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BARS(Continued from Page Al)watering holes. In general they’ve been replaced with cookie cutter replicas of the real thing, decorated to simulate the hodgepodge of stuff that hung on the walls of neighborhood joints after 20 or 30 years Lorea's Tavern became Papillon's, then Mums and is now Ego Alley a moniker that is the very antithesis of the old spot Pete's Pool Hall was turned into a fern bar before it morphed into Acme Bar and Grill The Little Campus Inn, run by the Nichols family for 74 years, is now an Irish restaurant, Galway Bay Hamlen’s on BA Boulevard in Severna Park was a Colts Corral also known for weekend singalongs, then eventually torn down for an office parkThe Red Coach, the Dinner Bell, Dave's Bar. the Sunset and the old Rudy's Tavern are just a few of the many other local places that have long since hollered their last call In his book “The Great Good Place. sociologist Ray Oldenburg called such establishments “third places, after home and work, as crucial elements of a community and well rounded life They’re where people meet old friends and make new ones, discuss the issues of the day. Throughout Eu rope, the cafes of France, beer gardens of Germany and pubs of Ireland and England remain an important thread in the community fabric, Mr Olden berg pointed out Stateside, the neighborhood bar. barbershop and beauty parlor or soda fountain used to serve such a purpose. But the explosion of national chains, higher rents and other pressures have forced change Newer bar businesses, he wrote in his 1989 book, “lack the drop in and hang out ambience of their predeces sors, places where a person could go, all alone, almost any time of day or evening with assurance that acquain tances would be there .’’Former regulars of the four van ished county bars remember things just that waySam's waySome who visited Lorea’s Tavern didn't exactly feel welcome, at least during the 60s and early '70s Word is Sam Lorea. a World War I veteran and well known conservative, didn’t cotton to hippie looking types “If you had long hair they would ask, Are you a hippie?’ recalled Bob Caffrey of Annapolis “If you answered yes. they would say. “Sorry we don’t serve hippies.' But if you answered no, they would say. ‘OK, but you need a haircut,’ and the customer would get servedBut the rest of the social strata mixed elbow to elbow They loved the 19 cent National Bohemian beer and 25 cent crabcakes Wally Skernolis said Lorea’s would close at 7 p.m., when Sam said it was time for people to go home to their families He remembered the unsettled response when old Sam changed clos ing time to 6 I turned to Mel Hagood, who ran the Amoco station that once stood at College and King George streets, and asked him, “What is this 6 o'clock all about?’ He said, ‘We don t know, but we are afraid to ask He might start closing at 5 ”’According to legend, Mr Lorea never collected sales tax The story goes that once hen the State of Mary land informed him that it was the law. he set up a table and chair at the door for a representative of the Comptroller’s Office to come collect the taxes himself Then there was the sidewalk issue The bar would get so full that patrons would spill outside Inevitably, some one complained about having to step into the street to bypass the crowd and the city put their foot down Police were dispatched to keep the crowd indoors So Annapolis attorney Bill Mitchell started a petition that June of 1972 to allow patrons to oc cupy a few feet of the sidewalk.Within weeks, there were more than 300 signatures He arranged a meeting with then mayor Pip Moyer and won approval to occupy a few feet of the sidewalk “So we painted a yellow line on the sidewalk, Mr Mitchell said And claimed victory for ail that was goodBy Paul W Gillespie — The Capital Wally Skernolis. left, and Charlie Stinchcomb. both of Annapolis, have fond memories of Pete's Place, the pool hall on Main Street, now Acme Bar and Grill. They were also long-time patrons of the Little Campus Inn on Maryland Avenue.Charlie Stinchcomb, far left, at Pete's Place, cheers on the Orioles in Game One of the 1979 World Series. Proprietor Pete Palaigos. right, claps after the O’s made a play. His wife, Helen, kept the establishment her father opened in 1919 going for more than 40 years after coming back to Annapolis following World War II.This undated shot of Lorea's Tavern shows off the business end of the establishment. It was run by World War I veteran Sam Lorea who heralded Dwight D. Eisenhower and took no nonsense from anyone. His bar/liquor store closed a year after he died in 1973. Lorea s Tavern became Papillon’s, then Mums and is now Ego Alley.Capital file photoAn undated photo of Hamlen's in Severna Park shows the non-descript establishment that had been a service station before it was turned into a restaurant and tavern — and the local hangout for Olde Severna Park residents and others.In the final hours at The Little Campus in 1998, owner Angy Nichols and Chuck Brunetto of Annapolis, share a laugh while talking about old times at the Annapolis establishment. The Little Campus Inn, run by the Nichols family for 74 years, is now an Irish restaurant. Galway Bay.Pete's parlorStill others thought that Pete’s Place up on Main Street was the best spot in town Youngsters dreamed of the day they could go inside Charlie Stinchcomb remembers his parents taking him to a restaurant across the street “I would look out the window and see the cool guys, like Tinky Spring field and Mule Jennings, hanging on the parking meters out front of Pete’s and thinking, one day I’ll be there Of course it's not one of the highest things I ever aspired to, he says now, in his mid-50s When he was a little older, he and his buddies would sneak in the back door and play pool on one of the five pools tables until Pete Palaigos threw them out “I hated pool, I was a terrible shot, but I loved Pete’s ”It was a safe place for a watering hole “Pete closed at 12 I could have a few beers and walk home, avoid driv ing and get home early.Pete and his wife Helen kept an eye on their patrons, and became fast friends with many of them Mrs Palaigos’ father opened the place in 1919. her husband took over after returning from World War II A man could get his shoes shined and hat blocked at Pete’s “Pete became like an uncle to me,” Mr Stinchcomb said. He eventually ended up working for Mr Palaigos. running the place on Sundays “I hated to work Sundays but I would do it for Pete.Every time he tried to quit, Mr Palaigos seemed to know what he was up to. “I’d call him aside and say 1 needed to talk to him about some thing Next thing you know, he’d slip me $50 and say, What did you want to talk about?’ I’d say, Never mind.’” Beside the cold beer, many claimed Pete served the best hot dog in town. The best part was the bun, fresh from Johnny’s Sweet Shop,” Mr Stinchcomb said Pete closed his place for good, after a 1987 conversion to a ferned sports bar, in 1993.Home in the ParkHamlen’s in Severna Park, owned by Marcy and Chfirles Hamlen, was also known for its good food and its sing alongs I'll never forget the singing ev eryone would be sitting there sharing tables and enjoying the best stuffed rock or soft crab sandwiches,” said Madlyn Scott, who now lives in Ocean Pines Entertainment and a meal for the price was unheard of’’Helen Monsalve, of Arnold, also remembered the old place that closed in 1989“We’d eat dinner and snack on fried eggplant and fried onion rings, drink beer and sing along for hours,” she said No one ever complained about anyone’s singing abilities, or lack thereof. I remember one singer claimed she was once upon a time one of Ziegfield’s girls and I didn't doubt her for a minute .’’Larry Shubnell recalled walking into Hamlen’s one night and finding his stepfather in law with “some guy who is obviously a bit tipsy, because his toupee is on sideways “The guy had just finished a stint as president of the Gourmet Society of Maryland He loved Hamlen’s food,” Mr. Shubnell said Hamlen’s was also a Colts Corral, one of the fan clubs of the old Balti more football team In fact, it had an actual chunk of the goal post from the greatest game ever played, the 1958 championship game when the Colts beat the New York Giants in overtime.Another knickknack that adorned the place? A candelabra that report edly came from Al Capone's house.Campus familyThe Little Campus Inn on Maryland Avenue in Annapolis had its own trophies too.The cup awarded to the winner of the annual St. John’s College Navy croquet match was kept on a shelf above the bar. It was only fitting because the challenge that started the series in 1982 was thrown down in theestablishment that opened in 1923.Besides that, there were clay trophies” of animals hanging from the rear walls, apparently crafted by a local artist to pay off a bar bill But the real attraction was the people The major elements of the surrounding community old time Annapolitans, St John’s students, midshipmen and State House denizens all converged there “It is the same thing that makes a house a home, the people in it.” said Mr Caffrey, who became a regular after wandering in by mistake one day Mr. Caffrey was known to sketch patrons at the bar. mostly on cocktail napkins.I have shoeboxes full of those sketches,” he said There was such a core of regulars over the years, some had assigned seats, former owner Angy Nichols remembered.“If some stranger walked in and sat in someone’s seat, he’d get a dirty look,” he said The regulars were such a fixture that someone once dubbed them “An napolis' oldest living still life ”It was a community in itself, that almost ran itself.“It was like (1) did not own the place; they did, Mr. Nichols said I remember correcting one young lady once. She said. Who are you? This is my place ’”Mr Nichols is still touched by the outpouring of support when word spread the place was closing in 1998 “I’ll remember this little old lady knocking on the door the day after we closed,” he said “I told her we were closed She said no, she had to come in one more time because she had met her husband there ”He said it gave him a different feeling knowing that things like that happened in people’s lives in the little restaurant his parents started.“We were not just a business, not just a commercial location ... it was like family ”pfurgursoniampitalgazette.com
Newspaper Details
Annapolis Sunday Capital
Annapolis, Maryland, US
Sun, Mar 20, 2005
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Anne A.
MD, USA 03 Jan 2025
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