Postcard, circa 1918, when the Nikko Inn was known as the Harmon Country Club. Courtesy of Carl Oechsner. In the June 18, 1931 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle , arts and entertainment writer Rian James 1 used his column to promote the 8th edition

of his vest-pocket Gadabout Guide to New York’s most unusual Restaurants, Night Clubs, Roadhouses. The “Wide-Open Spaces Department” of his column gives us a flavor of life on the roads during the Depression (when, as James puts it, “the man in the

streets . . . lost his stocks and socks”) and a priceless description of the Nikko Inn in the 1930s. “If you like the wide open spaces, and you don’t mind spending the better part of your life sitting in traffic—the open-road houses beckon to you

shut-ins to come out to play—and pay! We know all about the open road and open road houses, because we have devoted nearly a whole month out of our life to finding out things. The roads are good, and crowded; the road-houses are good and not nearly

crowded, and judging by the numbers of automobiles that scrape the varnish off your left fender, you’d hardly know there was a depression. 2 The thing that drives home the fact that there is a depression is the way the drivers of smaller cars hang

grimly onto their steering wheels. They hang onto their steering wheels with two hands . . . just as though at any moment now a big, burly traffic cop would come up and attempt to wrest their prize plaything right out of their grasp.” After reviewing

road houses in New York City, Long Island, the Bronx and lower Westchester, James concludes his column with this pithy description: “Nikko Inn, at Harmon-on-the-Hudson (all with hyphens), which is the hoity-toitiest spot extant, providing you’ve got

girl, and there’s enough moon. You can play around here in a canoe until dinner’s ready. And if this summary sounds a little hasty, or sketchy, or something, remember that it’s the best we can do considering the roads. And have a nice time!” Canoe on

the Croton River, south of the Nikko Inn. The Nikko can be seen on the cliff in the upper right. Courtesy of the Westchester County Historical Society. According to Wikipedia Rian James must have had quite a life. “A ‘Jack of all trades’, James was a

columnist covering arts and entertainment for the Brooklyn Eagle from about 1928 to 1935. He later was a foreign correspondent, parachute jumper, stunt man, airmail pilot, Air Force lieutenant, vaudeville actor, and finally, writer, director and

producer.” ↩︎ All quotations are from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle , June 30, 1931, page 21, columns 1 and 2. See here . ↩︎ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new

window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Croton River Harmon

Harmon Country Club Harmon-on-Hudson Nikko Inn Published February 14, 2016 February 14, 2016