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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2014 10:47:59 GMT -5
I thought it was pronounced Fuse-co. But maybe not. I heard his station only once so thus have no opinion of him and never knew any people who followed him. But I do remember hearing about the WBVM station especially during May and when Russia was still communist.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2014 10:55:26 GMT -5
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Post by kit on Apr 15, 2014 11:03:35 GMT -5
Am not sure of Mickey's exact relationship to Danny Fusco, but I've always believed he was his nephew. Mickey (known as 'Mick') worked in commercial radio for a while, and later worked for the Oneida County Sheriff as a radio dispatcher. Sadly, Mickey passed away in August 2012 at 62 years old. The obit didn't detail his familial relationships, so I don't have any further information about that.
As President of our local section of the Professional Photographers Society of NY years ago, I went to all the gigundous conventions in the Catskills and met a photographer from NYC whose name was Frank Fusco. He also pronounced it Fuss-ko. If you ever met Frank, you'd know that I wasn't about to argue with him, if you know what I mean.
Not to tell tales out of school, but as you mentioned, the late Danny Fusco was an Italian through-and-through. But I'd often go to Toma's grocery store and Lebanese food place on Mohawk St. (which is now closed) and there would be Danny, enjoying a nice kibbe, with hummus and tabouli. I suppose there's only so much pasta and other stuff with tomato sauce that a body (Italian or not) can stand, and Lebanese food would be a delightful change. Like having steak every night and craving a greasy Big Mac once in a while (with fries, of course).
Again, this drifts away from Hotels Martin and Hamilton, but what the heck? As long as you don't mind, neither do I.
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Post by dave on Apr 16, 2014 16:55:46 GMT -5
 On the website cited by Alan, the photo above and a few words appear about Mike Fusco: "A WIBX employee of high intelligence, the late Mike Fusco. Later to become general manager of WKAL Rome, of WKTV and then owner of WBVM with his brother, Danny Fusco." That got me interested and so elsewhere on the web I found: "Mike Fusco was general manager of WKAL from 1946 to 1949." "Mike Fusco was the first General Manager of WKTV." "Dick Clark,(playing Cactus Jack on WKTV) who now earned $52.50 a week and was the proud owner of a 1941 Oldsmobile sedan, began to be courted by Syracuse's WHEN-TV. WKTV general manager Michael Fusco promptly upped Cactus Dick's salary to $75 a week, which kept his budding star from jumping to WHEN, but, salary increase or not, after less than a year, "Dick Clay" had grown too big for Utica." And among a number of Utica media names from a 1968 Utica Daily Press article (sorry, the month and day didn't come out) about a Name That Puppy contest, Mike's name appears: "Judges for the contest are: chairman, Phil Tucker, WTLB; BobLux, WRUN; Phil Spartano, Utica Observer-Dispatch; Jack Fredericks, WKTV; David Miller, WIBX; BarbaraJones, Utica Daily Press; Mike Fusco, WBVM; Dorothy Miller,WUFM, and EdByrne, Utica Observer-Dispatch." And yes, it was always my understanding too the two boys, Mickey and Danny were Mike's boys, nephews of Danny. |
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Post by dave on Apr 16, 2014 18:04:01 GMT -5
I don't think I ever discovered who put that AM Radio site together. It appears unsigned, as far as I can tell. I got a kick out of seeing Jack Dowdell, WIBX's chief engineer and a nice guy. He lived up on Smith Hill and I was going to buy a transmitter from him when I was about 18, but he changed his mind and told me he just couldn't get rid of it since he would miss it. I felt relieved because after I had shook on the deal I had second thoughts.
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Post by dave on Apr 19, 2014 15:56:12 GMT -5
They may have been back to back. I remember walking from UFA to Baggs Square where my friend and I would hitch hike to Keyes Road. In winter we would walk down Park Ave to the Park and down Charlotte St to Bleecker, then cut through a hotel promenade or wide hallway that ran from the Bleecker St entrance to a Jay St exit. The memory is not vivid, but I do remember stopping for hot coffee in winter at a diner like counter on the Jay St end of that long promenade, and I seem to remember a shoe shine stand and a barber shop also being located along the same promenade. I was under the impression that what we walked through was the Hotel Hamilton, but I suppose there could have been two hotels. Other times we would avail ourselves of the hot coffee and warm up spots at the Hunts Point Diner and the OK Lunch. As I said, I could be mistaken. We are talking over fifty years ago and I only went to UFA for about a half of a school year before my parents paid tuition for me to go to Whitesboro until we eventually moved to Newport. Clipper, below is a photo that came to me labeled "Jack and Andy's." It looks like the diner I remember in the Jay St. area. I don't remember the buildings around it, but they could have been gone. My time on John St. must have come after they tore a bunch of buildings down.  |
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Post by Clipper on Apr 19, 2014 16:23:16 GMT -5
I don't remember any diner that looked like that being on Jay St. Of course you spent much more time downtown than I did. My experience with that part of town was pretty much limited to simply walking through it to get to Bagg's Square when we lived on Keyes Rd in N Utica. When we lived in Whitesboro I seldom went any farther North than the Busy Corner or the Boston Store.
It was in later years, pretty much as an adult, that I got to know just about every nook and cranny in the entire city. Driving a delivery truck for Jeffery Hardware before I went in the Navy, and a combination of delivering industrial gases for AH St Louis, and working on the ambulance in later years gave me a great overview of the entire city and it's streets.
I may very well be mistaken, but I seem to remember that the coffee shop that we stopped at for coffee was within the hotel building itself. More like a lunch counter than a separate diner.
That picture of the diner that you posted DOES remind me of the old Hunt's Point Diner though, but the Hunts Point was across from the court house on Charlotte. I can almost smell the food cooking and envision those huge old gas fired coffee urns. I miss those old fashioned diner settings where your burger and fries was cooked right behind the counter while you conversed with the short order cook. I still like to stop at the old Jet Diner on River Road when I am home. The Empire Diner is back in Herkimer also. That place holds a lot of nostalgic memories for valley folks. The old original Empire was our go-to place for after hours breakfast when I lived in Newport. It was on the South side of Route 5 in those days.
Wasn't Jack and Andy's in New Hartford on Genessee Street just North of the main corner? I think it was in a brick building that later became a laundromat or something. Maybe Kit can help us with this one.
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Post by dave on Apr 19, 2014 18:12:47 GMT -5
Could be New Hartford, but those buildings in the photo look too tall and too old for NH. I was also wondering about the Imperial restaurant. Was it on Broad? Or Main?
And one more. The Yates Hotel. Was it on the west side of Genesee almost all the way down to Bagg's Square, just up from a Sinclair station?
Thanks.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 19, 2014 18:25:38 GMT -5
The diner you pictured was not the Jack and Andy's I was speaking about in NH. That building was brick and mortar. In fact it was red brick and had a white cupola if I remember correctly.
You may be accurate in that being the diner that you were thinking about in the Jay St location. I am simply quite foggy in trying to think back that far. My first vision from the past was that we had coffee somewhere along that promenade inside the hotel, but I could be wrong.
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Post by dave on Apr 20, 2014 12:53:48 GMT -5
OK, I'm still looking for the locations of the Yates Hotel ... was it that close to Baggs Square on the west side of Genesee? I've seen a photo with a Sinclair gas station next to it and am trying to find that picture again.
And the location of the Imperial Restaurant. I think it was on Broad, but may be wrong.
And last, for now, the old Wittigs. I just remember the Wittigs on the corner of the Parkway and Oneida Street (that burned a couple of years ago), but Wittigs was I think in downtown Utica before the Parkway, I believe.
Here's one from before my time as well as yours. Was the Chocolate Shop on the corner of Lafayette and Washington formerly Bremer Liquors (now of New Hartford, I think.) I mean the soda shop on the northeast corner in he same block as the Hotel Utica, not the restaurant across the street on the south side of Lafayette.Thanks for you help.
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Post by kit on Apr 20, 2014 18:05:33 GMT -5
Jack & Andy had several diners. The one in New Hartford was on Genesee St. next door to the Sears Gas Station, near Oxford Rd. One of my friends from the New Hartford High School swim team (John Quinn, a backstroker if that makes any difference) is related to Jack Quinn. Jack & Andy's Diner became Jack & Andy's Laundromat, and now it's the law offices of Les Lewis. The Sears Gas Station was moved to somewhere out west and remains an Art Deco gas station. It was replaced by a Nice-N-Easy. I don't know where the diner pictured above was located, nor even if it's one of Jack & Andy's. Wittig's on the corner of Pleasant St (Parkway) and Oneida St became Manny's, who sold one of the most delicious cheesecakes this side of New York City. Rumor has it that it was torched when business got bad, but the owner swears it was an accident. I really have no idea.   |
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Post by clarencebunsen on Apr 20, 2014 18:46:50 GMT -5
And I can add one thing. Bremer's is on Commercial Drive at the intersection with 840.
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Post by kit on Apr 20, 2014 20:17:29 GMT -5
Yes, Bremer teamed-up with a man named Bullock and they had a liquor store on Oneida Square for many years. They move to Commercial Drive some time ago. Bullock eventually left the business, why I don't know, and it's now just called Bremer's. A fellow who used to work for them on Oneida Square now works for Lotto Liquors in the New Hartford Shopping Center. Their prices are as low as Bremer's (in case you're interested).
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Post by Clipper on Apr 20, 2014 23:12:57 GMT -5
That little diner you showed Dave is possibly the Jack and Andy's shown on the ad Kit posted as being at 104 Oriskany St. I never realized that they had all those different locations. My mom and dad patronized the one in New Hartford as teens and as a young married couple.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 21, 2014 14:01:44 GMT -5
www.nydiners.com/indexw.phpFound this site with pictures of a few of the old style diners located in the CNY area. I have been to many of them. I googled Jack and Andy's Diners, Utica NY area and if I read it right, it was once Augies diner, which is on Oriskany Blvd in Whitesboro now, and is called Bev's.
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