It was an ordinary day. Sitting in seat #20D on American Airlines flight #2219 looking at the airline's magazine "American Way".
Turned to page 16 and there on the bottom of the page was the headline, "Pennsylvania takes the stage" with a sub-head that read, "Hotel Rock Lititz offers concert-inspired accommodations for music fans." Wow!! The world is taking notice! It was back in 1965 that I took a course at Millersville State Teacher's College titled Wood II. It was a class in the woodshop with Mr. Paul Eshelman who at the time had to be as old as my grandfather. It was a second level course in the Industrial Arts Department. We had to design a piece of furniture that would illustrate a variety of different joints as well a place a finish on what we made. I chose to make a stereo unit with speakers, turntable, amplifier and tuner.
And...I wasn't the only one who chose to make a stereo unit. Guy by the name of Roy Clair chose the same piece of furniture. We worked together while making our units and when it became necessary to purchase the parts he asked where I was going to buy my parts. Told me he and his brother Gene had a few people they bought electronics from him and he could get me whatever I needed. We became good friends during that semester and it wasn't long before he and his brother formed Clair Brothers Audio that specialized in sound systems for rock bands.
Gene was working as an electrician at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA when the Four Seasons came to the campus. Gene and Roy did the sound for them and they were so impressed with them that they took them on tour with them. They eventually worked for Elton John, The Moody Blues and Michael Jackson, to name a few. They began their business in nearby Lititz, a town of 9,400 people in the middle of Amish country. The same Lititz that was picked as "America's Coolest Small Town" in 2013.
Today there are a few hundred more people that live in Lititz and Roy and Gene have developed Rock Lititz which is a 96 acre campus where companies design and build tour stage sets and sound systems for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, U2, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Usher and Mumford & Sons with Troy Clair, Roy's son, running the business of what is now known as Clair Global. There are a variety of businesses now on the 96 acres such as Tait Towers, Pyrotek, CM-ET, Rock Medical, Tone Tailors, Upstage Video, Yamaha, Atomic, Control Freak, Mojo, and Stageco.
It features a studio that is the tallest, strongest production rehearsal facility in the world. And, according to American Airlines "American Way", the company now is working on a 139-room hotel that will offer "a fun and comfortable home away from home" for both the music industry vets and visiting fans. The rooms will feature touches such as sliding doors made from tour cases and wallpaper fashioned from 40 years of backstage passes. What was at one time a young college student working on a stereo cabinet in wood shop class with his new friend has now turned into one of the largest and most successful entertainment businesses in the world. And, its in little Lititz, Pennsylvania. A couple of miles from my house. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| American Airlines magazine, "American Way" |
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| Rock Lititz campus can be seen in Lancaster's Amish country. |
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| A street sign in the Rock Lititz complex |
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| The Studio on the Rock Lititz campus |
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| Plans for the hotel at Rock Lititz |
I have a hand made wooden bowl personally made by Paul A Eshelman for our family in that era burnt in the bottom as he must have been a friend. I inherited it. Looks like chestnut.
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