Gar Wood Runabout Boat, Edgewater Taxi Service

I recently received this e-mail from a reader and said I would post it with the hope that someone can help him out. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos with this boat in it.

I found your site CRCC and your blog posts on the Edgewater Beach Hotel. I am trying to do some research on the Hotel but need some help. I don't know where to start but perhaps you can help.

I have acquired a very old wooden boat called a runabout. This boat was made by Gar Wood and was delivered to Navy Pier in 1931. I believe this boat was bought by the Edgewater Hotel for a taxi and ride boat. It is 28' long and held about 10 people. Records say Edgewater Taxi Service, July 1931

While on a trip to the 1933-34 Chicago Worlds Fair a family from Tulsa, Oklahoma rode in the boat and decided to purchase it. They brought it back to OK and it has been here ever since. I was able to track the history all the way back to the daughter of the gentleman who purchased it from the hotel. The boat was named after her. Rosemary (the daughter) described it as being right there at the hotel docks to take people for rides etc.

I'm hoping that there is some kind of archive for pictures of the hotel and perhaps there might be something with this boat in it. In 1931 this would have been a very big purchase as Gar Wood boats were considered the Duisenberg of boating. It sold for $6,000 in 1931, which was a ton of money especially during the Depression.

Yacht Club, Edgewater Beach Hotel

The Edgewater Beach Yacht Club, "Most Distinctive Cocktail Room in America,"
Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago.

Here's another 1930s-era cocktail recipe to enjoy along with the postcard:

Deep Sea Cocktail

1 dash Absinthe
1 dash Orange Bitters
1/2 part French Vermouth
1/2 part Gin

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Add 1 olive and squeeze lemon peel on top.

(If you don't have access to absinthe, try Pernod or the new Absente.)

Edgewater Beach Apartments

Before the city extended Lake Shore Drive, the Edgewater Beach Apartments, part of the Edgewater Beach Hotel complex, sat right on the shore. Below is an image captured from Google Maps, showing just how far the Apartments now are from the lake front. Click on image for a larger view.

Polynesian Village / Edgewater Beach Hotel

Polynesian Villiage /The Edgewater Beach Hotel. Polynesian and Cantonese Food and Drink in a Setting of Tropical Splendor.

Vintage Glasses from Aragon Ballroom, Edgewater Beach Hotel

These glasses were tricky to photograph, so I apologize for the quality of the image. They are probably from the forties.

The one in the middle is from the Edgewater Beach Hotel. The one on the far left is from the Aragon Ballroom, and the one on the far right says Trianon/Aragon.

The Trianon, once located at 62nd and Cottage Grove, was the most expensive ballroom ever built when it opened in 1922. It closed in the fifties, and was torn down to make way for public housing in the late sixties.

Sister to the Trianon, the Aragon Ballroom was built in 1926 by Andrew Karzas, who also owned the Trianon. Karzas built the Aragon, according to historian Scott Newman, to "silence those who criticized the city's commonplace dance halls as unhealthy, immoral venues for the seduction of women, the practice of prostitution, and the then-illegal distribution of alcohol."

I have them packed away at the moment, but in the near future I'll post some vintage blueprints and black and white images of the Aragon that I have in the collection.

Costume from the Edgewater Beach Hotel

I found this sketch a few years back, and one of these days I'll get around to framing it. Until then, I'll share it here.

It's a design sketch for a costume used in one of the floor shows at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. Every month would bring a new floor show featuring top national acts from across the country and a line of dancers. Through the ’40s and ’50s, the Dorothy Hild Dancers performed there, and I imagine it was designed for her dancers. You gotta love the bird hat!

The only identity as to the artist is the signature "Marilyn." The costume was to fit nine girls for the "Snowbird Ballet."