The Jolly Bar was located on the ground floor of the old Valley Hotel Building in downtown Youngstown. The building is currently undergoing asbestos removal prior to its demolition. The plastic covered windows, as seen in the photo below, are a way of sealing the structure as the materials containing asbestos are removed from the inside.
Maybe TownTalk could give us the history of the Valley Hotel.
Actually I know very little about the hotel itself, but the Jolly Bar was a hangout for some of the printers and composers at the Vindicator. It does show up in a number of old postcards that give birdseye views of Spring Commons, but like many of the other small "hotels", it couldn't compete and soon just rented out its rooms.
Around the corner as you all know, the Youngstown Hotel was built, and in its better days was a popular stop with travelers since it had all the features that the Hotel Ohio and Tod Hotel had but at a lower cost.
Sorry I can't give you more information.
I could see why the newspaper people went there. The building in the backround on the left is the Vindicator building.
When did the Jolly Bar cease operating?
According to County property records, the 1,660 sq foot building was built in 1900. The current owner purchased it for $55,000 in 1984.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/1415290372_c79ce6e272.jpg?v=0)
You think more parking spaces?
Thanks for the update Mike.
There was a larger hotel at the corner of West Federal at Spring Commons in the 1900's, and the Pennsylvania RR Passanger Station was across the street. It went under several name changes.
Speaking of old westend hotels can anyone name the West Federal Street hotel that was featured on Route 66 in which Darren McGaven played a boxer? The show was taped here in Youngstown.
Youngstown Hotel, The fight took place at the Struthers Fieldhouse. I was a 11th grader and the audience was made up of students. Many years later I fought the fire that marked the end for that hotel.
Actually the hotel was located on W. Boardman St.
Wrong. it was the old Erie Hotel that was located near where No. 1 Fire Station is today. You are correct about the Struthers Fieldhouse.
I was just with someone on Thursday that has a copy of that segment, and he is going to burn me a copy. Are you 100% sure! I would be willing to bet a meal at the food court. The fire station was built in 1956 and I think that I can come up with a picture of the station and there wasn't a hotel around it.
I might be wrong about the name ... I also recall an Earl Hotel or something like that. The hotel I'm thinking about was located near where the New Park Burlisque was located. It was used in a couple of scenes (the hotel, not the theater).
During the filming of that show I was working at a store on East Federal across the street from the Boston Grill. They did some filming in that area.
I believe the Boston Grill was located where the Bus Terminal now stands.
The one I'm thinking of was near the old Salvation Army on East Federal. I worked at Rendano's.
Maybe I was thinking of Jays on the west end. I do remember the Boston on the east end
6 days a week I had lunch there ... spaghetti and a glass of beer to wash it down. It was awful but cheap.
Jay:
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for 1907 shows that on the first floor was a store in the building and didn't indicate that at that time it was a hotel. This leads me to wonder if it wasn't a boarding house as opposed to a true hotel.
This makes sense since there were also two large hotels in the immdiate area. The two I mentioned elsewhere.
If it had been a "true hotel" the map would have indicated it.