Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, January 30, 2024-29 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:12AM-Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. East wind around 6 mph. Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Wednesday Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon.

Tomorrow Amsterdam’s wealthy Sanford family inspired a 1938 motion picture starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant Holiday IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_45_act

The Historians Podcast with

Bob Cudmore - February 2024

Here’s the schedule (subject to change):

Friday, February 2, 2024-Episode 508-Jerry Madden discusses his historical novel Steel Valley: Coming of Age in the Ohio Valley in the 1960s.  Madden sets his story in the Rust Belt in cities like Steubenville, Ohio, where the steel mills have moved out.   

Friday, February 9, 2024-Episode 509-Highlights Edition from 2023 and 2024` with excerpts from podcasts on Civil War volunteers from Saratoga,  the story of Benedict Arnold, an ancient elephant tusk found in Maine and much more.

Friday, February 16, 2024-Episode 510-Former Albany Politico bureau chief Terry Golway is author of I Never Did like Politics: How Fiorello La Guardia Became America's Mayor, and Why He Still Matters.  Golway tells the story of LaGuardia’s life through colorful episodes that sound familiar to people today.

Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through the buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

People, pigeons and a coin collection were all at risk on Friday, November 23, 1962 in a major fire at 29-31 Market Street in Amsterdam.

by Bob Cudmore

Information was provided by Joseph Inglese of the town of Florida. Piccolo's Candy Store, badly damaged in the blaze, was owned by Frank and Sophie Piccolo, relatives of Inglese's wife, Lucille. Fire Chief Samuel A. Palombo, who commanded operations that night, was Inglese's great uncle.

The story reminded Inglese of the Gazette retrospective on Amsterdam fires that followed the recent factory building arson on Brookside Avenue.

"I'm not leaving here until you get my pigeon," was what one female apartment resident told a firefighter trying to lead her out of the building, according to a Recorder account.

"So the gallant smoke-eater located the pet bird, resting comfortably in a cardboard box, and carried it down the stairs," wrote reporter Richard C. Healy. "The woman followed."

However, another pet pigeon perished. An onlooker cradled the victim in her arms and left the fire scene.

A man who had been led to safety told firefighters he had forgotten his coin collection. Firemen went back inside but gave up the effort because of heavy smoke.

No apartment dwellers were injured but two firefighters"Edward Lampkin and Stanley Lomnicki--were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries.

About 60 men battled the flames. Chief Palombo said, "When I saw what a beating the men were taking from the smoke, I ordered all apparatus to the scene."

One person was heard to stick up for the firemen, "Where are all these people who squawked about these guys getting a raise?"

The fire apparently started at the rear of Piccolo's Candy Store in an area rented by John Picco, proprietor of the adjacent Vallee curtain and drapery store.

Smoke also made its way into Britell insurance agency, Ottavio's luggage shop and Sochin's men's store.

The apartment dwellers who were led to safety were M.C. McLouth, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kowalski, Louis Gatto and Raymond Moore.

The Salvation Army and Nicholas Meola of the nearby Rialto Restaurant provided hot coffee to the firefighters and victims.

The flames broke out at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and firefighters finally left the scene about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

LIFE GOES ON
Advertisements that November day 48 years ago touted an active social scene in the Amsterdam area that weekend. The Oasis Café at 50-52 Market Street featured music by the Casuals and vocalist Lenny Rocco. The New Yorkers "a band "that speaks for itself" were playing at the Wil-Ton bowling alley lounge at 31 West Main Street. Ferris Tavern out at Mariaville Lake featured round. square and polka dancing to the music of the De-Lo-Ters.

If you were into entertainment for the whole family, Auction City on the Amsterdam-Schenectady Road urged you to bring the kiddies to see the largest Christmas stocking in the world, over six feet tall. An auction was scheduled that Saturday night and Kiss'n Dolls were the weekend special at five dollars each.

If you wanted to stay at home, you could pay a visit to Eugene W. Brach at his "electronic hospital" on Broadway Avenue Extension on Amsterdam's South Side. He would fix your TVs and radios and also offered rock bottom prices, such as a $289 console TV for just $169.95. A transistor radio with a leather case, listing at $22.95, could be had for $13.95 at Brach's.

And for the health conscious, apples were still on sale at T.J. Murphy's Appleland Farm on Swart Hill or at Raymond Rector's on Scotch Bush-Scotch Church Road. In each case, you were advised to bring your own containers.