Thursday, July 31, 2008

Good 'Ole Days

From a Year in the Park a great story of a couple bars on Coney Island near Caton that had a fire on July 28, 1929. The great part isn't the fire but reading the article its clear there were a couple clubs in the nabe! Where are they now!?
Flaming gin joints and stampeding steeds
"Three night clubs in Coney Island Avenue, between Hermit [sic] Place and Caton Avenue, Brooklyn, were destroyed by fire soon after closing time yesterday morning, with a property loss of about $150,000. From the riding academy next door 135 horses stampeded from the fire into the Parade Grounds of Prospect Park across the street, where they galloped for four hours or more.
"The fire, of unknown, but, officials said, possibly incendiary, origin, apparently started about 4 A.M. in the Cat's Meow resort at 338 Coney Island Avenue. This place had been under padlock for several months as the result of a raid by Prohibition agents. The last of the patrons of the Caton Inn and the Barking Dog, adjoining the Cat's Meow, the other two places burned, had left an hour before. All were one-story frame structures.