His first real name was Aloyisius.
Shanty's bar was on Sacramento Street,
just off of Montgomery Street in San Francisco's financial district.
His bar was more like a big barn, rather
what one would not expect in that "swinging" era. The
lighting was bright, no little plates of hors-d'oeuvres, and the
clients were mostly serious drinkers. Reasonable prices.
We hung out at the place because we loved
Shanty. Plus, he had a great pinball machine that we played for
hours on end. The three of "us" were Grossman, Misrach
and myself. We were not big drinkers.
Shanty owned a bar way back during Prohibition
and he regaled us with fantastic stories of those days.
Now Shanty breaks the news to us that he
is going to "retire."
The three of us know he hasn't any money
to retire so we decide to have a fundraiser for him. The "three"
of us are of the Jewish persuasion: Misrach, Grossman and myself.
Shanty is Irish and of course, we rented out the German Hall on
Polk Street. The date was set and the "announcement "
for the shindig went out to his fan club.
At one of our last meetings with Shanty,
just before the event, we were discussing times, music and other
details. Shanty told us that the "fights” will start
at 11 o'clock." We asked him what he meant and he told us
that when you get that many Irishmen together in one room with
drinks being served, "that's just about the time the fists
start flying."
We had a great turnout and made some money
for Shanty.
Just around 11 o'clock the fights
broke out.