Stork Club
The Stork Club in Port Stanley opened its doors in 1926 as the L&PS Pavilion. It boasted a dance floor of over 13,000 square feet. It played host to countless big name entertainers including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Downs, Guy Lombardo, Cab Calloway, The Drifters, The Shirelles, Chubby Checker, Walter Ostanek, Carroll Baker, Marty Robbins, Ronnie Prophet and, the last group to ever play at the Stork Club, Day Break. However times change and it became increasingly difficult for the Stork Club to turn a profit and the building began to fall into a state of disrepair until finally the local health unit ordered the building closed in 1973. Joe McManus had a life long love of Port Stanley and he decided to purchase the Stork Club and bring it back to its former glory. Joe's son, Joe Jr., deserves much of the credit for the amazing transformation. Joe Jr. virtually lived at the Stork Club during the renovations and personally did a large portion of the work.
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 The Stork Club in 1979 |
The Stork Club reopened on June 21, 1974 to a crowd of over 1,500 people. The response was amazing, people marvelled at the transformation that had occured. Unfortunetly the last event was the New Years celebration on Dec 31, 1978 since on the morning of January 13, 1979 a fire was set in a garbage bin beside the Stork Club. The flames quickly spread to the 52 year old building and while the fire damage had been contained the smoke and water damage was too extensive to repair, the rest of the building had to be torn down.
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