Tales Of A Barman: 40 Years Behind The Stick

By Norman Coffey

'Tales Of A Barman' is a little book, full of great stories from the service side of the bar. Stories... from the time spent working for '40 Years Behind The Stick'. From clubs to pubs, restaurants and saloons the drinks flowed. From New England to Manhattan, the Hamptons, Long Island and all the way south to Sanibel & Captiva Islands in Southwest Florida the stories flow. Norman B. Coffey, the bartender and author of these stories still enjoys his memorable career, his tending bar continues, and he is always collecting, entertaining stories like the ones included in his book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Norman B. Coffey
• Release date: Mar 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9780984954025

Norman Coffey

Author of 'New Knee New Me - Your Quick Guide To Surviving Knee Surgery', November 2012 Author of 'Behind Bars - Entertaining Stories From A Lifetime Behind The Bar', January 2012

Book preview

Tales of a BarMan

40 Year Behind The Stick

Published by Norman B. Coffey at Smashwords.

Copyright 2013 Norman B. Coffey.

Discover other titles including New Knee, New Me by Norman B. Coffey at Smashwords.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1 The Disappearance

Introduction Taking The Bait

Chapter 2 Going Into The Bar Business

Chapter 3 R. J.’s Tavern - A Local Late Spot

Chapter 4 P. J. Moran’s - The Midtown Restaurant

Chapter 5 St. Patrick’s Day In Manhattan

Chapter 6 Bob Gibson - Went Here & There

Chapter 7 M. T. Callahan’s - On Board For Twenty

Chapter 8 St. Paddy’s Day On Long Island

Chapter 9 Life In Southwest Florida

Chapter 10 Saving The Best For Last

Acknowledgements

After Thought & Promise

Epilogue

1

The Disappearance

The gentleman must have practiced on the street before he opened the door and walked in to P. J. Moran’s, where I was employed as a bartender. He sat down at the bar and when I approached and asked him what he would like to drink, as I placed a napkin in front of him, he replied with perfect diction, I would like to have a Dewar’s and soda, please. After making his drink, picking up his money, ringing his drink up, and returning his change, I then realized he had been over served elsewhere. As I watched, he picked up his drink with both hands, carefully pushed the stir stick to the side of the glass with his right index finger and took a sip. I placed his change in front of him and returned to the middle of the bar, keeping one eye on him. Several minutes later, he took another sip of the drink, again carefully holding the stir stick to the side of the glass with his finger. The third sip of the drink was his undoing. While placing the drink back on the napkin, he noticed that the stir stick was not in the glass. As he fumbled around looking for the stir stick on the napkin and the surrounding area, I had to hold on to the bar for support, or I would have fallen down laughing. The stir stick was hanging out of his nose. It must have been half way up his right nostril.

This incident was definitely one of the funniest things I witnessed at P. J. Moran’s, but every day was an adventure. Midtown Manhattan in the 1970’s was a magical time in a magical place.

The restaurant was located in the heart of midtown Manhattan on 48th street, two doors east of 5th Avenue. Saks Fifth Avenue was one block north and St. Patrick’s Cathedral was two blocks north. Rockefeller Center was diagonally opposite on the west side of Fifth Avenue. The diamond district was one block south and extended west to Sixth Avenue. From Fifth Avenue west to Broadway and from Penn Station up to 59th Street was the garment district.

All around us on the east side of Fifth Avenue were numerous advertising agencies. In one of the early episodes of the TV show Mad Men, they mention Dick Ratazzi’s, which was a restaurant down the street from P. J. Moran’s. Manhattan was a magnet drawing people from all over the country and from all over the world. The lure was impossible to resist for thousands of people. All of the waitresses except for one were aspiring actresses, singers, and dancers. Our customers came from all walks of life including advertising, shipping, construction, oil, banking, and computer technology.

Tales of a Barman tells you some of the things I learned, many