By Tim Hahn | Erie Times-News | Feb. 2, 2008

It was an albatross, really. A faded paint relic of a time when travel was by steam locomotive, and a sleeping room could be had for the coins jingling in one's pocket.

But the Conneaut Lake Park's Dreamland Ballroom, a ridiculously oversized and wheelchair-inaccessible gathering spot that stretched over nearly half of the old amusement park's midway, was still seen as a valuable asset by those working to breathe new life into the troubled resort.

The dream was lost Friday morning, when a smoky fire that quickly grew into a blazing inferno leveled the nearly century-old structure.

Overseers of the 116-year-old park on the western shore of Conneaut Lake said they couldn't begin to guess Friday at the value of what the fire consumed. But everything will be a loss be-cause there was no fire insurance on Dreamland Ballroom, said Jack Moyers, president of Conneaut Lake Park's 13-member board of trustees.

"All of the structures were grossly uninsured even from the onset," Moyers said in a statement Friday morning.

The losses, in addition to the second-floor dancing pavilion, included a half-dozen ground-level food stands, a game arcade, restroom facilities, the park's maintenance complex and a warehouse full of parts and supplies.

The motors that powered most of Conneaut Lake Park's amusement rides were inside the maintenance complex and warehouse, and all were lost, said George Deshner, a park board member who oversaw its day-to-day operations.

Spared by the fire as it burned through the north side of the park's midway were two game stands and the Log Cabin gift shop, which sit west of where the Dreamland Ballroom complex once stood. The gift shop, formerly a restaurant, predates the 1909 ballroom by seven years, according to park history.

Farmington, ME
The Farmington Diner, looking cheerless and solitary, stands shuttered on a construction site on Main Street as heavy equipment excavates around it to make way for a new Rite Aid drug store.

The attached trailer at the rear of the diner is now gone, as are the addition and outbuildings. The former C.N. Brown Co. gas station and Quizno's Subs on the property have also been flattened.

Bruce Carrier, the developer for the new drug store, loathe to demolish what is considered a Farmington landmark, said this week he gave the diner's owner, Russell Wood, 30 days after the sale of the property to move the former eatery. That deadline is Feb. 3 and there are still no firm offers.

"We would love to see it moved right now but we realize the diner is an important piece of Farmington," Carrier said.

"I don't want to demolish it and I would be willing to work with anyone interested in taking it. And I would be willing to wait if it means we can find that special person who wants it," he said.

There are a few interested parties in the wings, including the diner's former owner, Mike Grimanis, and his wife, Rose, who are considering relocating it temporarily to their Prescott Street property a block away, said Wood, a contractor in Florida.

According to Wood, a woman from out of town is also interested in buying it but she is still looking for a place to put it.

By Alaine Griffin | Hartford Courant | Jan. 23, 2008

Middletown, CT
Newly stacked clear glass blocks filter beams of sunlight that hit the bright white walls. Brushed-nickel light fixtures with the manufacturer's stickers still attached are as shiny as the stainless steel molding.

There's a sparkle these days inside O'Rourke's Diner. As promised, the community is helping to restore this regional gem that was destroyed by a fire on Aug. 31, 2006.

By next month, customers could be eating the restaurant's signature steamed cheeseburgers.

"He's still pinching himself," Jora Davis said recently about his boss, Brian O'Rourke, owner of the 67-year-old downtown diner that O'Rourke took over from his uncle. "He just can't wait to get back here and make people happy."

When loyal customers and friends of O'Rourke learned that he did not carry fire insurance, many worried that the historic diner would become part of the city's past. City leaders also worried that the end of O'Rourke's would mean that Middletown would lose an important anchor in its North End, a section of the city that has struggled with crime, poverty and empty storefronts, but has recently experienced a neighborhood revival with the opening of a new 96-unit apartment complex.

Though O'Rourke — a master chef but self-admitted poor businessman — faced some criticism for his lack of insurance for the diner, supporters with stories about his good deeds and generosity in the community rallied around him and the diner he made into a back-road culinary icon that's been profiled in books and publications nationwide.

 Photo courtesy Debra Jane Seltzer

By Jack Gillum | Arizona Daily Star | Jan 19, 2008

Tucson's Magic Carpet ride has ended.

The Midtown miniature golf course closed this month, ending a 30-plus-year stint in Tucson as a spot for low-cost entertainment — or a cheap first date.

Now, the miniature skyline of larger-than-life dinosaurs and sphinxes along East Speedway may become an overflow parking lot for the nearby Mercedes dealership, the new owners said.

Magic Carpet Golf, at 6125 E. Speedway, has been known for years as having a throwback style in its own right: two 18-hole courses with obstacles such as a towering monkey straddling a fairway and a rickety outhouse enclosing a hole.

Magic Carpet was also known for its subpar maintenance, with many of the holes sporting torn artificial turf.

But perhaps its best-known feature was its two-story Tiki head, which couples could climb to look out — or make out — with cars humming down Speedway below.

Salisbury, MD
The 1,100 seat Boulevard Theatre is a visible landmark in downtown Salisbury, with its "Movies 6" sign decorated with neon tubing.

The 61-year-old theater -- equipped with a party room and nursery -- was donated to the Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council in March 2001 with the intent to restore the facility into a performing arts center.

"It just didn't happen," said James Gillespie, director of SWAC. "They found black mold in the infrastructure of the building among other things."

With the cost to renovate the Boulevard Theatre at an estimated $8.3 million, SWAC knew it was in its best interest to sell the facility, Gillespie said. In June 2006, the building was sold to David Moore, a local attorney, for $175,190.

East Bay neon contractor John Law has nearly a thousand stories he can share about his personal collection of three 10-foot-tall, 350-pound Doggie Diner heads, the icons of a chain of Bay Area restaurants and the unofficial mascots of San Francisco's weirdo art scene.

There are the stories of accumulating such an odd collection in the first place: Law bought his first head, Manny, with the blue shirt, in 1988 for $200. Moe, with the red tie, came next as settlement for a debt. Finally, Jack, with the black tie, entered the fray as a birthday surprise.

There are the strange stories, too, such as how Law and his pals believe that rubbing the nose of any of the dog heads brings good luck.

But there is one story Law is really itching to tell -- the story about how he and a tight-knit group of artists dragged the heads across the country as a sort of good-will gesture shortly after the Iraq war started.

That story is being told Saturday with the premiere of the film "Head Trip" at Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda. It is Law and his filmmaking pal Flecher Fleudujon's first movie and an event sure to bring a carnival to this sleepy island city.

Law says he and his friends -- which include a bevy of writers, performance artists and members of the San Francisco Cyclecide bicycle artist crew -- wanted to bring San Francisco fun to the Midwest and beyond at a time when America was rife with fear, anger and frustration. And they wanted to do it without pushing a political agenda.

A last-ditch effort to keep the Farmington Diner from demolition is being undertaken.

Former owners Rose and Mike Grimanis have agreed to purchase the diner and move it to their home on Prescott Street to save it, owner Russell Wood said Thursday.

But, the purchase is dependent on the town's Planning Board and a contractor's willingness to give them extra time since the board won't meet until Feb. 11. The date is eight days beyond the 30 days requested by Wood in his sales contract with Rite Aid. The sale took place on Jan. 3.

"The contractor is willing to give us more time so I'll be filing papers for the Planning Board," Rose Grimanis said Thursday. "We're hoping someone else will come and take it. This is a last-ditch attempt to make sure the building doesn't get destroyed."

The couple will need a flood plain review by the Planning Board in order to store it at their home on Prescott Street, Code Enforcement Officer Stephen Kaiser said. The length of time it will be stored and neighbors' concerns, he expects, will also be addressed.

While the couple have retired, she said, they are considering eventually moving it to another location to set up and lease, but with the present economy they are weighing all factors.

The city of Clearwater's first motel is celebrating the beginning of its 61st year.

Tucked between the Belleview Biltmore and Morton Plant Hospital on South Fort Harrison Avenue, Gangelhoff’s Summerside Inn, formerly known as “Gangelhoff’s Delux Motel,” is one of the few family-owned establishments in the city.

It is an old-time Florida motel with shuffleboard, pool and clean, well-kept rooms and it offers visitors a rich mix of friendly accommodations and local history.

The story goes that Fred and Hilda Gangelhoff left the bitter Minnesota cold in 1947 for sunny Clearwater. Daughter Lil Howard remembers the beginning.

“My parents had traveled in the west and they had seen new types of hotels for motorists called ‘motels.’ They noticed that there were no motels in Clearwater, just cottage courts. So they bought this property, moved out all the cottage courts that were here and moved the family – six children – down here.”

Howard said that the family spent their summers at their family owned resort in Minnesota, but the six young Gangelhoffs spent fall and winters at the Clearwater motel working around the property and attending South Ward Elementary and Clearwater High Schools.