A bit of Pittsburgh history
I was born in Pittsburgh, PA. Ran into this article in the Post-Gazette about a Pittsburgh legend. Haven't thought about the place in a long long time...
From the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Angelo Cammarata, the world's longest-serving bartender, readies for last call
Angelo Cammarata, whom the Guinness Book of World Records recognized as the world's longest-serving bartender, is coming up on last call.
At least at Cammarata's Cafe, the West View watering hole where he's been pouring for most of his 77 years of tending bar.
The place, which he still helps his sons John and Frank run, has been sold, and the Cammaratas will be out of there within weeks when the new owners are approved by the state.
John Cammarata, who suffered a heart attack at a Steelers game about a year ago, said they sold it in great part because of his health. "I just turned 59. My brother is 60."
Their dad is 95, but still coming in every morning, doing the books, and tending bar for an hour or three. Most days he still has the Jim Beam bourbon and Coke that is his drink of choice.
"And one is enough," he says with his easy grin.
He laughs at the notion of other job offers; the owners of the new place, Danny's, asked him to stay on. But he's ready to finally actually retire, so he can take care of his wife, Marietta, at the Ross home where they moved a few years ago after decades of living above the bar.
"Closing after 77 years" read hand-lettered signs out front, offering customer-appreciation $1 drafts and $2 bottles right up to the day-long party (date to be determined) that will end it all.
"Camm," as people call him, started serving beer at his father's North Side grocery the moment Prohibition ended at midnight on April 7, 1933. The memory is as clear to him as the strike of the library clock that signaled it was time to start opening bottles of Fort Pitt. His immigrant father built a bar on that site in 1935 and Angelo kept working there, taking a break to serve in the Navy in World War II.
It's people like this that make America what it is.
Posted by DaveH at August 20, 2009 1:09 PM