Some kind of Toronto stories....

[Tom]

Yo, my friends, here be the Knapik stories. (Hit "menu" to find all the stories in order.) Maybe you will find them interesting. Maybe they are already posted. I myself worked at a bottling place years ago before I ever discovered the cordeen. I don't know if these stories are true, maybe you can know more than me. Anyway I really like these stories.

The Bottle & Can

Nothing changed. The lines clunked and banged and clinked and rattled their way along with occasional human interventions, no beginning, no end, save the buzzer setting us free to truck on over to …

eugeneknapikstories.com

 

[Dingo40]

Thanks, Tom?
Interesting.
I too worked at a soft drink and cordial bottling plant during the long summer vacation between high school and university commencement.
Those were the days, even if we didn't realise it at the time!?
Ride a bicycle five miles each way to the plant daily, go out on the road (with the regular driver) to deliver the 3 tons of crates of drinks to shopkeepers anxiously awaiting to get them to sell to customers clamouring for them, in 108 degree F weather, exchanging full bottles for empties, back to the plant for a reload, out on the road again, and back to the plant again to reload the truck again for an early getaway the next morning, then ride the bicycle home at 9-30 pm, to start again at 7 am.
The (summer) weather was so hot that the cheese in your sandwich was melted and the small ( 7 fl oz) soda water bottles would explode in their crates sending showers of glass fragments tinkling in all directions: it was all par for the course .?
(Which reminds me, air conditioning in buildings was rare and in vehicles unheard of in those days, at least in Australia.)
My every muscle ached for the first three weeks, until I got used to it!?
The pay was good, though!

 

[OldSqueezer]

Yo, my friends, here be the Knapik stories.

Interesting and entertaining reading. Though there is not an immediate similarity, for some reason they remind me of Damon Runyon’s writing.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Dingo and Old! Gonna have to look up Damon Runyon... I just loaded the trucks all night. Interesting thing about the polka bands in these stories is that they all have accordion And concertina.

 

[OldSqueezer]

Thanks Dingo and Old! Gonna have to look up Damon Runyon... I just loaded the trucks all night. Interesting thing about the polka bands in these stories is that they all have accordion And concertina.

I guess to avoid disappointment, I should make it clear that, as far as I can recollect, no squeezeboxes or indeed much in the way of music features in Damon Runyon’s stories. But set in New York in, I think, the Twenties and Thirties, they create a somewhat similar feel to the much more up to date stories you have recommended. Of course, a musical did come from them: Guys and Dolls.
Doug

 

[Chickers]

Hi Guys;
Wow, must be some kink of "karma" connection with accordion players, and the bottling plants.
I as well worked for a soft drink bottling plant in Cleveland (Lazy's gig town) Interestingly, the plant I worked for
bottled a brand called Cotton Club. How's that for a music connection ?
And it was a union plant just like Lazy described. How big the world is, and how small we find it to be.
Great stories. I haven't read them all, but I intend to.
Thanks for sharing
CHICKERS

 

[Tom]

Cool Chickers! Cleveland's a big town for accordion with polkas and even a Little Italy where there is some Italian music?

 

[John M]

. . . a brand called Cotton Club. . .

This photo should bring back memories for you. All I know is, this sure is a sturdy wooden box. They don't make them like that today.

John M.

 

[Jim2010]

The man who lived across the street from my grandparents in Queens, New York played the accordion and I was captivated by of the music that came out of it. I didn't think about the accordion again until years later. I did, however, work at the Pepsi Cola bottling plant as a "bottle picker." When the wooden boxes came back to the plant they were filled with all different kinds of bottles (for all the different brands that were bottled at the plant). It was our job the sort through them and get them ready for the giant washing machine.

 

[Chickers]

JOHN M. / TOM/ JIM
Thanks for the replies---all so true---lots of polkas in Cleveland, lots of rough work to be had.
Yep that wooden crate brings back a few memories. One memory in particular is when I watched with amaizment when one of the guys
on my shift would grab two of those crates with full bottles off the line, and put them on the pallets for trucking. I don't know what that weighted,
but it certainly was way beyond my ability.
I guess the best part of the job was the money, and the freedom to drink as much of the ice-cold soda you wanted. Actually, in Cleveland, we called it "pop", not soda.
By the way; The Cotton Club was actually a lounge bar in New York's Harlem district where a lot of swing dances were started. (I think)
Oh, the benefits of youth.
Take care guys,
CHICKERS

 

[Jim2010]

By the way; The Cotton Club was actually a lounge bar in New York's Harlem district where a lot of swing dances were started. (I think)

Here is a more detailed description of the Cotton Club.

Cotton Club - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JeffJetton]

Of course, a musical did come from them: Guys and Dolls.

And I seem to recall someone with a concertina in the movie version. So there's that at least.