ST. JAMES HOTEL - CUBA, NY

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Graveyard Dives - First Ever Print - St. James Hotel - in Cuba, NY!


A little story as told by the folks at the Palmer Opera House

St. James Hotel - Originally built in 1835, the St. James Hotel on East Main Street served as a favorite gathering place for many generations of local people. Initially called The Lafayette House, it was a major stop on the state route known as The Bath Pike. The building held the record for being the oldest public house in Allegany County until it was, in 2011, destroyed by a tragic fire. 

The picture on the shirt  (with some added creative by the GD staff), is by James "Pinky" Taylor, a native of Cuba, portrays the St. James bar room as it was when frequented by a host of "regular" patrons found there almost daily in the mid-20th century on their way to and from their daily labores. Keen eyed locals will probably recognize all or some of the patrons being served by the bartender who also used to painting as his own self-portrait when he created the work in 2018. hanging on the wall is a popular "hilda" calendar dated June 1966. Frank C. Resch, for many years a major distributor of Genesee and Miller High Life beer in Western New York, made an annual trip to all the bars in Allegany and Cattaraugus counties to hand out the now collectible calendar.  The St. James Hotel was one of three "watering holes" for the "regulars" in Cuba. the other two being the well-known Hotel Kinney on West Main Street and the Hotel Bradley on Genesee Street, both in Cuba, NY.