It was great. I think they opened in the summer of 1997...but I started working there in October of that year. It quickly became my home. The 2nd week I worked Brian Setzer showed up and performed. It was that type of place.
The jukebox was stocked with 100 CDs. All of which were hand chosen by Christine Frey and me. The Damned, Tom Waits, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Cure, The Clash, Etta James, The Stray Cats, Sex Pistols, Louie Prima, The Cramps...etc...etc...
The lay out of the place was inviting. There was a black leather, sectional couch in the back, with 2 Lazee-Boy recliners and a pool table in the back. People would show up, drink and settle in. The front had a beautifully stocked bar, leopard skin fabric on all the bar stools.
Many bands played there. This bar had flavor. It had feel. It was a community. There were write ups in papers about this place. It was cool....but after 5 years, Eileen & Debbie decided to sell it....and 2 creeps bought it. They quickly killed it.
Enter Bob & Rich. The new owners. Two guys that never owned a bar...or a business together. They bought it. They wanted "Cheers"...they didn't get it.
Bob was a nice enough guy. Divorced, drove a mini-van. (At the time I lived at my friend Sue's house. Malibu Sue from WLIR/WDRE...anyway Bob dropped her name a lot ...whenever Bob referred to Sue, he called her, my landlord...never my friend. He'd say things like..."I heard your landlord on the radio today." He never said, "Hey, I heard Sue on the radio today." That was weird.) Bob started off OK...but he grew a goatee and shaved his head to "play" the part of "cool" bar owner, pretty fast. It didn't work.
The other guy was a real piece of work. Rich was a whack-a-doo!!!! He had white hair combed back like a Saturday Night Fever extra. A porn mustache and BIG Chiclet teeth. He was a REAL CREEP.
One night, after we closed, young Will Teel was helping me clean up and he asked Rich for a bottle of Bud. Rich said, "Sorry. It's after 4am....but I'll give you a massage if you like?" Will...didn't like.
Immediately, they got rid of the Lazee-Boys & the couch. A few weeks went by. I continued to work there, hating it...but still making money. When all of a sudden the pool table was gone. The whole back area was empty. I asked why and Rich responded, "More room. Now we can fit more people."
"More people? To do what? Stand & stare at each other?"
"No, Dave. Pool tables bring in the "wrong" people. Ya know people that just hang around all night."
He was clueless.
They bought smaller glasses and raised the prices.
They made the tattooed clientele feel uncomfortable (Lone Wolf Tattoo was next door), but embraced the actors from Rich's community theatre. These people never hung out there, but their 8x10's were on the wall. Once, one of them came in and asked for a Pina Colada. I cringed, but made it anyway. When I handed it to her, she slid it back and asked, "Where's the whipped cream? I was on Carnival Cruise, there's suppose to be whipped cream." Oh boy.
We always clashed. They would ask me advice....and they would go and do the opposite. Each time pushing more people away.
After 7 months, I was fired.
I walked in one Wednesday night and proceeded to walk behind the bar. Bob extended his arm to block me from entering. He said we need to talk. Rich was standing feet away.
"We have a witness of you giving someone a six pack of Heineken without charging him. That's stealing. You're fired."
Flabbergasted, I said, "What? What are you talking about?"
Rich steps up and ferociously says, "You stole!!!! You stole a six pack!!! You're fired!!!!"
"Wait. I didn't steal anything. You're saying a gave some a six pack?", as I motioned a person handing a six pack of beer to someone.
"Yes!!! You gave someone a six pack. A six pack of Heineken...and didn't charge them."
"That doesn't make sense. Why would I give someone a six pack and not charge'em? What would I gain? Are you saying I gave someone '6' beers through the course of the night and never charged'em?...or I physically handed someone a six pack and said 'Take that, that's on me..????"
"You, you...you gave'em a six pack and said it was FREE!!!!!!"
"We don't have six packs.", I said, tilting my head, curiously. "We get our beer in cases, without six pack carriers. There's no six pack holders inside the cases. There's 24 spots. This NEVER happened."
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!!", yelled Rich, his face bright red. "We have a witness!!!"
"Well, alright then. If you wanted to fire me you coulda just did it." I turned and started walking out.
I was just about to open the door and leave when Rich yelled, "...and DON'T phone in any phony police reports."
I shook my head and walked out...never to walk through those doors again.
Eight months later they were out of business.
It's now a dance studio. No more bar.
Here's a link from Frank Fusco's Bellmore: The Unscene Blog.
The last EGGPLANT QUEENS show there. This is after Bob & Rich bought it. We played there once, only once....but I warned them.
http://bellmoretheunscene.blogspot.com/2011/04/eggplant-queens-juke-joint-213-72702.html
remember that time someone threw a garbage can trough the plate glass window
ReplyDelete