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- Description:
- Douglas Baker and Russel Baltz recount life in Grand Haven during the first half of the twentieth century. Doug Baker owned and operated the Baker & Son Lumber yard, which originated as the Bakker Sawmill in 1871. He discusses his genealogy, his connection with the Jackie Band and the First Presbyterian Church, and taking the passenger ship the Alabama to Chicago. During the dance-hall days, he enjoyed playing in a couple house bands. Russel Baltz joins him in giving a detailed description of the Fruitport Pavilion and the Hyland Gardens. Russel was the proprietor of the Hyland Gardens for many years. When the Big Band era ended, he converted the building into a hotel and named it the Bil-Mar Hotel after his two children. A few years later, he also bought The Barn in Grand Haven. In addition, the Baltzes owned the building at 200 Washington Ave. Through the years, it housed Addison-Baltz, Steketee's, and the Tri-Cities Historical Museum. Russel includes a story about hazing during his college fraternity days.
- Date Issued:
- 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Musicians Bob Warnaar and Doug Baker reminisce about the big bands that performed in and around Grand Haven during the war years. Their discussion includes Bob Warnaar's Big Band, Grand Haven's Jackie Band, Frank Lockage's band, the Eagle Ottawa tannery band, the Charlie Bird Band, the local Elks concert band and many others. Their performances took them to Central Park, the Hyland Gardens, the Armory, the waterfront, and most memorably, the Fruitport Pavilion, the area's premiere entertainment spot. Warnaar and Baker detail the history of the Pavilion and Warnaar discusses his involvement in the development of waterfront entertainment. Warnaar also recalls the first night he played at the waterfront when 3200 people came to enjoy the concert.
- Date Issued:
- 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Elsie Hornbacher talks about her overseas service as a teacher in Japan, Italy and Austria after World War Two. Hornbacher talks about going to Japan in 1949, her ocean voyage to Yokohama, shipboard life, riding out a typhoon, the destruction still evident in postwar Japan, Japanese culture, and how life for the Japanese gradually began to improve. Hornbacher discusses the school where she worked, the curriculum, her students, visiting Hiroshima and about the Korean War and American dependents evacuating from Korea to Japan. Hornbacher says that she was reassigned to Naples in 1952, and that the city was unsafe and controlled by the mafia. After "enduring" a year in Italy, she says that she was next sent to Austria which she found both colorful and interesting and was finally sent back to the U.S. in 1954.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-04-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Musicians Bob Warnaar and Doug Baker reminisce about the big bands that performed in and around Grand Haven during the war years. Their discussion includes Bob Warnaar's Big Band, Grand Haven's Jackie Band, Frank Lockage's band, the Eagle Ottawa tannery band, the Charlie Bird Band, the local Elks concert band and many others. Their performances took them to Central Park, the Hyland Gardens, the Armory, the waterfront, and most memorably, the Fruitport Pavilion, the area's premiere entertainment spot. Warnaar and Baker detail the history of the Pavilion and Warnaar discusses his involvement in the development of waterfront entertainment. Warnaar also recalls the first night he played at the waterfront when 3200 people came to enjoy the concert.
- Date Issued:
- 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Douglas Baker and Russel Baltz recount life in Grand Haven during the first half of the twentieth century. Doug Baker owned and operated the Baker & Son Lumber yard, which originated as the Bakker Sawmill in 1871. He discusses his genealogy, his connection with the Jackie Band and the First Presbyterian Church, and taking the passenger ship the Alabama to Chicago. During the dance-hall days, he enjoyed playing in a couple house bands. Russel Baltz joins him in giving a detailed description of the Fruitport Pavilion and the Hyland Gardens. Russel was the proprietor of the Hyland Gardens for many years. When the Big Band era ended, he converted the building into a hotel and named it the Bil-Mar Hotel after his two children. A few years later, he also bought The Barn in Grand Haven. In addition, the Baltzes owned the building at 200 Washington Ave. Through the years, it housed Addison-Baltz, Steketee's, and the Tri-Cities Historical Museum. Russel includes a story about hazing during his college fraternity days.
- Date Issued:
- 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection