Nashville's Hermitage Hotel is celebrating its 100th birthday.
Like many places, of at least a certain age throughout the community, it's a venue that Sing-Out South had the honor to perform in several times back in the 1960s.
The first time I can remember performing there was for the ZONTA International women's group which held a major convention in the city in October, 1966. I can remember waiting in line just outside the Hermitage Ballroom with the rest of the cast just before we ran on stage.
It was one of the first big shows we did that fall. It came after we reformed the cast, under the leadership of Eddie Lunn and Ted Overman,following the national Sing-Out conference in Estes Park, CO where a large number of SOS cast members were recruited to join the national cast.
I had not performed on stage very much up until that time, so I remember being a bit nervous. I think the show went well. Frankly, the other thing I remember was trying to catch a World Series score while we were waiting to go on stage. It was the year (1966) the Baltimore Orioles swept the Los Angeles Dodgers and baseball fans were kind of in shock about that. It was also a time when World Series games were played in daytime, which almost never happens anymore.
The only other record I have of Sing-Out South performing at the Hermitage Hotel was for a meeting of the Downtown Nashville Kiwanis Club on June 14, 1968. I have no memory of that show. Does anybody else? There are other downtown civic clubs I have records of SOS performing for over the years, and it's possible we did those shows at the Hermitage, but I have no records to confirm that.
The Hermitage was one of several grand hotels that once graced downtown. For a look back, courtesy of YouTube, here's a portion of a documentary done by WNPT,Nashville's Public Television station, entitled "Memories of Downtown Nashville"......
Seeing Mayor Richard Fulton in the video above reminds me of the key role he played in turning around the fortunes of the Hermitage Hotel after it fell into a deep decline in the late 1970s and early '80s. It was Mayor Fulton who actually had Metro Codes close the hotel and force its out-of-town ownership to sell the building to another group, which wished to restore it.
That has taken several years and several owners to fully accomplish, but now the Hermitage has once again been restored to grandeur and it has acheieved multi-star status nationally. The lobby is a knock-out to behold, as well as the Hermitage Grill downstairs where once upon a time band leader Francis Craig (Near You) and Dinah Shore performed.
And then there's another somewhat unique hotel amenity that was just named the best in the nation. Here's the news from YouTube....
For those of you still in Nashville, I encourage you to come downtown and re-visit the Hermitage. For those of you who have left and not been to Nashville for several years, when you get back to town, put the Hermitage Hotel on your list of places you just have to see while you are here.
There are lots of wonderful new things to see in Nashville these days, facilities like the Sommet Center and LP Field which we could never have dreamed of back in the '60s. But sometimes the oldies but goodies like the Hermitage Hotel are the best places of all to celebrate what is now Nashville.
(And no, the Hermitage is not a client of mine. However, did win a prize at church for an overnight stay there and breakfast in the Hermitage Grill. We will probably do that in April for our wedding anniversary and I can't wait).
Please leave your memories of the Hermitage or Sing-Out South below.
No comments:
Post a Comment