Last call at the old Mermaid in Hermosa Beach [PHOTOS]
When Justin Albergate was 15, he went to work busing tables at the Mermaid restaurant for his grandfather, the late Quentin L. “Boots” Thelen. That was 20 years ago, but Albergate remembers it well. “It was full of smoke. It was scary and dark,” Albergate said. “The old guys at the bar, I was scared of them all.” It wasn’t unusual for Boots to holler at Albergate – or anyone else. In that way and others, the Mermaid has been a one-of-a-kind place. Sunday was the last day of the Thelen-owned Mermaid. This weekend served as a kind of last call for anyone and everyone who ever enjoyed the Mermaid to stop in and say hello to old friends and goodbye to the bar and restaurant that has served as an Old Hermosa landmark for last 62 years. When Boots died in 2007, Albergate began bartending regularly. “All these years, the family … It’s not just a job,” Albergate said while smoking a cigarette outside the side door. “It’s a home.” [scrollGallery id = 428] Longtime patron and criminal defense attorney Bob Courtney shares the same view. Courtney spent his 21st birthday at the Mermaid with Thelen. And on Saturday, he was celebrating his 77th birthday with his wife, Dorothy. “Fifty-six years…
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