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page 5and counting backwards
More Danny Baralts recollections,
manifestations & incantations
I wrote down these remembrances and think they will bring
back memories for one and all during the 1970s period.
1.
Pat Merryman making a meatloaf in the shape of a TURKEY for
the Oar House GM, Jules Boryczewski, for Thanksgiving
because Jules "DOESN'T EAT THE BIRD"! (This was in Venice,
CA when PM lived with Sandy and the Great Scott.)
2.
The "Nighty-night " party at J.Sloans (see story and
pictures already submitted).
3.
Time spent at the famous JOHN GRADY brunches held in Marina
del Rey where Mickey Dolenz (sp?) "CIRCUS BOY" from the T.V
. series, original MONKEE from his TV show his new wife (an
English Pop magazine writer) came over to say "Hi" to all of
our table. Mickey and his wife later joined us at a party
at John Grady's but I think they weren't too happy about
it. Seems we were bigger monkeys that he was. Smart move
on Mickey's part to DEPART.
4.
Orange County Swap meet. Famous for the great PM to want to
visit and take us all along. I remember the day that we
were all there and the Great Scott picked up a diaphragm
someone was selling; he looks down at it, after picking it
up and exclaims, "Nope, not big enough!" The great Scott
had a super sense of humor even though "Glow-Bird" didn't
give him much slack.
5.
RESTRAINT IN ACTION and done right. We all went to a
Dodgers baseball game and even though we were loud in our
enthusiasm during the game there was a jerk sitting in front
of us who didn't like our spirit. He ended up throwing a
beer in the face of one of our friends and this person took
it with stride and didn't take any action towards it. He
showed perfect restraint and is respected for his knowledge
of handling idiots.
6.
The famous CHUCK LUCKO bartender, who drove an XKE Jaguar
and would fling his tip bowl at customers who would leave
the balance of a .69 cent drink in his tip bowl for a tip.
Precious.
7.
SPECULATION RESOLVED: The Great Scott goes to Alaska for
riches and fortune. Scotty and I lived together during this
period in Santa Monica. We had been bartending and he heard
from a couple of customers, who came back from Alaska
(during the pipeline era) that there was a bunch of bucks to
be made there in bartending. The figures of tips told him
were more than we made in a month . So, Scotty presents to
me, after hearing the stories, "Hey, Dan, let's go to Alaska
and get the riches".
I told Scotty that, "You go first and if it's that great
then let me know and I'll come up." Well, during the Great
Scott's time in Alaska I received many letters from him and
maybe photos. Nothing that he wrote beckoned me up to
Alaska yet it did give me a glimpse of his experiences. I
truly wish I still had his letters from Alaska. They would
be awesome.
8.
OLDIES BUT GOODIES MONDAY NITES AT THE OAR....could not have
been such a great success unless Clark and Brent put their
creativity towards it. Not to mention Les Perry, the master
DJ, of all the great songs from the past. When we really
got this night going Scotty's girlfriend, aka 'Glowbird',
made us "ELVIS/SHA NA NA glitter outfits for Patrick
Flannery, Scotty Naber and Daniel Baralt. Custom made and
all we had to do was slick back our hair and put on the
costumes and POUR DRINKS ALL NIGHT LONG....10 DEEP AT
ORDERING Stations'. While this was going on Clark and Brent
came up with the idea to have a record album cover and a
record inside to give out to customers....so they put
together a photo shoot and we all ended up in a lot, off
Main St.., taking pictures that would become album covers
for OLDIES BUT GOODIES AT THE OAR HOUSE ON MONDAY NIGHTS.
Clark's album cover and photography is still wonderful.
These two creative geniuses, Brento and Clark Merritt, took
a slow night, in the bar business, into one of the most busy
nights of a bar's history. LES PERRY, the famous DJ, put
together the greatest songs that we played on tape back
then. This is one of those: You should have been there
when it was going on.
9.
There was a night that we could not leave the Oar House
after closing due to some wacko holding a gun to Jules
Boryczewski's head (our current GM).
10.
Ken "Smokey" Roberts hiring me to become a barkeep. I was
just delivering my resumes out in bars that I would like to
work for and Smokey told me, after seeing my paperwork, to
immediately go next door from the Chips to the Oar House and
get trained right then and there. Little did I know that
the bartender (Keith) who was training me was about to be
fired after training me. Seems that he got into a fight
with customer and this was a firing violation...as what I
heard. At any rate, he trained me and Katy Donaldson would
always compare my butt to Keith's and figure out in her head
who had the cutest butt. Katy was always a butt
perfectionist yet a lady that handled herself perfectly.
She was one in a million. She did ultimately say I had the
greatest butt after all. ....but I've heard that before.
11.
While going to UCLA my roommate and I had a GAF carpenter
GARY help us make some wooden items for English Literature
projects: a wooden cross and a coffin. Gary cut the wood
and cut the sides for a coffin ( two different
projects). Since we lived on 3rd St./Ocean Park in Santa
Monica we had to take our coffin and large cross to UCLA on
top of my 1959 VW. What a sight that was. It all turned
out well and we delivered our class resuscitation before
classmates that couldn't believe what we had constructed.
Just goes to show you....dangle glitter before their eyes
and they won't know how stupid you are. BTW: the coffin
hung on the ceiling at Bull & Mouth for many years. The
cross gave our English professor nightmares and don't know
what happened to it.
12.
Clark Merritt trip to Kelbo's to discover the new formula
for TROPICAL RUSH. Oh, discovery, oh hurt me again.....I'll
take another sip. This is good. Who's driving?!
13.
Working the bar on any given night and learning how to
lip-read after working underneath a 3' x 4' speaker blasting
music. Then watching Clark playing the strobe light machine
to PIPELINE SEQUENCE or FREE BIRD.
next up Recollections of Oar House
Antics from Vance Lang
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