Barfly: Remembering Aussie Blue
Celeb Sightings: Goldie Hawn, her sister and a group of friends were spotted dining at Petros, Metlox Center, MB. Word is she acts just like she does on TV and in the movies, all bubbles, giggles and smiles and she looks exactly the same. Staff said she was very nice and so down to earth they felt like they were waiting on a friend. She did right by the tip as well. Take a lesson Mr. Woods…
Now Open: Waterman’s, Pier Plaza, HB in the space previously occupied by Dragon and before that the famous Tattoo-d person’s dive, The Beach Club. If the name Waterman’s sounds familiar to you it is because a few years ago there lived Waterman’s Grill, Manhattan Ave, MB which is now Darren’s (and prior to that Avenue). It’s a convoluted story with some of the owners from the old Waterman’s and the now defunct Dragon involved in the new venture, others from the old Waterman’s are now at Memphis Café, Manhattan Ave, MB and are not involved. Of course Sangria has always been the core of the octopus from which the tentacles of Side Door, Los Muchachos, Waterman’s, Towne, Memphis, etc sprung, so it all goes back to the big daddy of them all. Confused yet? Don’t be. Details will follow…
Super Bowl: Since they won’t have anything to do, you can rent the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to come to your house and keep the energy up – at least up to boob level. For $50,000 you can rent the entire squad plus manager, you get a performance before the game, during commercial breaks and at the half. You also get several photo stations to take pics with the girls and have them instantly printed, as well as a goody bag complete with a DCC swimsuit calendar. If $50 large is out of your budget you could go with William Hung (you know, that Asian, “She Bangs! She Bangs!” dude from American Idol a few years ago?) for a mere $5,000…
Aussie Blue: I don’t know what happened to the world at the end of this past decade (TGIO – Thank Goodness It’s Over!), but people’s bodies and minds seemed to have taken a crap along with our economy: Four people I know had heart attacks, only one is still standing, I know personally of three instances where people called the police on their friends for no reason, and even the people paid to protect us went way awry. One story in particular involved a legendary fixture of the local bar scene, that jolly Aussie redhead we all call “Blue.” (You know our mates down under and their wacky humor, they call all redheads “Blue” just to be different.) I met Blue back when I worked at Grunions, Sepulveda, MB but that was just one of his daily bar stops. He made the rounds from Grunions to Schooner, 22nd Street, MB, to North End, Hermosa Ave, HB, back to the Castle, Sepulveda, MB, down to Shellback, MBB, across to Beaches, MBB and more. He even leant himself out part-time to Ercoles, Manhattan Ave, MB where he would guard the door and check IDs. Now, if you know Ercoles, you know it as a locals’ dive bar, still cash-only as it was the day it opened as Manhattan’s very first bar in January 1927. A few months back, Rodney “Blue” Fox, was manning the door when one of our local enforcement agencies sent three under-agers to the door with fake IDs. Blue looked at the first and it looked good so he let him in. The second kid’s was a little fishy so he started questioning him and while he did, the third kid snuck in behind him. Now, I took an ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) class about a year ago and they said that if the ID looks like a good ID (say it’s your older brother and he looks exactly like you), you will not be held responsible. Well, they fined Blue, fined the bar and Blue subsequently lost his job. Blue died of a heart attack just a few weeks later. The first thing I thought when I heard the news, after debating whether I should start breaking knee-caps, was, typical retirement followed by death. I only know of two people thriving in retirement: Me and my dad and clearly we are of the same warped gene pool. Blue was just 64 years old. I think we need to come up with a cocktail called the “Jolly Blue.” Submit recipes to the email address below. RIP, mate…
Questions? Comments? Contact Deb L at BarflyDebL@aol.com. ER