Sunday, March 6, 2011

Back in the Day

In the 1960s, before the Healy Farm was sold and Greenport became strip mall heaven, Warren Street, like main streets all over the country, was lined with businesses that offered all the goods and services any American family could possibly need or want. There was also, at the top of the street, a movie theater that had been turned into a motel--an adaptive reuse so novel that it merited a historic marker.

In recent times, the Warren Inn has lost its reputation for being the place to stay in Hudson, but here's what it looked like back in the day. (Note the two Volkswagen buses at the right in the top picture.) Not shown is the Hawaiian lounge that was located in the motel--perhaps Hudson's answer to the original Trader Vic's, which opened at the Savoy Hilton in 1958 and moved to the Plaza Hotel in 1965.  


Thanks to Jennifer Arenskjold for letting Gossips share this picture, which she received from Liz, the bartender at the Warren Inn, who has worked at the motel since the beginning. 
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9 comments:

  1. Debby MayerMarch 6, 2011 at 11:04 AM

    The 1960s, and two VW buses! Hudson has always been hip.

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  2. Peter MeyerMarch 6, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    I don't see the VW buses, but do spy a big car with huge tailfins (to the very left) and would thus surmise that this drawing is from the late 50s or early 60s? If that was indeed "the day," it is amazing to think how fast Hudson's fall was. When we stayed at the Warren Inn (1986), we had a room above the bar, which emitted noises and smells that was less something from a Trader Vics restaurant than from the bilge of Blackbeard's galleon.... And I slept with my shoes on because my feet stuck to the floor... Shiver me timbers, it was bad. ---pm

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  3. windleMarch 6, 2011 at 12:12 PM

    Room phones !
    Look at that groovy red couch (?) in the dining room.

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  4. Carole OsterinkMarch 6, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    Windle--I think the red object in the dining room is a banquette.

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  5. windleMarch 6, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    even better

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  6. Debby MayerMarch 6, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    PM, if you click on the photo it enlarges itself and the V-dubs are clear, on the right. Hip Hudsonians must have hung onto their tailfins.

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  7. JenniferMarch 6, 2011 at 4:13 PM

    Note that the Warren Inn was then called 'The Roylton, yes Roylton, not Royalton.

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  8. Carole OsterinkMarch 6, 2011 at 4:15 PM

    Peter: I think the car is a 1957 Ford, and the first generation of VW buses (I think that's what these are) was produced from 1950 to 1967. I think the illustration is from the early '60s, perhaps the late '50s, but that's a whole generation before 1986. It doesn't take more than 25 years for things to change dramatically.

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  9. sandyMarch 7, 2011 at 7:00 PM

    it's a 58 mercury. wouldn't it be a clever idea to convert the building back into a theater for the performing arts?

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