N.Y.'s oldest bartender tells drinking stories
NEW YORK (AP) -- Marilyn Monroe came Wednesdays for lunch and ordered a Beefeater martini, very dry. Danny Kaye pulled his jacket over his head to avoid being recognized. Judy Garland sat in a corner drinking Johnnie Walker Red.
"Judy Garland, very sad," said Hoy Wong. "She always had a cocktail glass in her hand."
Wong, or Mr. Hoy, as he is known, has been working as a bartender for 58 years.
He got a job in a bar in 1948 at a now-defunct Chinese restaurant called Freeman Chum. It was there that he encountered Monroe, Garland and other notables including Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Bob Hope. "They were all nice people," he said.
There were more famous faces at the Algonquin Hotel, where Wong has worked since 1979. Once, he recalled, a woman sitting at the bar next to Anthony Quinn got so nervous she shook.
Wong is about to be feted by the Algonquin, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Unless another candidate steps forward, his bosses seem safe in calling him the city's oldest bartender.
"He never misses a day," said Bill Liles, the Algonquin's general manager. "If the weather's bad he shows up early. It's just really an honor to work with someone like Mr. Hoy."
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"Judy Garland, very sad," said Hoy Wong. "She always had a cocktail glass in her hand."
Wong, or Mr. Hoy, as he is known, has been working as a bartender for 58 years.
He got a job in a bar in 1948 at a now-defunct Chinese restaurant called Freeman Chum. It was there that he encountered Monroe, Garland and other notables including Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Bob Hope. "They were all nice people," he said.
There were more famous faces at the Algonquin Hotel, where Wong has worked since 1979. Once, he recalled, a woman sitting at the bar next to Anthony Quinn got so nervous she shook.
Wong is about to be feted by the Algonquin, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Unless another candidate steps forward, his bosses seem safe in calling him the city's oldest bartender.
"He never misses a day," said Bill Liles, the Algonquin's general manager. "If the weather's bad he shows up early. It's just really an honor to work with someone like Mr. Hoy."
Read MORE
posted by Miss Caroline at 8:36 AM
1 Comments:
The Algonquin is an excellent bar for celebrities and authors of well known books such as The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
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