>> THE COLONY CLUB AND ELEGANT MEMBERS ONLY FACILITY THAT HAD
HOSTED SIX PRESIDENTS IN ITS 103-YEAR HISTORY, SHUT DOWN IN
MAY.
DECLINING MEMBERSHIP AND CHANGING TASTES LED TO ITS
DEMISE.
I SPOKE WITH REPORTER JIM KINNEY OF MASSLIVE AND THE REPUBLICAN
ABOUT THE CLUB'S HISTORY AND WHERE IT MIGHT GO FROM HERE.
>> PERMANENT BUSINESS PEOPLE WANTED A PLACE TO GATHER.
IT WAS DISCREET AND TO THEMSELVES.
AND THERE WERE A NUMBER OF THESE THAT WERE DONE IN THE CITIES ALL
OVER THE COUNTRY.
>> SO SORT OF VERY MUCH IN FASHION, YOU KNOW, A CENTURY
AGO?
>> THE GENTLEMAN'S CLUB, I MEAN, IF YOU HAVE SEEN MOVIES TRADING
SPACES, ALL OF THAT SORT OF THING.
>> GIVE PEOPLE THAT SENSE OF WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE
THEN.
>> IN THOSE DAYS, IT WAS IN THE GREEN VICTORIAN MANSION ON MAPLE
STREET, BEEN THE HOME OF SMITH AND WESSON FAME, OVER ITS
HISTORY THE CLUB HOSTED SIX U.S. PRESIDENTS, AND ALL AT THAT
MAPLE STREET SITE.
INCLUDING ROOSEVELTS ON THE SAME NIGHT.
>> AND IT WAS INTERESTING TO LOOK AT THE LIST OF THOSE
PRESIDENTS BECAUSE IT SEEMED LIKE THEY WERE NOT SITTING
PRESIDENTS, BUT THEY WOULD GO ON TO BECOME PRESIDENT, BUT
CERTAINLY THEY HELD PROMINENT PLACE IN U.S. HISTORY, EVEN
BEFORE THEY BECAME PRESIDENT.
>> TEDDY HAD BEEN THE PRESIDENT.
AND HIS NEPHEW COUSIN FRANKLIN WAS ON HIS WAY UP.
>> AND I THINK ONE OF THEM JUST NOTED FROM OYSTER BAY.
>> YEAH, THEODORE, YES.
>> BUT IN 1966, THAT LOCATION BURNED, WHAT WERE THE
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THAT?
>> IT WAS A SPECTACULAR FIRE.
IT WAS IN WINTER, SO THERE IS ALL THESE GREAT PICTURES OF THE
HUGE ICICLES FORMING, AND IT WAS A PROMINENT LANDMARK IN TOWN.
>> AND THEN THAT RENDERS THE PROPERTY USELESS.
BUT THEY CONTINUED THEIR HISTORY, RIGHT?
>> THERE WAS A BIT OF A GAP, BUT BY THAT TIME, MASS MUTUAL WAS ON
ITS WAY TOWARDS PLANNING, WITH TODAY WE CALL OUR SQUARE, IN
THOSE DAYS BAY STATE WEST SO WHEN THAT COMPLEX WAS COMPLETED,
THERE WAS SPACE BUILT FOR THE COLONY CLUB IN TOWER SQUARE
TODAY.
>> AND THE INTERIOR OF IT WAS SIMILARLY OPULENT TO THE 1966
LOCATION.
>> YEAH.
IT WAS LIKE THE MAGIC GARDEN.
YOU WOULD GO UP TO A, AN ELEVATOR IN THE MALL OF TOWER
SQUARE, GO IN AND THERE WOULD BE THE BUTTONS OF THE COLONY CLUB
AND SOMEONE WOULD PRESS IT AND YOU WOULD RIDE UP, AND THE DOORS
WOULD OPEN AND STAFF MEMBERS WOULD BE THERE TO GREET MEMBERS
BY NAME AND SUDDENLY YOU ARE IN DOWNTON ABBY.
>> IT REMAINED EXCLUSIVE.
IT WAS EXPENSIVE, TOO, TO BE A MEMBER 6, WHICH WAS PART OF THE
REASON IT CLOSED.
>> YEAH, THE EXPENSE AND FASHIONS HAVING CHANGED,
BUSINESS PEOPLE NOT TAKING THOSE TWO-HOUR LUNCHES, WHICH WAS A
BIG PART OF THEIR BUSINESS.
AND THEY HAD AN OLDER CLIENTELE, AND THEY DID NOT APPEAL TO A
YOUNGER SET.
>> AND IN TERMS OF THE EXCLUSIVITY PIECE, IS IT CORRECT
THAT WOMEN WERE NOT INITIALLY ALLOWED?
>> I WANT NOT SURE WHEN THAT HAD CHANGED.
I THINK IN THE 1980s.
AND AS TIME WENT ON, YOU KNOW, THAT CHANGED.
THEY HAD WOMEN ON THE BOARD, AND AS CLUB PRESIDENT TOWARDS THE
END.
>> I TALKED TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT MEMBERS OF THE CLUB
BECAUSE THEY FELT LIKE THEY WERE NOT EXACTLY INCLUDED, WHETHER IT
WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE JEWISH OR ITALIAN OR SO IT REMAINED
EXCLUSIVE, AND THEN IT CHANGED IN MORE RECENT YEARS?
>> YEAH.
THAT WAS THE FEELING THAT I GOT.
THAT OVER THE YEARS, THREE YEARS AGO, THEY CAME TO ME AND PITCHED
A NEWSPAPER STORY ABOUT THE CLUB.
IN IT THEY SAID, THEY TALKED ABOUT LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS.
YOUNGER MEMBERS.
AND THEY WOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT.
THEY WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO HAVE DONE THAT YEARS EARLIER.
>> THEY REACHED OUT TO YOU, THAT COINCIDED WITH THE 100TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLUB?
AT THAT POINT, THEY WERE ACTIVELY PITCHING FOR MEMBERS.
>> YES, AS BEST THAT THEY COULD.
>> SO WHERE DID YOU, WHEN DID YOU BECOME AWARE THAT THEY WERE
GOING TO HAVE TO CLOSE?
>> A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, I STARTED HEARING FROM PEOPLE WHO
HAD BOOKED EVENTS.
HAD BEEN CALLED AND TOLD, WE'RE CLOSING.
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO HAVE YOUR EVENT HERE, AND THEY
WANTED TO GO OUT WITH DIGNITY.
PAY OFF THEIR BILLS.
AND NOT HAVE TO GO BANKRUPT REALLY.
>> BUT IN TERMS OF THE MEMBERSHIP, TALK ABOUT THE
PRICING STRUCTURE AND WHAT WAS REQUIRED OF ITS MEMBERSHIP.
>> IT WAS A FEW HUNDRED A MONTH.
THERE WERE MINIMUMS FOR THE FOOD.
DRINKS.
>> YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT OVER 3,000 A YEAR.
>> SOMETHING LIKE THAT, YEAH.
>> TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CLUB.
>> YEAH.
>> AND OF COURSE, IN ITS HEYDAY A, PERSON WOULD PUT THAT ON THE
CITIZENS ACCOUNT.
>> DID YOU GET A SENSE IT WAS SOMETHING THAT FAMILIES WOULD DO
OR FAMILIES WOULD PASS DOWN LIKE GREAT GRANDPA WAS A MEMBER?
>> YEAH.
THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT I HAD HEARD A LOT.
THEY WOULD HAVE EVENTS ON WEEKENDS AND EVENINGS THAT WERE
MORE FAMILY ORIENTED, AND NOT THE BUSINESS PERSON'S LUNCH.
BUT OF COURSE, THAT FELL OUT OF FASHION, AND WE ARE SEEING THAT,
A NUMBER OF GOLF COURSES AROUND THE AREA THAT HAD BEEN PRIVATE
COUNTRY CLUB MODEL, HAVE SOLD OUT AND ARE NOW PUBLIC CLUBS.
>> AND THE NATURE OF THE YOUNGER PROFESSIONALS, BUSINESS
NETWORKING IS, HAS CHANGED QUITE A BIT.
I SAW ON SOME OF THE MASSLIVE COMMENTS PEOPLE SAID IT WAS OUT
OF THEIR PRICE RANGE OR SOME OTHER REASONS.
>> IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT THE STORY AROUND THE SAME TIME THAT
I DID THE STORY THAT THERE IS A STARBUCKS OPENING IN MONARCH
PLACE, AND I WENT TO DO THAT STORY, AND ALWAYS THE PEOPLE IN
THERE,.
>> AND THAT'S A SOCIAL SPACE IN A DIFFERENT WAY?
>> ACCESSIBLE AND IT TAKES AN HOUR, HOUR AND A HALF, OUT OF
THE OFFICE FOR LUNCH ANY MORE.
>> SO NOW WHAT'S NEXT, THE SPACE HAS OFFICIALLY CLOSED.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE SPACE?
>> IT'S HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME THAT NEW OWNERSHIP HAS COME
IN, AND THEIR PARTNERS, AND SOMEWHERE BOUGHT BOTH THE HOTEL
AND THE TOWER SQUARE MALL FROM MASS MUTUAL.
>> CERTAINLY THEY MIGHT REUSE THE SPACE MOVING FORWARD?
>> THEY WERE THINKING RESTAURANTS OR CLUBS, BUT THERE
IS NO STOREFRONT.
LIKE I SAID, YOU HAVE TO GO IN THE ELEVATOR AND UP.
>> SO JIM KINNEY, I APPRECIATE YOU COMING IN TODAY.
>> THANK YOU.