Just another old bombing...

Factual Questions
1

Hi, maybe you can help me piece together an old memory?

Back in the early 1970’s there was a huge explosion followed be a raging fire on the east bank of the Chicago River at Belmont. My high school GF and I were hanging out on my parent’s back porch indulging in a bit of the old “loco-weed” when BAM! there’s a huge explosion and SWOOSH! a massive fireball. So, laughing all the way, we set out in the direction of the flames…

Wow! Musta been 1,000 people out watching the fire. Moms in babushkas; dads in Dago-T’s; little kids on them '70’s style bikes with the banana seats and angel-wing handlebars; drinkers & softball players from the nearby taverns; greasers in baggy greys and hippies in bell bottoms; a biker gang (think it was the Outlaws but mighta been the Henchmen); you know… yer typical assemblage of neighborhood types from Belmont & California, circa 1972.

Anyway, I always remembered this as the (hot summer) night that the Bally Pinball factory got firebombed. But just a few weeks ago I was talking with an old friend who remembers it as the night the Riverview Roller Skating Rink got firebombed. (Riverview was closed in 1967 but the skating rink remained open).

My long-term memories are usually pretty reliable and I definitely remember this event as Bally Pinball. But my friend insists it was Riverview skating rink.

Is it possible that both structures burned to the ground that night?

Or that there were two firebombings in the same basic spot, separated by a few months or possibly a year or two?

I tried finding an article on this but was unsuccessful. Can you tell me which of us is correct?

Thanks in advance!

Kedzie

2

This video claims that the skating rink burned down in 1971. It shows a daytime fire.

3

Thanks!

It wasn’t daytime, it was around 6:30pm, so it would have stayed light for a while. It was a hot summer night. I remember that because I remember what my GF was wearing (white hot pants and a halter top). I remember this specifically because when we got to California the crowd was massive and to get closer we snaked our way through the biker gang, who were idling on their bikes; thus I remember their comments. :slight_smile: Yet the firemen are in jackets and the kid at 25 seconds in a long sleeve shirt; that would indicate cooler temps.

Word in the crowd was “Bally Pinball” had been firebombed. We couldn’t actually see the structure, just the massive fireball; the police and FD had us contained well below the bridge. I suppose the crowd’s “word” might have been idle speculation based on the nature of the pinball gaming industry back then. We didn’t stick around too long to hear other theories. Our view was just as good from my parent’s back porch, so we hung maybe 20 mins, then went back. I do seem to recall Bally Pinball being mentioned in the papers, but that could be subjective, inaccurate memory; so far I’ve had no luck digging that up.

Based on this video I’m convinced the crowd was wrong and it was the roller rink. Still, the fireman’s jackets and the kid’s long sleeved shirt leave me wondering if there weren’t two separate firebombings on that same basic spot in the early Seventies?

Thanks again, it was one hell of a fire…