In 1918, two Greek immigrant brothers built the
hall as a single-story community billiards hall,
and later, sometime in the 1920’s, the second
floor was added as a dance hall. A surviving grandson of the brothers, Jake Zongas, recently said “The dance hall was so full, you could drop
an apple from the ceiling and it would never hit
the floor”.

A few community elders have said the hall had a “hidden room” with a whiskey still and poker
tables during the prohibition era, and the upstairs often featured boxing matches (and shhhh, there’s been whispers that for a short period it was a bordello!). In 1943 the hall went legitimate when the sole-surviving brother, Bill Zongas, and his young bride Flossy opened B&F Variety, where the community could buy women’s and children’s apparel, notions, and five & dime items. Sometime in the 60’s the hall was purchased by Frank Gural, who ran his shoe repair business until his passing in the early 90’s. Local history buff Fred Walden then bought

the hall from Frank’s widow, and after some restoration work, sold the building in 1998 to the

current owner, Stacy Emerson. Since then the Hall has hosted a variety of retail and special services businesses related to the music and entertainment industries.

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The rest is history in the making.

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