Last Call

A legend is throwing in his bar towel.
 
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09232/991889-389.stm
 
Angelo Cammarata, the Guinness World Record Longest-Serving Bartender, is calling it quits.  After Serving beer since the stroke of midnight, the day Prohibition ended, his reign of 77 years is going to be a hard one to break.  But this isn't just the retirement of a 95 year old man from his job.  This is the end of a Legacy, for Cammarata's Cafe has been sold to a new owner and will officially be changing names in a few short weeks.
 
His Sons, John and Frank, who actually are the ones who own the bar now, are 59 and 60 years old respectively.  It's time to settle down and retire.  It's time to spend some quality time with the wife and kids, and grand kids, and great grand kids, and...well you get the idea.
 
I'm sad to see the place go, but I knew it could only last so long.  It is a Shame to see the bar leave the family though.  It was a townie bar if there ever was one.  Everyone knew each other's names.  But unlike most townie bars, they have always welcome newcomers to the mix with a cold pint of Iron and a friendly smile. 


A couple of us visited the establishment last winter to help celebrate the anniversary of Angelo's 77th year of bartending.  He's a spry old man.  You'ld never guess that he was 95 years old, with how he carries himself around the joint and mingles with the regulars.
 
Hopefully I can find the time to get over there for one last round, from the man himself, if I'm lucky.  I think I'll have a Jim Beam & Coke.  It appears to have worked for him.