Post #599842 by TikiTomD on Fri, Jul 29, 2011 11:46 AM

Picking up the story again, Charlie Reese’s will, filed several days after he was found shot to death at his home, placed his brother Johnny’s attorney in charge of administering the estate. In 1948, Charlie’s Grill and Hi-Hat Club was leased to Ken Shepard by the estate administrator, becoming the Club Pier Casino and Shepard’s Hi-Hat Club. Here’s an ad from the news archives for the new business...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 17, 1949

In the meantime, a lawsuit contesting the will’s validity, filed by Charlie’s daughter Betty Jean Reese, continued to wind its way through the court system. Finally, about a year and a half after filing the lawsuit, Betty Jean won her case in Circuit Court...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 16, 1949

But it didn’t end there... Charlie’s brother, his brother’s attorney and his mother appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. In early 1950, the appeal was dismissed at the request of the litigants...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal January 4, 1950

As soon as Betty Jean and her mother regained control of the estate, alleged theft and embezzlement by the tenant of the Hi-Hat Club came to a dramatic climax...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal January 27, 1950

Next, a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong and a US Navy veteran from WWII remake the old Hi-Hat Club...

-Tom