Burlington St.

Speaker 1:    

Ladies and gentlemen, from downtown Brightside located on the shores of beautiful Hamilton Bay. 

And surrounded by the scenic beauty of this Stelco’s spewing smokestacks. 

The slag piles, our renowned dump, Old Joe’s Pond, Laidlaw’s Olympic-sized hockey arena, and the world-famous Brightside Hotel. 

We bring to you, direct from the excellent Blue Danube Grill and Ballroom, the sounds of the past from the magic fingers of N.G.’s plucking without thinking. 

Speaker 1:    

Where in, where in your neighbourhood and your larger city, where would young men and women meet? 

Speaker 2:    

Blue Danube Restaurant. 

Speaker 3:    

Blue Danube Restaurant? 

Speaker 4:    

Yeah. 

Speaker 5:    

Girls weren’t allowed there either, too. 

Speaker 6:    

Yes, they would. 

Speaker 2:    

Oh yeah. 

Speaker 5:    

They weren’t too welcome, my mother… 

Speaker 2:    

You could walk by it. 

You could take a chance. 

Speaker 5:    

… yes, of course, of course.  

It was always filled with men. In front, standing in front. 

Speaker 2:    

Yeah. 

Speaker 3:    

Mostly guys. 

Speaker 5:    

A lot of the pictures you’ll see, I think, are in front of the Blue Danube. 

Speaker 2:    

Oh yes. 

Speaker 5:    

But it was a ‘guy’ kinda place. 

And Marilyn worked there, right Snitz? 

Speaker 7:    

You’re right. Absolutely. 

Speaker 5:    

And my mother would never allow me to go there. 

Speaker 6:    

I went there, nobody stopped me. 

Speaker 2:    

Yeah, but it was 2 o’clock in the morning! 

[Laughter] 

[chatter] 

Speaker 8:    

What schools did you guys all go to? 

Speaker 5:    

Holy Rosary and Cathedral. 

Speaker 8:    

Cathedral Girls.’ Cathedral Girls.’ Cathedral Boys.’ And you were… 

Speaker 2:    

Central High School. Delta. 

Speaker 1:    

I see a few more people drifting into the Casino lounge. It’s just off our main ballroom. 

The casino was one of the first in Ontario. 

And because of its ideal location to the bay, it could be reached very easily by rowboat, or in the middle of winter, by dogsled. 

Because of Brightside’s limited population, we were only allowed a pinball machine, which was a lot better than what was allowed to our rivals on Sherman Avenue - a dartboard, plus a license to book make on horse races. 

But we overcame the competition of bookmaking by allowing every third house in Brightside to bootleg.  

We made a killing. 

And now it’s time to hear another little ditty from Sin City. 

Speaker 1:    

Brightside’s main entertainment centre - outside of the Hotel - to me, and I’m sure these guys would agree, was the Blue Danube Restaurant. 

Speaker 2:    

Right.  

Yeah. Yeah. 

Speaker 1:    

The stories there are absolutely ‘mental,’ even from our age, or when I watch these guys here. 

I’ll just tell one little fast story of mine, because these guys were much older. 

So, one of the main events - it was the only jukebox in town for starters - … 

Speaker 2:    

No it wasn’t. 

No. 

Speaker 1:    

…so, if you wanted to hear music you would go in there. 

Well, most days – weekends – us young guys, these older fellas here enjoyed gambling… 

[Laughter] 

… all different levels but the most sane level was shooting dice up against the wall outside. 

Speaker 2:    

The crap games. And it was not legal in those days. 

Speaker 1:    

So, what these guys would do was they would hire us to stand - and put it this was so weird -  they had patrol cars in those days, but the roads weren’t that that good to drive on - so they would hire us as outlook people to watch these guys shooting crap there. 

And they paid us handsomely for that.  

That would buy us an ice cream cone. 

Speaker 2:    

Yeah. Yeah.  

Speaker 1:    

But they took their crap game very seriously. 

It was an actual sport. 

Mostly on Sundays when the police weren’t out in full force. 

[street sounds] 

Speaker 1:    

And that was the diner, I guess? 

Speaker 2:    

Ah, confectionery store. 

Speaker 1:    

Okay. 

Speaker 3:    

But you could get, you could get food there. 

Speaker 2:    

Yeah, yeah. They had a little kitchen in the back. 

But I think they played cards more than they made food. 

Speaker 3:    

That was what I was gonna say that; they had a little club back there. 

Yeah.  

Speaker 2:    

A couple of pinball machines. In them days when you got so many points you could get a… 

Speaker 1=3:    

Free game? 

Speaker 2:    

… bag of chips or something like that.  

[chatter] 

and them days, it’s illegal now but uh, I think the people used to rig the pinball machine and you could make money out of it… 

Speaker 3:    

Yeah. 

Speaker 2:    

… and cash in all the nickels that you put in eh.  

Speaker 1:    

The Rainbow Lunch.