Bids Tavern footage from the 1970`s

[@zyrenez]

My Father Alan, passed away in 1979, at 33 years old. To find in on this video, Speechless. . First time I have ever seen in video (23.20 On right hand side.) , Truly thank you for sharing.

[@bdmac100]

Bid's Tavern was in the Greenville section of Norwich. The drive up is Greenville and it goes past the Polish club. They still have a once a year celebration of bids and use it as a fundraiser. Check out the size of the beer glasses and the small pool table. I took a film class at Conn College in the 70's so it could have been one of my fellow students. I grew up on the East side of Norwich and know Bid's very well. They had a sandwich called The Combo which was pork and beef and onions, etc. The grinders were the real thing.

[@amberola1b]

Thanks for commenting. Everytime I watch those small beer glasses in the film I crack up. There was no such thing as super sizing back then. I'll bet the food was delicious.

[@bdmac100]

I did a class for film at Conn. College. Mine was you see cars pulling up to a toll booth in Montville CT. and a person hands them money and gets change and drives away. I played on a record of religious music as if they were going to communion. Did you see it?

[@bdmac100]

@@amberola1b They had a sandwich called the combo. It was a sausage patty and a hamburger with cheese and onions. The CT. grinders were awesome as well. If you are in the area the best place now for a CT grinder is Pasta Fresca in Mystic, CT. My brother in MS loved the video and this will spread to many people with fond memories. Thank you so much.

[@pauldutram455]

OMG What a jolt to see this film. I'm 71 now and used to hang out there, fantastic food, atmosphere, and people. I miss it a lot!

[@michaelduprey5112]

I live right across the street and have for 50 years, my grandfather was a bartender there, the food was great, thanks for sharing brought back great memories.

[@amberola1b]

Glad you enjoyed the film. I'm also glad to have been able to save it from possibly being thrown away since I was clearing out the projection booth where I found them.

[@HogieVision]

@@amberola1b You weren’t aware if there had ever been any sound reel for this film. Interestingly, the end credits at 15:40 make reference to “Music by Jeff Sherman”. So perhaps that meant there was originally a music track somewhere? Guess it’d be difficult to find that out!

[@wfpnradionorwichct1526]

Great video! This is back when people were friendly and had respect for one another, something we have lost over the decades. Who ever filmed this, had great talent. This film clearly shows the great layout Bid's Tavern had years ago and how busy it was back then for mom and pop businesses. Not such the case anymore. Thanks for sharing this great piece of Norwich CT history!

[@amberola1b]

It's been my pleasure. When I first posted this month's ago, I got no comments. Now within the last 3 or 4 days I've gotten a good number of views and comments from people who remember this tavern and their recollections about it.

[@willyd7744]

Bids Tavern was owned and operated by a retired Norwich Firefighter named Tom LaFreniere. Tom was a Lt in the Norwich Fire Dept when a massive explosion occurred at the former Van Tassel Warehouse on the Westside of Norwich, almost where fire headquarters is now (West Main and North Thames St - Route 82 and 32). Tom was one of only two Norwich firefighters that took the lives of Four other members of the department; Captain William Sheridan, Leonard Counihan, Edward Romano, and Carl Burke on April 3, 1962. Tom, a Korean War Veteran, is still very active within the community and I believe he is 91 or 92 years old. Thank you for providing this video and Bids had the BEST Grinders around. In fact at times, I would see tour buses parked outside there, I guess as part of the stop. My favorite was a steak and cheese grinder.

[@willyd7744]

Tom was one of only TWO Firefighters to survive that explosion. To this day, the most tragic loss of firefighters within the state involving one incident.

[@amberola1b]

If you ever run into him maybe you should show him this. Would back alot of memories I'm sure.

[@willyd7744]

I am very good friends with Tom and I see him all the time. I plan to post this video in a newsletter that I do about once a month that Tom gets along with about 100 others. So they all can see it. I don't even think he is aware of this video. So I'm hoping to surprise him probably in about two weeks or so. At 91/92 years old he still keeps busy. Both him and his son detail and wash cars as a sideline business. He's over 20 years older than I am but I sure don't have the energy he has. Thank you once again.

[@amberola1b]

@@willyd7744 I'm very excited that he will get to se this film. I'm sure he'll enjoy it.

[@willyd7744]

amberola1b, I just talked to Tom. He is extremely happy to hear that this video is still around. He told me that he thought it was long gone. He also told me that in that video is his mother and father, who owned the business before he took it over. Also his wife who would also work there. He told me he loved doing that job and his mother would go in around 5 am to start cutting up the meat and getting things ready to be cooked. amberola1b, I think it is safe to say that you have certainly "made his day". I am also very thankful to another good friend, retired Norwich Fire Lt Joe Hebert for finding this and passing it onto me. About another 100 guys or so will also get the chance to see this video when I release the next newsletter I write up in about two weeks or so. I call it the "NFD GOSSIP NEWSLETTER" and it will be Volume 20-03. I am now a subscriber and I look forward to seeing some of your other videos as well.

[@bdmac100]

I was in a film class during the summer in the 70's. We did not have the equipment for sound. We did have a wind up large camera which made short around 30 se. scenes.

[@thomasheinonen5722]

Before there was CHEERS, there was BID'S! Had some great food and fun times there!

[@amberola1b]

Wished I had visited the place when it was around. I think I would have become a regular.

[@jkon1970]

Alex Cohns junkyard couple minutes in. This is so cool. Thank you for sharing this footage. From Norwich born 1970. Left in 88' Not far from my hometown though.

[@amberola1b]

The footage was really cool. Wish I knew about this place back in the day. I live in RI.

[@jkon1970]

@@amberola1b awesome stuff right here man

[@veronicamamiful]

jim kon I was born in 1969 . I’m from Norwich too .

[@EricEmerich]

I thought that was Alex The Junk Man….remember it from mid 70s

[@oldmaine4314]

It was very fortunate you rescued this film. This student film depicts Bids in its heyday. According to info online, Bids Tavern was a very popular neighborhood establishment in the Greenville section of Norwich from 1933 until it closed in the late 1980s and reunions were held in the recent past. A brief history of Bids is in link: www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20140515/News/140519574

[@amberola1b]

Thank you for the information. Wenger to the site and contacted them. Appreciate it.

[@tomvanhoesen9479]

I used to play basketball for Bids Tavern he would have us there every year for free food and beer. Steak grinders were unreal!

[@amberola1b]

The food in the film looked so delicious. Everybody looked so friendly. And they knew how to dress back then. It looked like even business men went there to eat and mingle over a glass of beer.

[@mkornacki]

Born in '67. Used to ride my bike down there from 11th St. for a New York Dog or Combo. Now I'm hungry.

[@veronicamamiful]

I remember this place . I was a kid .

[@amberola1b]

The burgers with the sauteed onions in the film looked delicious

[@frankobuchowski8195]

the food and pitchers of beer were great!

[@George_Wezner_Music]

Great slice of a Norwich staple- Americana in the 70s!

[@13thGenPatriot]

My dad took me there for lunch. It was great.

[@amberola1b]

Glad you enjoyed the film. Like many films of the past, I'm lucky to have rescued it from being just another lost artifact and never seen again.

[@Someonesaidthis]

Looks like a fancy camera they used..

[@cartercarter5995]

Hi. This footage is great of Bids Tavern. I’m 99% certain my father is in this film. Sitting at the bar. My family grew up in Norwich. Would you happen to still have the actual film?

[@amberola1b]

Yes I still have it.

[@radionicpowers5938]

Curious at 25:21 the newspaper headline is "Hussein May Be Next Arab To Visit Israel"

[@Quasimodo1957]

It's referring to King Hussein of Jordan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan

[@frankobuchowski8195]

WHO didn't eat there??? last I was there it was a chinese or mexican joint. Now probably rotting.

[@MVVblog]

Really? It look so fake to me....

[@ConnecticutBackcountry]

For sure not fake. You see a young Tom LaFreniere in this video. Here he is quite a bit older and still in Norwich in front of the (Yantic) firehouse that holds the annual Bids tavern event. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5fVh5ioqLRjd8k Tom and his wife Betty took over Bids in the 60s from his family who opened it in the 30s and ran it until the late 80s when it closed while ran by a nephew. Kind of a bad end for a great place.

[@The1trueking1966]

Why was the film left behind?

[@amberola1b]

It was probably a project in progress by the film students at Connecticut College back in the 1970s and it was never finished. A number of the scenes in the film were in small sections that I had to try to splice back together in some form of continuity. Who knows why it was never finished or why it was made, but I'm glad the film was made as a sort of time capsule of a local business from the past that doesn't exist anymore.