Picture Windsor Locks - Then And Now

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — What do music legends Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Glen Campbell, Eddie Van Halen, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers and Melissa Etheridge have to do with Windsor Locks? And no, I'm not looking for "they all flew into Bradley Airport" as the answer. The correct response is they all played Ovation guitars.

Okay, so what does that have to do with Windsor Locks? The primary developer of the Ovation guitar was Jimmie Dale Gurley, an Oklahoma-born, California-raised guitarist and songwriter who became vice president of Ovation Instruments. In 1967, an Ovation guitar factory opened in New Hartford, Connecticut, and was the last U.S. plant to manufacture the instruments in this country until closing in June 2014.

Still seeking the Windsor Locks connection? At one time, Jimmie Dale Gurley owned Gurley's Music Center in the old Barrett Block on Main Street, adjacent to the Bridgeview Restaurant. He also had a store in Enfield.

Gurley, who also owned and operated the Dekley Pedal Steel Guitar Company, moved to Tennessee, and died there in 2012 at age 80.

And as for the Bridgeview? It was located at 68 Main Street, on the corner of Church Street, and was one of the first restaurants in town to sell grinders. It was operated by Phil Lombardi from 1946 to 1973; he died in 1997 at age 83.

At the time, Church Street ran straight downhill to Main Street, without the curve to align it with the World War I Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Connecticut River into Warehouse Point. The building which housed Gurley's and the Bridgeview was slightly north of the bridge.

Here is a contemporary view of the spot where the two businesses had stood.

Do you have a photo of an old Windsor Locks business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright, and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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