The Hi-Lo Club opened in 1933, after the repeal of Prohibition. Part of the La Salle Hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan (opened in 1927), it quickly became a favored venue for live music.

The ultra-modern nightclub (for its time) was run by Milt Magel, who also created this remarkable menu cover. It shows a scantily-dressed woman – presumably the Hi in Hi-Lo – dancing with a pipe-smoking hillbilly - presumably the Lo.

In 1954, the name was changed to the Gilbert Hotel and this is where rock n roll singer Del Shannon – whose real name was Charles ‘chuck Westover – first performed his hit song Runaway.

Shannon, who worked in a nearby carpet store and who wrote parts of the song during breaks, moonlighted four nights a week at the nightclub and first performed the song art in 1960.

He and his band played the song over and over, perfecting it but playing it so often that the manager reportedly told him to play something else. But the band and locals loved Runaway and Shannon recorded the song in New York the following year. It became a world-wide hit and launched his career.

This menu offered beer by the quart, highballs. wine and champagne as well as cheap snack food, making it easy to drink and eat while listening to the music.