Schenectady - Tour Week #49

Thursday, January 10th

On Monday morning, the "People Professionals" pulled up outside the Carlyle Suites to take us away from Washington.

The trip from D.C. to upstate New York was actually quite nice. There were only about a dozen of us on the bus and Karl provided some great refreshments: we had pastries, coffee, a sausage frittata (homemade by Karl with the last of his D.C. groceries) and even mimosas! It was a longish trip (7 hours, or so) and we had to pass within sight of NYC ("Hello, home! Goodbye, home...), but an enjoyable travel day - infinitely more civilized than any of our plane trips.

Schenectady didn't appear all that welcoming as we arrived in the dark. The Holiday Inn, however, was most welcoming. My hotel points afforded me an upgrade to the top floor and an invitation to their nightly social hour! Karl and I had some nosh and a glass of wine (membership has its privileges) before we went across the street for dinner. We ate at a Mom & Pop Italian/Greek restaurant with much of the music department and Christopher Gurr. It was quite enjoyable.

Tuesday was it's usual long load-in day self, but the theatre is really nice. Proctors Theatre is a former vaudeville palace (opened in 1926) that was recently restored and remodeled as part of a downtown redevelopment plan. The auditorium maintains its old school splendor, but the backstage has been enlarged and made modern. As you pass under the theatre's marquis, you enter Proctors Arcade - the lobby of the theatre is a shopping arcade! It's lined with small, cute shops including a coffee shop and the lobby restaurant of the adjoining hotel.

Proctors Arcade (the stage door is all the way at the end).

I have to admit that it's fun to come to work every night under a light up "vaudeville" sign.

(Historical fun fact: On May 22, 1930 Proctors Theatre was the site of the first public demonstration of television. An orchestra seated on the stage was conducted by the image of a maestro being filmed at the General Electric laboratories more than a mile away.)

The theatre threw us a nice opening night party. Across the arcade they have a newly constructed black box theatre that they converted to a party room for us. They had a wide array of desserts and even some hosts costumed in medieval garb.

The desserts.

Above our heads they were showing The Holy Grail film.

Wednesday Wayne and I took another of our road trips. We headed 60 miles west to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. The drive over was pretty, especially the portion of the trip along the shores of Lake Otsego. As you can imagine, I really, really enjoyed the Hall of Fame.

The exterior of National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Lou Gehrig's locker (transplanted from Yankee Stadium) and some artifacts from the Yankee's famed 1927 "Murderers Row".


The "Roar of '84"


Game balls from every no-hitter thrown since the opening of the Hall of Fame. (7 of these balls were hurled by Nolan Ryan!)

On the third floor, there's an entire display devoted to the various baseball parks (past and present) and their different traditions. This is Bob Shepard's PA announcer microphone!!!



The original 5 inductees to the Hall of Fame.

Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were inducted in 1936. The Hall of Fame opened in 1939 on the 100th anniversary of the alleged invention of baseball by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown.

(Baseball Hall of Fame fun fact: 33 former Yankees are in the Hall of Fame - 17 wear a Yankee cap on their plaque. "Goose" Gossage's induction will bring the totals to 34 and 18; further cementing the Yankee's absolute dominance in the Hall of Fame.)

Today we had two shows (meaning we'll load-out after a matinee on Sunday, hooray!). I hope to get out and see more of Schenectady itself tomorrow afternoon, if the weather cooperates. Since my first impression, Schenectady has looked more and more inviting. Their downtown revitalization seems to be taking root. There's a whole arts district growing around the theatre and many restaurants in the neighborhood. Directly across State Street from Proctors, Jay Street has been made into a pedestrian mall and is home to several interesting shops and cafes. There are also a couple of historic neighborhoods and districts in town that I'd like to visit. Thus far, Schenectady is certainly making a good impression!

JV