Honest John's, redux

[CLAUDE G]

I liked the location on Field.

[sumas]

Ah... I feel old. used to go to Honest John's on Field back in the day when the original John owned it. He later sold it to Bernadette. She is still alive and kicking and in her ninties. Anna May was a bartender there too. She owned a bar on third for years and her stories were fancinating. The bar on Field had a one way mirror and you had to get buzzed in. There was an old piano and a friend of ours played kick ass ragtime. John would be so pleased with the music we frequently drank for free.

[EastsideAl]

Ah... I feel old. used to go to Honest John's on Field back in the day when the original John owned it. He later sold it to Bernadette. She is still alive and kicking and in her ninties. Anna May was a bartender there too. She owned a bar on third for years and her stories were fancinating. The bar on Field had a one way mirror and you had to get buzzed in. There was an old piano and a friend of ours played kick ass ragtime. John would be so pleased with the music we frequently drank for free.

I wonder how many people remember, or even know, that there was an Honest John's [["Honest John's Marine Bar" to be correct about it) before John Thompson? I remember the place from when I was a kid, since my grandfather and uncle used to drink there on occasion, and I went to school only 2 blocks up the street for a while.

I recall going in there and trying to sell candy for some school activity or another and being shooed out by the bartender - but not before making a couple of successful sales to patrons. It was a blazing late spring day and the bar seemed alluringly dark and cool, and an oasis of serene quiet from the roaring traffic on Jefferson and the nearby smelly Uniroyal plant. I always felt like I destined to hang out there sometime.