Typical Friday at the Haunt
What would HS have been without the Haunt? The North Forty? The Dugout? The competition between nights in front of the TV, homework and the collective "bars" was totally one-sided once I hit the stature of being construed to be older than I really was. To back up this illusion, I had in my possession the procured (don't ask, don't tell) NYS drivers license and linked Draft Card of an "over 18"! So, for a brief stint I was known to a few bouncers as Gary, and thought to be 27!
One Friday at the Haunt the then owner, Jon Peterson, confronted me at the door to question my advanced age courtesy of the other guys ID. The guy was from someplace on Long Island, and I knew where that was and I knew my (his) birthdate. Alas, the third question was the stumper: draft card listed an address in Canajohari, NY. Now, somebody, maybe even this guy Gary, really knew where that place was, but not me! I was stumped, and shunned.
Ten minutes later I was back at the door, different bouncer, shorter question list, and I was in! Someone correct me, I think it was $1 for a pitcher of beer served in a milk carton thing.
I realize that not everyone spent as much time doing these things as I seem to have done, and that is probably a good thing! But, for those of you who did go there a few times, be truthful, do you still carry the scars on your shins from tripping over the chain at the end of the alley?!
I'll have more to say about the Haunt, but I first have to tell you that three or four years ago I happened to be in Ithaca. I looked in the paper and found an add telling about a bar that was being dismantled and offering stuff. I called the number and it turned out to be the Haunt (which was moving from the alley on Green St to what used to be On the Waterfront, where it is now). Five minutes later I was rummaging through the demolition piles in the alley. Later I was driving away with a 12" section of the bar top!
This item made the trip back home with me to MA, strapped to the top of the minivan! It sits under the studio building even as I write this. I bring it out in the summer for parties. If the weather is just right, you can still smell the alcohol and cigarettes. I can name at least one classmate who I know that vomited on this section of the bar! Thankfully, the bar does not smell of that!
posted by Pete @ 3:36 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
I'm with Diane! Barb Bixler (where IS SHE by the way?) was my shoe in. Same bar stool, every night, fake ID, and Peterson eye balling all of us wondering how we passed the goon bouncer test! I vaguely remember celebrating my 18th birthday there (legal drinking age back then) and woke up the next day only to find my parents car parked at an angle in the front lawn. Ooopsy. I was NOT the one who puked on the bar!! But I did win a few tequila shot drinking contests, which is why today, 30 years later I can't even smell or look at a bottle of tequila (except in margerita's it is OK)
Martha Bizzell
Martha! We are like twins separated at birth (or bar stool)! I had to fold on tequila after a particularly gruesome night, not at the Haunt, but up on State St at the apartment I shared with Dart Alling. Many years later (like 20)somebody gave me a bottle for my 40th b-day, eight years later it remains un-opened! But, I can drink a margerita, but the strait stuff gives me goose bumps!
In the early days the Haunt had candles on the tables! That couldn't have lasted too long!
I used to go with my sister on Tuesday nights for pitcher(s) of whiskey sours! Ohhh!
I remember always standing outside looking in! Watching you guys sit at the bar and drink having a good time!! My birthday wasn't til August and Peterson knew my face! I had tried to get in one night and he caught me. I swear he was always watching and waiting for me! But don't feel sorry for me. Larry Firestone, Mike Ward, Tom Herson and my brother Tom more then made up for it! We kept genesee beer in business during those years!
Gosh it's good to see comments from you guys!! Pete, Diane, Martha and Cindy I look forward to reminiscing with you guys in person in July.
Pete Schwan
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