“When I was 19, I worked in an old man’s bar. The old men of that era were mostly WW2 vets and one of them told me that if you wanted to bribe someone, you’d have better odds approaching the older person rather than the younger one. He said the reason was because young people were idealistic and old people tended to be more jaded. He added that he had learned this in the army.
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That’s Jim on the left, my surrogate dad and the man who vouched for me and got me the job. We met and hit it off so quick your head would spin.  He was the perfect father for an Italian girl.

I met him when I was 15 and he immediately took over as my dad, helping me to get a driver’s license, loaning me his truck and at times even letting me drive his corvette.

Continue reading Old Man’s Bar aka My Life As A Capricorn (rising) – Still More Bonus Folks And Their Stories

That’s, Larry. He’s not near as squirelly as he looks in the pic, that’s a bad shot. Larry dyed his hair.

Yeah, he did and they gave him non-stop shit about it. Every few weeks he’d come in with his hair freshly dark and people would tease him and make quips without mercy, especially his best friend, Al who is featured next.

Larry could have cared less. He liked his hair and demonstrated this by running his hands over when people made remarks, explaining he knew they were jealous of his extraordinary good looks.

Continue reading Old Man’s Bar aka My Life As A Capricorn (rising) – And Even More Folks And Their Stories

Continuing to honor the Saturn figures in my life, meet, John. John was Judy’s husband and they were in love.

The was a huge age difference between the two, 20 years or so. In fact, Judy met John in this very bar when she was a little girl. He was the bartender and she was there with her parents, Friday movie night.

John told Judy to eat her pretzels, drink her coke and be a good girl and when she grew up, he’d marry her. This is exactly what he did, buying the bar along the way.

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That is Ted. Ted was rich and notice he is drinking soda water. Ted didn’t drink.

I am not sure why Ted didn’t drink, he sure loved bars and the people in them, especially mine.

He might have had a drinking problem in his past, I never asked. I might of asked but I think the bar owner, Judy told me it would be rude. I was very much instructed to treat Ted well and you’ll find out why on the next bit.

Continue reading Old Man’s Bar aka My Life As A Capricorn (rising) – And Some More Folks And Their Stories

This is George. He was the Friday night bartender at the old man’s bar. I worked straight days, Monday through Friday but when they had a band on Friday nights, I’d come in and help him.  He was 80 something as I recall so clear the over-50 rule.

He had a great disposition as you can see by the picture but it most remembered for his habit of standing next to me leaned on the back bar, 15 minutes before close. We’d both be surveying the crowd, ready to yell, LAST CALL and without fail he’d say, “Well, Elsa, it’s downhill now.”

I have said that to people ever since…

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I have my pics out due contact with the brother of my friend who has died.  Here is some pics for old-timers who read of my exploits in the old man’s bar.

I got a job in this place when I was 19, I was the first person they had ever hired under 50 years old – EVER. That was the rule, see? You had to be 50 to work there so the customers would not have to put up any punks.

Continue reading Old Man’s Bar aka My Life As A Capricorn (rising)