Joe Michaels
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Location
- Shandaken, NY, USA
Dalmatiangirl:
It's New Years eve, and I found myself wondering if you were going to go to the McGill Club for a New Year's Eve drink. Then, the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic returned to my mind, so I imagine the McGill Club (or going out to celebrate the New Year) is not on yours or too many other people's agendas.
Your photos show a classic old bar, what I call a "real bar"- not some attempt to re-create an old classic. It's a "real bar" where if you asked for a boilermaker, I am sure the bartender would know what you were asking for. No drinks with parasols and trendy names made from enough sweet stuff to disguise the hooch. A place where there are likely jars of pickled pig's feet, pickled ham hocks, pickled hard boiled eggs, and similar snacks on the back bar along with the usual array of bottles. No white wine, no chamber music softly playing, no 'finger foods' with names no one can pronounce. Music comes out of the juke box and is whatever the patrons care to hear rather than soft chamber music, and food can be whatever is in the jars on the back bar, or perhaps something from the kitchen like wings or southwestern type foods.
Classic old bars like the McGill Club are getting fewer as younger generations gravitate to 'clubs' or franchised type restaurants and bars. I wonder at the name of the bar "McGill Club". Does Nevada have a 'club' law like Texas ? Years ago, I was on a job in Wichita Falls, TX. I was in a restaurant and wanted a beer with my supper. The manager came over, introduced herself and explained the "club law". Selling drinks over the bar to anyone who walked in was apparently illegal. Selling drinks to members of a club was not. So, for two bucks, I became a 'club member' and was given a 'club card' to be produced on demand if asked by law enforcement. Of course, the club card had some provision for punching or stamping anytime I had a drink, with a free round for every so many drinks. Seemed kind of transparent or silly to me to enact a 'club law', but I wonder if the McGill Club is a 'club" in that sense of things.
The other thing that has me wondering is the name 'Cyprus Hall' on the second story of the McGill Club's building. Was there a fraternal organization or similar group made up of immigrants from Cyprus (Cypriots) amongst the population of miners in that region ? In many mill and mining towns, there were 'halls' where immigrant groups met for social functions as well as for mutual benevolent societies (insurance, aid to widows and orphans, helping new 'greenhorns' get a start in the new world...).
In any event, I want to wish you and everyone on this 'board a HEALTHY as well happy and prosperous New Year. We have our pickled herring and whisky all ready to welcome in the New Year as is our custom. I've got the Lunkenheimer steam whistle rigged on its pipe mast (1" pipe) 20 feet above ground level outside the garage, hooked up to the shop air receiver with jackhammer hose. I've also got my old Ithaca Model 37 shotgun and a couple of shells for it. Come midnight, I play a tune on the whistle, quilling it and making it sob and yip, and blast off a couple of rounds at the moon. The colder the weather, the better the echo of the whistle up and down our valley. Friends 2 miles away hear the whistle each New Years. Last New Years, we were outside the house blowing the whistle having discharged the shotgun, when we heard the whoop of a police siren. It was a town police officer, about 1/4 mile away. He got on his loud hailer and yelled out a New Year's greeting. We have some new neighbors about 50 feet below our house in elevation and maybe 1000 feet away. They are likely 'Covid refugees', up from NY City judging by the constant parade of contractors who have been working on their house. Real estate prices in our area have taken off astronomically, and anything that is saleable, or is at least a buildable lot (meeting local zoning ordinances and NYC watershed codes for septic systems) is fetching prices no one ever dreamed of. The area is over run with people up from NYC, and our new neighbors are in for a shock come midnight when we cut loose up at our house. If they think they will get any sympathy from the local gendarmerie, they have another guess coming.
After the 'concert', we come back into the house, kiss each other and have a shot or two of neat whisky and some herring and bread. No prolonged partying, no champagne, just wish each other a heartfelt good year and then go to sleep.
Were you geographically closer, I am sure we'd find a 'real bar' to meet at and have a few while finding commonalities and trading stories and ideas. For the near term, again, all the best for the New Year.
It's New Years eve, and I found myself wondering if you were going to go to the McGill Club for a New Year's Eve drink. Then, the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic returned to my mind, so I imagine the McGill Club (or going out to celebrate the New Year) is not on yours or too many other people's agendas.
Your photos show a classic old bar, what I call a "real bar"- not some attempt to re-create an old classic. It's a "real bar" where if you asked for a boilermaker, I am sure the bartender would know what you were asking for. No drinks with parasols and trendy names made from enough sweet stuff to disguise the hooch. A place where there are likely jars of pickled pig's feet, pickled ham hocks, pickled hard boiled eggs, and similar snacks on the back bar along with the usual array of bottles. No white wine, no chamber music softly playing, no 'finger foods' with names no one can pronounce. Music comes out of the juke box and is whatever the patrons care to hear rather than soft chamber music, and food can be whatever is in the jars on the back bar, or perhaps something from the kitchen like wings or southwestern type foods.
Classic old bars like the McGill Club are getting fewer as younger generations gravitate to 'clubs' or franchised type restaurants and bars. I wonder at the name of the bar "McGill Club". Does Nevada have a 'club' law like Texas ? Years ago, I was on a job in Wichita Falls, TX. I was in a restaurant and wanted a beer with my supper. The manager came over, introduced herself and explained the "club law". Selling drinks over the bar to anyone who walked in was apparently illegal. Selling drinks to members of a club was not. So, for two bucks, I became a 'club member' and was given a 'club card' to be produced on demand if asked by law enforcement. Of course, the club card had some provision for punching or stamping anytime I had a drink, with a free round for every so many drinks. Seemed kind of transparent or silly to me to enact a 'club law', but I wonder if the McGill Club is a 'club" in that sense of things.
The other thing that has me wondering is the name 'Cyprus Hall' on the second story of the McGill Club's building. Was there a fraternal organization or similar group made up of immigrants from Cyprus (Cypriots) amongst the population of miners in that region ? In many mill and mining towns, there were 'halls' where immigrant groups met for social functions as well as for mutual benevolent societies (insurance, aid to widows and orphans, helping new 'greenhorns' get a start in the new world...).
In any event, I want to wish you and everyone on this 'board a HEALTHY as well happy and prosperous New Year. We have our pickled herring and whisky all ready to welcome in the New Year as is our custom. I've got the Lunkenheimer steam whistle rigged on its pipe mast (1" pipe) 20 feet above ground level outside the garage, hooked up to the shop air receiver with jackhammer hose. I've also got my old Ithaca Model 37 shotgun and a couple of shells for it. Come midnight, I play a tune on the whistle, quilling it and making it sob and yip, and blast off a couple of rounds at the moon. The colder the weather, the better the echo of the whistle up and down our valley. Friends 2 miles away hear the whistle each New Years. Last New Years, we were outside the house blowing the whistle having discharged the shotgun, when we heard the whoop of a police siren. It was a town police officer, about 1/4 mile away. He got on his loud hailer and yelled out a New Year's greeting. We have some new neighbors about 50 feet below our house in elevation and maybe 1000 feet away. They are likely 'Covid refugees', up from NY City judging by the constant parade of contractors who have been working on their house. Real estate prices in our area have taken off astronomically, and anything that is saleable, or is at least a buildable lot (meeting local zoning ordinances and NYC watershed codes for septic systems) is fetching prices no one ever dreamed of. The area is over run with people up from NYC, and our new neighbors are in for a shock come midnight when we cut loose up at our house. If they think they will get any sympathy from the local gendarmerie, they have another guess coming.
After the 'concert', we come back into the house, kiss each other and have a shot or two of neat whisky and some herring and bread. No prolonged partying, no champagne, just wish each other a heartfelt good year and then go to sleep.
Were you geographically closer, I am sure we'd find a 'real bar' to meet at and have a few while finding commonalities and trading stories and ideas. For the near term, again, all the best for the New Year.
