You're gonna cry,as I did.
I used to work at a Country Club during HSchool,30 years ago that had 16 Hamilton beach milkshake mixers.Each bar had 3,and the snack shop had there 3 also.All were issued during the 1950's in avacado & beige colors,and all were triples.
As a kid,I was always respectful of those old mixers still pulling their weight behind each bar there.
Once the internet was the norm,I remembered these as I saw many crying out for them,and their parts especially.
In 2005 I went back there,and told the manager,my old boss,that there was a demand for these and if he still had them.He told me they recently got rid of all those mixers at once,during the major renovation & supplied each bar with new S/S shiney ones.He said I could look downstairs in their storage room to see if there were any left in there.
Sure enough 16 avacado & beige Hamilton Beach mixers,just as I remembered them.I dusted em off,plugged em in,and each one ran.No major chips and all looked complete.The club had their maintenance man take each one apart and clean & oil them every winter during shutdown,to keep him busy.
He did this routine ritual for 55 years.
I told the manager I'll take all of em & said I'd pay $200/$250 for each one including mixing cylinders.They were that nice.
My ole boss always liked me,looked at me and said I could have them all for free,BUT..it was up to me to take them out,once winter time came,and not use club help AND none of the board members were around to see it.
I happily agreed,and came back a few months later during a 20 degree day in February.The place was deserted..
I was met at the back door by the bar mgr.,who didn't understand why I was there.He was there cleaning out each bar,as they do annually.I had a Van,and was ready to move each & every one on my own,up the 3 flights of staircases & out to my Van.
He looked at me and said,John,(the mgr.) never said anything to him about this at all.I told him to call John,on vaca in Puerto Rico,and he'll set you straight.
I proceeded to walk down to the storage room,and there.....
before me.......
was an empty storage room.
Dumbfounded,I asked the bar mgr. WHAT HAPPENED!..He said his bar boys were told to clean house that earlier fall,and dumped every single thing into the dumpster out back.They were told to get rid of the old,and make more storage space available.Alas..that dumpster too was empty,as it had been picked up months ago.
I asked him who told him that,and he said the president of the country club told him that.
I called John in Puerto Rico later that day,and he knew nothing about it,but apologized as he knew I wanted em,and did not give the order to do that.
The club had a new board elected that following fall,and the power hungry president took it upon himself to do certain things that the Mgr. should have had knowledge about.He didn't.
Till this day,I've always imagined the sight of that dumpster full of 16 HBeach old world mixers,and wondered if the waste mgmt. guys ever had the hindsight to take them home themselves...sigh.
