New Year Year’s Eve is a time to reflect. A time to look back and a time to look forward. For the recipe column the emphasis is on looking back.
In 1944, New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday. While the people of Saginaw – the nation – were still focused on the war effort, there was a desire to celebrate. The “Where To Go To Dine and Dance” page of The Saginaw News offered plenty of options. We were tempted by many advertisements for many familiar places--the links at the end of this article will enable to you explore a few of them.
However, after a great deal of reflection, we decided to explore the Rolling Green Night Club. Located on Weiss Road near State Street in Saginaw Township, the nightclub advertised its grand opening for New Year’s Eve 1944. However, the venue had actually been open for several years and traced its origins back to the golf course bearing the same name.
The course was founded in 1925 by the Ostrom family on their farm. Advertised as Saginaw’s first public course – there were earlier Saginaw courses; however, they were private membership clubs. The paper announced:
“The Ostrom course is of nine holes, several of which are said to be exceedingly sporty. The course may be reached over State and Mackinaw street, lying one and one-fourth miles west of the latter.” (The Saginaw News Courier, April 16, 1925.)
By the 1930s, the course’s clubhouse was serving as a venue for special events hosted by a variety of groups – especially during the winter months. In 1937, advertising appeared announcing: “The Rolling Green Night Club Opening to the Public, Wednesday, December 29; Dance to Norm Berka and Orchestra.” A year later – evidently after extensive remodeling – the “formal opening of the new night club, Rolling Green” was announced for January 6, 1938. Advertising suggests the Rolling Green Night Club operated somewhat seasonally, thriving during the non-golf season. Although the golf course and clubhouse were Saginaw fixtures for decades, the Rolling Green Night Club would only last into the late 1940s.
As it is almost New Year’s Eve, we will wait until later in the new year to explore the story of Rolling Green Golf Course and the subdivisions surrounding it.
For further exploration:
The Green Mill
Moonlight Gardens
The New Strand Barbeque
The Old Heidelberg
The Recipe: Trader Vic’s Mai Tai, 1944
Like all good cocktail stories, it seems the need to entertain guests prompted the invention of the Mai Tai. In 1944, “Trader Vic” Bergeron’s friends Ham and Carrie Guild were visiting Oakland from Tahiti, and he wanted to make them a special drink. From this…the Mai Tai was born. Read More about Trader Vic and the controversial Mai Tai in our Castle Cocktail Lounge Post…
1 oz. Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz. Gold Rhum Agricole
1 oz. Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Orgeat
1/2 oz. Orange Liqueur
1/4 oz. Blonde Simple Syrup
