlon Duckett courtesy of LeftField

The following history of Black Baseball In Hartford comes courtesy of LeftField.Homestead.com. 

African American and Hispanic players have always been an integral part of baseball in the U.S.  Until recently, their contributions had been dismissed and their stories largely ignored.  For more than one hundred years, Black and Latino ball players organized local teams and came to town to compete against white ball clubs in Hartford.  What follows is just a glimpse of some of their history:

Introducing Hartford's Johnny Taylor

Johnny Taylor was one these pictured 1938 Negro League All-Star Game players

February is Black History Month. At Sad City one thing we waste about as much of our time on as Hartford is baseball. While baseball is an amazing sport and America's pastime, it shouldn't be forgotten that until 1947 baseball despicably operated under the even more despicably named "Gentleman's Agreement" in which owners only employed white players and African-Americans were forced to organize their own leagues. Seeing as how many of us are Red Sox fans, it would be remiss to not point out that the Red Sox were the last team to integrate due to well known racist policies (hey, it is Boston) a factor that certainly contributed to the teams mediocrity in the 1950's and early 1960's.

 So yeah, whenever anyone wants to argue that todays players don't match up with Ruth, Cobb, or Gehrig because of expansion, juiced balls or steroids, kindly point out that those pre-integration players weren't even competing with all of the best players in the United States.

The 1936 Flood

Ever since we attended Paper Mania a few weeks ago we've found ourselves browsing around the web and looking at old postcards. If anyone has ever done any late night web surfing, you are probably aware that Ebay is the most dangerous of all late night web sites. Late night Ebaying is how you end up with a lot of 10 identical Whalers pennants. Seemed like such a good idea at the time.

The Civic Center Collapse

This week marked the 34th anniversary of the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse. As bad as the collapse was, it was very lucky that no one was killed in this mishap. Only hours before, the venue hosted a UConn-UMass basketball game. This was way before Marcus Camby, Cliff Robinson, and even Jim Calhoun.

We looked at these pictures of the roof collapse way, way back in the Sad City vault. Today, a generation has passed since the roof collapse and Hartford is facing a major decision on the future of a downtown entertainment. Many dream of an NHL return. The Civic Center collapse happened before Hartford even had an NHL team.

Remember This One?

Pic courtesy of The Hartfordite

Sad City friend and Channel 3 Newman Dennis House has lived and worked in Hartford since 1992. That makes him an incredible repository of Hartford information. Recently on his blog, The Hartfordite, he posted a story we had completely forgot, about when an NFL team almost moved to Hartford.

We meet some new to the area that seem shocked we ever had an NHL team and express disbelief that the city could again support an NHL team, but it wasn't that long ago that the NFL was courting Hartford. And as Dennis points out in his story;

A History of Hartford Fly By Night Sports Teams

Last month to little fanfar, the Hartford Colonials announced they were "suspending operations" for the 2011 UFL season. While the Colonials maintain that they hope to be back in 2012 and we wish them well, we all know that it is very unlikely that we will see them in Hartford again. The fold of the Colonials brought back memories of the many various Hartford teams in rogue, fly-by-night leagues. In fact Hartford's most beloved team, the Whalers were originally members of what is perhaps the last true rogue league, the WHA.

The Capewell Manufacturing Company

One of the popular rhetorics today is the call for America to return to it's roots as a manufacturer, to produce goods. As a turn of the century powerhouse, Hartford boasts quite a manufacturing history, most famously, Colt Manufacturing.  We recently came upon a large empty factory on Popieluszo Street and as a result learned a little bit of Hartford history that we were unaware of.

Taking up an entire block and surrounded by a fence and barbed wire, aging signs in the entrance told us that this boarded up building was once the home of the Capewell Manufacturing Company. An empty factory is a curious thing. To think that a building once filled with such activity now stands empty and lifeless for whatever reasons is always intriguing.

Sad City Family Reunion

Ed. Note: Still really, really busy. This was a fun post from way back. 

Living in Hartford we all co-exist as one big family for better or worse. As happens in families, fights sometimes occur. Today we take a look back at an entertaining fight between some of our family members, but first for context, a walk down memory lane. Two weeks ago we discussed The Seven Visible From The Highway Wonders of Hartford.