From Hard to Soft, Again

Martin Scheer proved a flash in the pan. The next we hear of the Hillman soft-drink parlor, the business of the late Fred had been bought, and the room of the surviving John rented, by Jake Ittel and Bert Ream.

Jacob Ittel was the son of a saloonkeeper (and the brother-in-law of the former Bessie Ols). By the age of 23 Jake had been in the saloon business — either in partnership with his father, or on his own; eventually he did have his own saloon, and he employed Bert Ream as his bartender.

Of course, the prohibition of alcohol had put an end to that. Unlike John Hillman, who smoothly converted his saloon to a soft-drink parlor, Jake Ittel had closed the doors of his and gone off to do goodness knows what, for I can't find him in the 1920 census, while Bert Ream went into the steel mills.

(Incidentally, we've met other members of Bert's family before, he being a son of Henry and Josephine Ream; we've also seen a photo of "Bertie" as a child.*)

But now Jake and Bert were in business together again, and it was not so very different from their old saloon days. Indeed, given all the reports we've seen of drunkenness and the brewing of illicit liquor, I suspect their new soft-drink parlor may have been even less unlike their old saloon than you'd think, only now they had to keep any hard stuff hidden.

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*I suspect the Edith "Reams" of the caption was Bertie's five-year-old sister.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "The Hillman Stand Re-Rented." Hobart Gazette 3 June 1921.
♦ WWI Draft Cards.