On this date in ...
A man found his wife, a waitress at a prominent Albany restaurant, and a soldier back from fighting Germans in France, together on the corner of Eagle and Howard streets. Without warning, the man attacked the soldier with several blows to the face before landing one final punch that knocked out the military man and sent him to the ground. After coming to, the soldier got to his feet and hustled away down Eagle and over State Street. The woman, realizing her “hero” had abandoned her, ran off down Eagle the other way and then up Jay Street. Lastly, the husband, seemingly satisfied with the results of his actions, leisurely strolled down Eagle, according to the large crowd of witnesses that had gathered.
1969: It was up to Albany Mayor Erastus Corning and the Common Council to decide whether Greyhound Bus Lines could move its downtown terminal to Central Avenue across from Everett Road. Several residents of Danker Village, an apartment complex behind the property where the terminal had been proposed, made it known they were against such a proposal citing air pollution, noise and traffic hazards and an opportunity for “undesirable people to congregate” in that section of the city. William Kayser, local transportation manager for Greyhound, said his company could build a new $1 million facility on the six-acre site and provide buffer zones so neighbors would be unaware that a terminal was in their vicinity.
1994: Imagine a kind of mini-lollapalooza with the emphasis on head-banging heavy metal bands. The Concrete Corners Tour hoped to expose up-and-coming bands to large audiences, like Shootzy Groove, Varga and Greta, who pulled into Saratoga Winners on the tour’s second stop. All three bands recently released major label debuts — Shootzy Groove’s rap-meets-metal, fivesong EP “Respect,” Varga’s provocative, industrial-funk album “Prototype” and Greta’s bristling “No Biting.” The evening also featured speakers from organizations like Lifebeat, Greenpeace, Rock For Choice and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Want to read more about the Capital Region’s past? Have any memories or thoughts about how our history relates to today’s events? See http:// blog.timesunion. com/history/.