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THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION
JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2016
Ask about our EASY CLAIM SYSTEM™ The fastest, easiest way to handle your claim, because we can work directly with your insurance company and get your car back to you quickly! 26 KEARNEY STREET BRIDGEWATER Near Patriots Ballpark 732-469-3285 www.Britlandautobody.com State of the Art Car Finishes Proud Users of Environmentally Friendly Paint Products License #00533A TM Life-time Warranty Established in 1967 Over 40 YEARS of Friendly, Professional Service FREE ESTIMATES COMPLETE COLLISION SERVICES 226 ROUTE 22 WEST GREEN BROOK Next to Crystal Toyota 732-752-5522 2 LOCATIONS - SAME GREAT SERVICE! In the fall of 1967, our family visit- ed my Aunt and Uncle in Greenwich, Connecticut. One day we had lunch at a family restaurant called Lucy’s in nearby Port Chester, New York. As we were leaving the restaurant, I picked up a matchbook. I am not sure why I grabbed it as I was in my early teens and didn’t smoke. I may have been attracted to the design. One of my family members suggested that I start a matchbook collection. And I did, accumulating over 7,000 match- books since then. I could never have anticipated that my “collection of little fires” would become the nucleus for many con- nections in orbit around it, spanning nearly fifty years. Four years after our visit, in 1971, Lucy’s was reopened with a new con- cept, as Gulliver’s Restaurant and Lounge. It attracted crowds of young people, particularly Connecticut resi- dents, since the drinking age at the time was lower in New York than Connecticut. Steve, one of my best friends from college, living in Connecticut after graduation, hung out at Gulliver’s every Friday and Saturday night in the mid-70’s. I was living in Detroit at that time. On Sunday morning, June 30, 1974, I opened the front door of my apartment to retrieve my copy of the Sunday edition of The Detroit Free Press, which had just been delivered. The front page headline read some- thing to the effect, “24 Die in New York Nightclub Fire.” After reading the opening para- graph of the article, I immediately called Steve’s parents. Turns out that he was not feeling well during the week and decided, for the first time in months, not to go clubbing at Gul- liver’s that weekend. Back to 2016. This past February, I started a consulting engagement with a new client. I flew to Portland, Maine, to meet the company’s Chief Operating Officer, John. Over lunch, the conversation shifted from busi- ness background to personal and professional histories. At one point, John revealed that he grew up near Port Chester. I said, “Did you ever go to Lucy’s restaurant?” “Never heard of it,” he replied. I continued, “It became a night- club which burned down and over twenty people died.” I was amazed when he said, “I knew the guy who set the fire, a trou- bled kid and high school dropout.” After this conversation with my new client, I did some further research. Lucy’s restaurant was origi- nally named the Old Post Grill, which burned down in 1962. The restaurant then became Lucy’s which had also had a fire in 1968. From the Old Post Grill to Lucy’s to Gulliver’s - three restaurants, three fires, 24 dead, my best friend at col- lege not there (fortunately), then learning recently that my client knew the arsonist, and a matchbook collec- tion which started there nearly five decades ago. Is this just a random connection? Let me hear from you. A CONNECTION THAT IS HARD TO MATCH By: Dan Rosenberg www.theconnectionsnj.com