Stinking Thinking & The Closed Mind

I’ve gone to the dive on Friday’s and/or Sunday’s for the last two or three weeks and I am always forced to tolerate the same closed mindset each and every week. This doesn’t just come from the patrons, some owners blame the patrons for the way they run their establishments, its not just the bartenders either who struggle to get through the shift with as little drama as possible.

It is on the owner(s) to find the leadership (not dictatorship) to run their business venture in such a way to bring a kind of vibe or life that puts customers in the chairs and to keep those customers coming back. The closed mindset reveals itself in little ways that have a big effect. When I walk into a bar and get greeted with a stare instead of a smile it effects the rest of my stay. When I walk into a bar and some loudmouth is spewing obscenities and filth faster than a sewage pipe, it gets me thinking, why stay?

I have often gone to the dive on major sporting events to find that the only thing to eat (on those occasions something is there) is stale corn chips or potato chips and month old pretzels. I got to speaking to one of the old regulars who has lived in the neighborhood for decades. He told me back when the dive was the “Beverly”, there was always something going on, the bar was tied to the community.

Parades started at the Beverly’, after meeting meetings of the VFW, American Legion, Elks and other civic groups found their way to what is referred to as "1762". It was a place where there was a lot of participation from the patrons who made it their place to go. I was struck in my last several trips to the dive by how empty I felt being there. Not just a lack of food, not just the lack of beer, not just the lack of life, but the helpless ‘who gives a fuck’ feeling you get from everybody.

I almost started to believe that all bars are about the same. I had to be somewhere else to see the difference, small things that have a big impact. Going to someplace that smells clean and being greeted with a smile despite my lack of a smile. Also, being asked what I would like to have and the bartender actually having it there at the bar. Having people who are intelligent and articulate to have pleasant conversation with, this is a positive thing to me.

I noticed at the dive that most of the old crew don’t come around as often as they once did. The old crew doesn’t stay as long either. It took being somewhere else to see the reason why. I’ll hit only a few items on my long list; at other bars there are menu’s on the bar, not just the bars kitchen, but local restaurants, attentive bartenders, a stocked bar with all kinds of beer. I asked a bartender at the dive if there are any ale’s in the bar, she said “WHAT?”

I cannot get served a black and tan (Bass or other Ale with Guiness) in the dive, the last time I did was in June of 2007. Why, one reason people go to a bar is to get a drink, they have a taste for that they don’t want to go home to get. But what’s missing is a rallying point, a sense of community. I will illustrate as clearly as my limited word skills will allow.

During this past football season, there was no bar sponsored sport related activities. Most bars had “boxes” you could purchase to have a chance at a prize. 16 games, not one bar sponsored event. At Bronkos in Baldwin as with other Bars, Good Times in Freeport, and a few in Valley Stream all have some kind of real food out during a sporting event, I know, I call and I ask and occasionally go. The dive has never done this in 2007 to my knowledge.

But what got me about the Superbowl boxes sold at Bronkos is that the proceeds are going to help a little kid with cancer or some terrible disease. Saturday Night at Bronkos a bar band will be playing there live. There is so much going on at these neighborhood bars and grills that invite people in, that its nice to get out to experience it. That is what is needed at the dive, maybe someday it will be something other than an ‘ancient dive’.

I called Friday Night to see if something is going on Sunday for the Playoffs. Gin had no idea. Yaega Lee was in the bar, she said absolutely not, unless she put out her own money to get something going or the crowd buys their own. The Beverly was an establishment run like a business in the community, where the business owners ran the establishment with class and modesty, appealing to the decent clientele in the neighborhood, not tokers in the alley.

The dive, kind of feels like its run like a tenement in the Bronx, run by a Kansas City pimp who picks up his money in an alleyway. So you ask, “Why the fuck don’t you stay the hell out?” And there is the question put by the CLOSED MIND. There is the stinking attitude born of a toxic environment. I show up every once in a while to support the bartenders I have known over years or who have been nice to me and treated me like I belong there.

I’ll be there Sunday for the playoffs, if there is no ale, I’ll bring my own, if there is no food, I’ll find some to share with we few old regulars, so long ago forgotten.

Gods Peace

RJ