Saloon Keepers Hall of Fame
To paraphrase Mark Twain, there was a time when the Saloon Keeper was thought of on the same line as the lawyer, the banker and the editor.
When you come to think of it, in the the confines of the Saloon, they perform all of those duties. Sometimes it seems the actual operation of the establishment is an easier task then all the other obligations which fall on the Saloon Keepers shoulders.
The following are the best I have ever met. I am prejudiced as most are my friends but the door is open to these hallowed halls to any suggestions. Feel free to file your nominations.
Elaine Kaufman, Elaine”s NYC. Elaine has been holding court at her Upper Eastside eatery for over forty years. Every night for over forty years she has served Princes and Paupers. Greeting all with the same nod and smile.
Things are much the same now as they were the first day I walked in the door when I was nineteen years old. The center piece is the grand lady herself but on any given night the crowd is the star. That crowd is made up of all sorts, every one from cops to legendary copulators . It would not be odd for you to run into a politician or a gangster. A priest or a poet. Much has been made of her celebrity clientele, which is no made up story, but the truth be told the place is a neighborhood Saloon.
The neighborhood just happens to be the entire city of New York.
There is also been some urban legend about how difficult it is to be treated well in the place. Not true. I believe Elaine’s basic theory is eat, drink, pay your check and behave yourself. From personal experience I know she is not that committed to the behave yourself part. If you can’t get into an interesting conversation with someone in Elaine’s you are either boring or drunk. To me, she has been my friend for over thirty years, kind and concerned and loving. I am only one of hundreds who feel privileged to be a member of her great group of friends.
Perry Butler, Perry’s, San Francisco. Perry Butler is not your typical Saloon Keeper. As a matter of fact he is the entire opposite of the stereotype. He is no backslapping glad hander with a stogie and joke in a gilded vest. Don’t get me wrong, he is a terrific guy with a great personality, he is just low key, more of a keen business man than anything else.
He established his Saloon on Union Street in San Francisco back in 1969. Some have called it the first fern bar. That’s a crock. Sure there were a couple of plants but the truth be told. Perry is an east coast guy who built his emporium in the like of P.J. Clarke’s and Martell’s. I believe Mr Butler would agree with me when I say his greatest ability as a Saloon keeper was to hire well. He has given us some great bartenders and waiters and mangers. Almost all of whom have become part of the Perry’s legend many of whom are still with him. Perry Butler has given a city that prides itself on it’s culinary superiority a place to have a good meal, an honest drink, in a comfortable and impeccably clean atmosphere and you won’t have to dip into the kids college money to pay the tab. His brunch is nonpareil with the best Eggs Benedict I have ever had. I guaranteethat when you walk into Perry’s you will feel welcome and comfortable. As simple as that sounds it really is saying a lot. Especially after forty years.
Jimmy Neary, Neary’s Pub, NYC. If you visit Jimmy Neary’s Saloon on Fifty-Seventh Street in Manhattan it is more than likely the first face you see will be Himself. After more than forty years Jimmy still likes to position himself at the front of the room so he can glad hand his patrons as soon as they walk through the door. Always with a hearty handshake and a great smile.
Neary’s patrons are an eclectic group, like all great Saloons, from politicians to clergy to authors to federal agents and cops, to no doubt a few with lesser credentials. It would not be unusual to run into the likes of Anne Ford or Roger Ailes or Mary Higgins Clarke in the dinning room. Last New Years Eve, after the ball dropped in Times Square, Mayor Bloomberg and his girlfriend brought Bill and Hillary Clinton to Neary’s for a couple of Irish coffees and a good meal.
Jimmy serves terrific Irish fare and his joint is spotless. However, non of the above is why he is in the Hall of Fame.
He earned his bones by being the first Saloon Keeper in New York City to ban smoking. Neary passed that edict over thirty years ago. He also earned his way onto this hallowed list because he truly runs a family Saloon. On any given night there are a couple of Neary’s working the room. For example his daughter Una, who has a terrific career in the banking industry, waits table three nights a week. The first time I met his other daughter Anne Marie she was waiting tables when she was at least seven months pregnant. Most importantly the Neary’s know how to make you feel like you are one of their own and they go out of their way to do that.
It’s usually a handshake and a smile from Jimmy and a well placed wisecrack from Una.
Any Saloon Guy who can keep a place running for that long and raise as great a family as he has, belongs in this Hall of Fame.
10 responses to “Saloon Keepers Hall of Fame”
Myles Cameron
May 22nd, 2009 at 22:40
Paul (Paulo) Machetti, Jr. at old The Gold Spike in San Francisco on Columbus Avenue. My dad first went there in 1937: fresh off the Merchant Marine ship. He used to take me there since I was “Knee-High”. I miss that place since it closed about 3 years ago…Had been in business since about 1920!
Cheers Steve and a what a fun site you’ve got going! Great way to remember the good times!
Myles
citizencaen
May 29th, 2009 at 21:32
well, we gotta start with “Brother Edward”….Ed Moose…
BILL O'CONNOR
June 1st, 2009 at 16:37
GENE MCCORMICK & HARRY MCSHANE OF GARRYOWENS IN INWOOD NYC TOOK CARE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND BILL WALL WHO TOOK OVER THE BAR AFTER A FEW OWNERS IN BETWEEN BILL WAS AND IS ONE OF THE NICEST GUYS YOU WILL MEET
Ray Mccormack
June 12th, 2009 at 01:12
My favorite bartender was Johnny Freehill. Before I go any futher I have a lot of dear friends who were bartenders. My choice is not influenced by friendship but by style and class. And I think John Freehill was the best.
John was a good listener and a good story teller. I am smiling now when I think of some of his stories. I am not sure if John got his stories from Joe McFadden, or Joe McFadden got his stories from John. They were that good!
Interestingly, John was not covert about his political opinions or his feelings about politicans. But, I never heard John bad mouth neighborhood guys even when others were doing so and it would have been the easy thing for John to do. And I did hear John jump to a guys defense even when it was not the popular thing to do (The guy may have been a jerk). If you were John’s friend it was a full time friendship. And finally, I never heard John badmouth a customer behind his back. Never!
John’s favorite sport was boxing (at least when he talked to me). John liked fighters and it did not matter if the fighter was a great hall of famer or a club fighter. Many times it was the fighters with the least amount of talent who were among his favorites; I suppose I was a big favorite.
I drank with John during his palmy days and during the bad days. And God help John he had some tough luck. He was always the same he never complained and always greeted his customers with a big hello.
Over the years the neighborhood and Johns customers changed. They were no longer the Irish constructiion workers drinking in Freehills. Now they were black, Spanish, German, Irish… customers in Costello’s .But John’s style and class never changed and his customers in Costello’s loved him as much as the Irish guys did in Freehills.
I suppose the real test of a bartenders likability is if you ask the question, “Would you spend in the bar with the bartender if you were not drinking”? Well , I quit drinking years ago. But I would still go into Costello’s and drink sodas just to hear John’s stories and enjoy his company. I’ll never forget Johnny Freehill
Ray McCormack
June 12th, 2009 at 04:50
In the last paragraph the question should have read, “Would you spend TIME in the bar with the bartender if you were not drinking”. Forgive me but in the orignal post I left out the word, TIME.
Rich Lieberman
June 13th, 2009 at 00:06
What about Paoli’s on Washington st in San Francisco? Great food, strong drinks, very well-dressed men in nice, tailored suits and an abundance of gorgeous, established power women…sort of a SF version of ‘Old Ebbit Grill in Washington DC.
AnnMarie Neary
June 21st, 2009 at 13:10
hmmm. I feel like another great was left out here. But enjoyed the post.
Angel and Margaret
July 2nd, 2009 at 13:44
Our favorite was John Flood. He was the BEST.(In more ways than one)
Jim Smith
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:30
RE: Marty Lindstrom
It was with deep saddness that I received an email concerning Marty’s death. We had been friends for 30 years and were due to meet up in Dublin soon as I now live in London.
Marty and I worked together for years in the magazine business. I was working in Atlanta and he would come in from San Francisco to call on advertisers. But mostly he would come in to have what he called “adult beverages” with me — lots of them.
One morning he arrived in town and called me from a gin mill. It was mid-morning and he asked me to make a sales call with him at an advertising agency.
I heard Marty’s voice before I saw him. He had never been in the place before and didn’t know a soul but I heard him bellow: “Get him, get him, get him, get him — and one for yourself. I’ll have a large vodka and soda.”
We had a belly full of booze and by early afternoon, we left to make the sales call. We went into a top-shelf ad agency and Marty saked to see this woman account executive who handled Delta Air Lines. Marty had been having trouble getting Delta to extend its advertising contract into that year. The ad woman would not speak to Marty on the phone or return his calls.
She was shocked to see Marty show up unannounced and said: “Marty, I didn’t know we had a meeting scheduled.”
Without missing a beat, Marty said: “Mary, I didn’t hear from you and thought you might be ill. So I flew in from California to see you.”
Marty walked away with a large advertising contract that day.
We left the ad agency and continued drinking at a different establishment where we met two telephone operators. Marty invited them for dinner — on the expense account, of course.
Nikolai’s Roof is one of Atlanta’s top restaurants, with a month-long wait for a reservation. Marty called the maitre d’ and asked if an exception could be made so that the French ambassador and his wife and two colleagues and their wives could be accomodated for dinner that evening. The answer was yes, of course.
Marty and I and the two floosies showed up and informed the maitre d’ that the ambassador would be delayed for 30 minutes, and could we be shown to our table.
The maitre d’ was appalled at the drunken state of the two of us and the floosies.
But he showed us to the best table in the house where we continued power-drinking.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Marty approached the string quartet playing in the room and asked them to play “The Eve of Destruction.”
It was pure Hunter S Thompson when four gorillas ushered us out.
We never drank there again.
From Jim Smith
The woman appeared
Gene Duffy
October 4th, 2009 at 20:10
I would vote for Renny Mahlu from Garry Owens as the best. The Old Sarge worked the bar like a Master and always had a great sense of humor. Like the time he sold club soda as Perrier to two yuppies who wandered in. The only bar in the world to have it on tap!