Chapter 6

It must have been around 1945 or probably a few years later that my Kemeny grandparents retired from the Hinky Dink. Their three sons, my dad, and his brothers Joe and Steve took over the business. They ran it together for a while, but it apparently wasn’t enough to support all three of their families. Eventfully, my dad took the business over on his own and ran it for a good number of years. My mother did the cooking in the kitchen behind the bar. There was a fish fry every Friday. They rented rooms out to single men workers who worked at the factories in Delray and the area. When I turned about 11 or 12 years, my job was to clean the rented rooms out with my mother every Saturday.

At the time Delray was still a fairly thriving neighborhood. Some of the families were moving out to the outlying suburbs like Lincoln and Allen Park, but it was still a decent neighborhood after the war. Most of the various businesses were still operating. Holy Cross still had a large number of parishioners living in the neighborhood and the ones who moved out still came in for Mass every Sunday. And, people still came in for shopping at the meat markets that offered Hungarian specialties.

Molnar’s Funeral Home on West End was still operating in Delray when my grandfather Kemeny died in 1956 or 57 (can’t remember).

It was about this time Delray was rejuvenated with an influx of young Hungarians from the ’56 revolution. That helped keep Delray and Holy Cross viable for a few more years.

For some reason, still not entirely clear to me, my father walked away from running the Hinky Dink Bar. This happened around 1960 give or take a year. I think there was a dispute over the rent between my father and his mother that caused the problem that resulted in his leaving the business. Even after this though, he stayed in Delray where he bartended at Gable’s Bar just down Jefferson a bit from the Hinky Dink.

His younger sister, my aunt Margaret, took over running the Hinky Dink after he left. She ran it a good number of years and later sold the business. The new owner did not have the business very long before the building burned to the ground. By this time, Delray had deteriorated pretty much to its present condition.  The building that held all those family events was now gone, but the memories remain imbedded in my mind and heart. And, I’m sure in the minds and hearts of my remaining cousins. It was a good life in a thriving, vibrant neighborhood for our family and I am happy for the small part I had in it while it lasted.