It Happened in the Fall of 1956

Thursday, March 03, 2011

THE ADMIRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

The Admiral a St Louis floating palace and entertainment venue

How the people of St Louis ever let this great entertainment boat deteriorate into obsolescence is beyond my mental capacity to understand. In the mid-40's my grandmother Tritschler would take me on at least one day excursion per.year.The trip would be from about 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.The first deck was primarily walkways and engine machinery to power the boat and some rides for kids. The second deck was devoted to games,rides,food, and drink. The third deck was an air conditioned dance floor with a full live orchestra,tables,and a mezzanine for more table seating. The third deck environment was first class.
The fourth deck was covered but open air with mostly food and drinks being sold. One of the side benefits was you could bring your own picnic basket full of food and find a table with seats to enjoy your lunch.
Oh how enjoyable the top deck as you sat and watched the activity of the river and St Louis sky line. The Admiral would get down river to the Jefferson Memorial bridge in about one hour but traveling up river would take about four hours.. Then in the mid 60's I became the parent with Nancy and we would take our family on the Admiral about one excursion per.year. [see photos]
In the evening the Admiral would travel down river again from about 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM. The evening cruise was entirely different as the majority of cruisers were adult. We would dress up to the nines and take our dates on a trip to remember.We would enjoy dancing, partying, and then we would go to the top deck for some serious star gazing. Even after our marriage we would try to take visitors from out of town for an adult evening on the Admiral. We never failed to get rave reviews about the beauty,fun,and thrill of an evening on the Admiral.