Description
950 s/n / 95 AP / $140 retail
Artist’s Proof $195
image size: 22″ x 14 3/4″
A.B. Coleman – Builder
My own connection with the Brant Inn came as a child on a cold, rainy April day in 1969 as the Brant Inn was being torn down. I watched as my parents bought the main staircase, angelstone facade and the wrought iron from the Lido Deck and Sky Club for the new home they were building.
Years earlier the childhood memories of an aquaintance are fonder. A bunch of us kids would walk to the Brant Inn when an entertainer was staying there and stand under the window yelling up “play us a tune” The king of swing ” Benny Goodman, and the nicest of men, Liberace, were known to oblige.
Anyone who dined, danced or fell in love at the famed Brant Inn has many memories of this local landmark that helped to define the twentieth century in the Hamilton-Burlington area.
When Grand Central Station was being expropriated the United States Supreme Court stepped in and in 1978 declared it a historical landmark. If the Brant Inn was around today, I am sure it would have been given the same distinction, and although it is gone, it will neve be forgotten…
Situated on a rectangular piece of property across from Joseph Brant Museum and next to what is now Spencer Smith Park, the Brant Inn was the most celebrated entertainment establishment. The Inn’s fame spread across Canada and the connecting States when the colorful John Murray Anderson took over as entertainment manager and later as owner. Almost every jazz legend and Big Band has played there. Some of those favorites include Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sarah Vaugh, Sophie Tucker, Glen Miller, Guy Lombardo, Mart Kenny, Les Brown, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong and the list goes on.
In 1948 a new radio program aired on CHML. It was hosted by a young broadcaster named Paul Hanover. Aired live, the show was called ‘Meet Me at the Brant Inn’.
My grateful appreciation to CHML radio for allowing me to use their show’s title.
Original watercolor: $5,000
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