A brief history of S/N # 152836

From what I learned from Paoli, the previous owner/seller, the history of this jukebox goes something like this:

The jukebox was purchased in 1955 by "DK", and installed in The Cheat Mountain Club, a restaurant/dance hall/private resort located near the top of Cheat Mountain, a few minutes NW of Durbin, West Virginia, in the midst of the Monongahela National Forest. The jukebox spent the next 37 years (plus or minus) spinning 45's, but in either '92 or '93 the club moved to a new location, and the jukebox didn't make the move. Paoli, having spent more than a few quarters in it, and being quite fond of it, was able to purchase the juke from "DK", but since he didn't have a place to store it he worked a deal with "DK" to store it for him until such time as he could take possession of it himself.

The Cheat Mountain Club (old building) as it stands today:

And the view as seen when standing at the top of the front steps. (Too bad it was such a cloudy day....):

According to Paoli, one of the "services" offered at the Cheat Mountain Club (once it was opened-up to the general public) was an on-site hotel. Apparently those patrons who had "one too many" could gently stumble out the back door, and make the short walk to the CMC Hotel, located immediately behind the club itself:

Not too much remains of it now....

Although having the best of intentions, Paoli was never able to restore the jukebox, and it sat in storage in one of "DK"'s buildings, for years. When the storage building started to deteriorate to the point that it was ready to fall down, the jukebox was moved to the same shop where we picked it up. In fact, one of Paoli's friends demolished the storage building just a day or so before we arrived....

I was happy to learn that "DK" is 94 years young, and still going strong, but sadly we were unable to meet him. I'm sure he would have had some really good stories to tell!

My apologies if I've messed-up any of the details and/or gotten the dates wrong. The fault, if any, is entirely mine, and I will gladly make corrections as necessary.

"You're driving where?"

When I told my Father that I bought the same exact model jukebox as the one he had when I was a kid he seemed excited, but I think his excitement was tempered somewhat when I told him that I intended on picking it up in person (I think he thought I was crazy). However, even though he knew where I was going, and was fully aware that it was going to be a "hard" drive, he said that he wanted to come along.....

Knowing that I needed a cover of some sort, I asked the guys in the warehouse where I work if they had any extra shipping crates from any large pieces of equipment. My intent was to cut one of them down to size, or put one together from pieces of several crates, but after speaking with the warehouse manager and explaining what I needed them for, he told me to give him the dimensions I needed, and they would make a new crate for me- from scratch!

My intent was to leave home Wednesday right after work, be on-site for pick-up on Friday morning, and be back home sometime Saturday afternoon. We hit the road on April 7th, and due to the timing (and rain) we decided to bypass Chicago and drive straight down I-39 in Illinois. We stopped for the night in Indiana, and got back on the road early next morning. Once we reached the Ohio/PA border on I-70 the skies opened-up again, and I started to become concerned that we may have to load the Rock-Ola in the rain the next morning. We reached WV about 8:30 Thursday night, and sadly we were unable to see much of the local scenery due to the rain and low clouds.

Friday morning started with intermittent clouds, but thankfully no rain. We drove out and and met the seller, Paoli, at his friend's shop, where the jukebox was located.

Here's a shot of Dad and I soon after we arrived:

Funny story: When they Sellers pulled the cover off the 1452, I told Dad that I remembered it being much larger than what is shown here, and I asked him if this was the right jukebox! I remember it as being a huge thing since I have clear memories of the turntable platter being around eye-level when I was a kid.

I said, "Dad! Is this the right one"?

When he asked me "Why?", all I could say was, "I thought it was much larger than this!"

Dad laughed, and said, "That's because you were much smaller back then!", and he assured me this was the same model!

Upon close inspection I was happy to see that not only was the jukebox complete, but also in better condition than I expected! I pulled the tubes from the amp, tightened down the sprung TT assembly, removed the fluorescent lights, and tied-down the tonearm. Other than wrapping it in cardboard and plastic wrap we were pretty much "good to go", so with the help of some of the Paoli's friends we tipped it on it's back and gently loaded it into the shipping crate. The jukebox was supported on the bottom with a partially-inflated air mattress, and on the sides, top, and bottom by some fiberglass insulation I had hanging around the house:

We used two layers of plastic sheeting to cover the shipping crate for the trip out, but since we experienced a few rips and tears, and since we drove through so much rain, we decided to cover the unit with everything we had for the return trip, which was four layers of plastic tarp. However, once we were ready for it, it never rained. Go figure!

With his permission, here's a picture of the seller, Paoli, and his little buddy "Dixie":

(Thanks again for everything, Paoli!)

Thankfully we were able to (finally!) view the beautiful countryside on the return trip, and since we took a different (and familiar to me) route home, the return trip was quite uneventful. We drove more or less straight-through, stopping only for gas, food, and driver changes. We arrived home about 9:30 Saturday morning, unloaded the jukebox, and the end result is this:

One Rock-Ola model 1452, safe at home!

Some background....

I'm not really sure what I'm doing, or even why I'm doing this. For the most part I try to "fly under the radar" when it comes to the internet as I prefer to maintain my privacy. Also, I've always felt that "blogs" are for extroverts and/or self-important types, but a recent acquisition, along with some gentle prodding from friends, has made me rethink my previous views.

But only a little...

My purpose with this blog will be twofold:

A. Post my experiences with my Rock-Ola here, in one place, instead of having to repeat myself with separate, and identical, posts on several sites I frequent, and;

B. Share useful information regarding the Rock-Ola that (hopefully) may help someone else, either now or in the future.

A little background with which to get started. As a child I grew-up in a household with a Rock-Ola 1452 in the basement. My Father bought it before I was born, and some of my earliest (and fondest) childhood memories include that jukebox. However, sometime around 1975 or so, when I was roughly 10 years old, my parents decided to "finish" the basement, and the first thing that had to go was that old jukebox. I was crushed, but what could I do? Sadly no pictures were ever taken of that juke....

(1/24/18 Edit: Although it really doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things, apparently the dates above, and also some of the info, is incorrect. My parents got rid of the jukebox only because it was "broken", and they sold it when I was either 6 or 7, in either '71 or '72. The basement wasn't completed until a number of years after that.)

Fast forward 35 years to the present day. For the last 10-15 years I've been searching the internet for any information I could find on 1452's, but said information proved pretty hard to come-by. It seems that since the 1452 offers only 50 selections (25 records), most people seem to prefer owning and restoring the 1454 and/or 1448 models which offer more selections. Also, since they share many of the same pieces and parts, I learned that a lot of 1452's were "sacrificed" for parts during 1448/1454 restorations. Sad....

In mid-March I was eating lunch at my desk and mindlessly surfin' the net when ("Holy cow!") I found a complete 1452 for sale on eBay! I immediately contacted the seller, and after sharing a few emails with him I hit the "Buy It Now!" button. The 1452 was mine!



Except there was one problem: The jukebox was in West Virginia, and I live in Minnesota....

(To be continued)