Day Drinking

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donbosco

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I very clearly remember when Tijuana Fats' on Rosemary Street opened its doors at 11 am for early lunch-goers and there would be two or three fellows show up pretty soon afterward, newspapers in hand, to sit at the bar, have an enchilada and drink through into the afternoon. One of them was a third shifter who has, last I heard, given up alcohol. I'm not sure what became of the others.

I also remember seeing drinkers perched at the bar pretty early in the day at The Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin having morning Bloodies and Boilermakers. In those days it was the earliest mixed drink in town until Breadmen's went full liquor bar.


In Guatemala I was acquainted for many years with a group of old expatriate eccentrics that met every morning around 8:30 am to polish off a fifth of rum with OJ at a table at the now long defunct Restaurante San Marcos with a good view of the park and El Volcán Agua.


https://www.atlasobscura.com/.../londons-pubs-open...

“'In the past, everyone drank all day—men, women, and children,' says Paul Jennings, pub historian and author of A History of Drink and the English. As recently as 100 years ago, all London pubs opened in the morning, and they’d fill with people having an early drink."



“The time when Americans drank all day long”: The time when Americans drank all day long - BBC News
 
When I was in my early-20s the idea of being a barfly sounded great to me. Totally what I hoped to do with my life. Never happened though. Another failure on my part.
 
For a long time alcohol was safer than water. I can't imagine how hung over everyone was back in the day.

I get the idea (some from my own research in 18th and 19th century records, that ‘hair of the dog’ was a very common remedy - I think folks were quite soused a good bit of the time.

Once I was spending time reading over census records from Antebellum Chatham County. The census taker in those days rode across the countryside stopping at every house and took inventory. I even remember the man’s name - Alvis Bynum.

His handwriting would be quite legible then become increasingly difficult to read. Then again readable to unreadable.

Then I took closer note of the timing. He was starting his day off with pretty good penmanship. By the end of the day it was terrible.

Finally figured that he must have been having a snort at close to every stop throughout the day leaving him snockered by quitting time.

Good thing he was on horseback.
 
I very clearly remember when Tijuana Fats' on Rosemary Street opened its doors at 11 am for early lunch-goers and there would be two or three fellows show up pretty soon afterward, newspapers in hand, to sit at the bar, have an enchilada and drink through into the afternoon. One of them was a third shifter who has, last I heard, given up alcohol. I'm not sure what became of the others.

I also remember seeing drinkers perched at the bar pretty early in the day at The Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin having morning Bloodies and Boilermakers. In those days it was the earliest mixed drink in town until Breadmen's went full liquor bar.


In Guatemala I was acquainted for many years with a group of old expatriate eccentrics that met every morning around 8:30 am to polish off a fifth of rum with OJ at a table at the now long defunct Restaurante San Marcos with a good view of the park and El Volcán Agua.


https://www.atlasobscura.com/.../londons-pubs-open...

“'In the past, everyone drank all day—men, women, and children,' says Paul Jennings, pub historian and author of A History of Drink and the English. As recently as 100 years ago, all London pubs opened in the morning, and they’d fill with people having an early drink."



“The time when Americans drank all day long”: The time when Americans drank all day long - BBC News
When I worked at the Carolina Coffee Shop, it was the owner who was sitting at the bar drinking all day.
 
I very clearly remember when Tijuana Fats' on Rosemary Street opened its doors at 11 am for early lunch-goers and there would be two or three fellows show up pretty soon afterward, newspapers in hand, to sit at the bar, have an enchilada and drink through into the afternoon. One of them was a third shifter who has, last I heard, given up alcohol. I'm not sure what became of the others.

I also remember seeing drinkers perched at the bar pretty early in the day at The Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin having morning Bloodies and Boilermakers. In those days it was the earliest mixed drink in town until Breadmen's went full liquor bar.


In Guatemala I was acquainted for many years with a group of old expatriate eccentrics that met every morning around 8:30 am to polish off a fifth of rum with OJ at a table at the now long defunct Restaurante San Marcos with a good view of the park and El Volcán Agua.


https://www.atlasobscura.com/.../londons-pubs-open...

“'In the past, everyone drank all day—men, women, and children,' says Paul Jennings, pub historian and author of A History of Drink and the English. As recently as 100 years ago, all London pubs opened in the morning, and they’d fill with people having an early drink."



“The time when Americans drank all day long”: The time when Americans drank all day long - BBC News
As I have my first vodka tonic this morning, I want to share my favorite Fats story...

Back in the day there was a light snow about to fall. Five of us went to Fats in the early afternoon and got a table. There was only one other party sitting at a table.

The waiter came to give us menus. We told him we only needed one and ordered a round of Tijuana Teas. We used the menu to snort lines of cocaine and had several rounds of teas through out the afternoon.

At that point the waiter came to the table had reached $49 saying he just wanted to let us know the bill "was getting up there". I thanked the waiter and asked the crew what we should do. One of my buddies said that with that high a bill we only had one thing to do...order another round !

At the end of the day, now evening, we each had 7 teas and prepared to to pay the bill and leave. Unfortunately, one of the guys insisted he wanted one more tea and went to the bar to the bar to order one. He was obviously very intoxicated and became unruly waiting for someone to take his order.

And rightly so, we were thrown out of Fats and into the falling snow.

Oh, to be 21yo old again 😀
 
Never been much of a day drinker. Did some like everybody but it was never fun for me to be drunk for a long time.

Otoh, I consider waking and baking virtually mandatory. "Different strokes for different folks, and so on..."
 
I had a friend who always would assume a disappointed tone to tell me, "(Name), you can't drink all day. . . If you don't get started in the morning."
 
Jesucristo!!!

7 Tijuana Teas! That's impressive.

Fats' was pretty far down the line on the bar gold course in town and a pretty pickled crew trying to play 9 holes would come in pretty frequently. If the group's "tee time" had been early in the day that could get difficult as they hit during dinner hours.

I may have tossed a highly intoxicated Lewis Black out of the place many, many years ago. It wasn't that difficult to get booted from Fats'.
 
Jesucristo!!!

7 Tijuana Teas! That's impressive.

Fats' was pretty far down the line on the bar gold course in town and a pretty pickled crew trying to play 9 holes would come in pretty frequently. If the group's "tee time" had been early in the day that could get difficult as they hit during dinner hours.

I may have tossed a highly intoxicated Lewis Black out of the place many, many years ago. It wasn't that difficult to get booted from Fats'.
Wait just a gosh darn minute... were you a bartender in 1973-74 ?

If so, maybe it was you that threw us out:unsure:
 
Too many words for me to read:confused:

So when did Fats start selling liquor by the drink ? Maybe we were one of the first to drink:cool:

Liquor by the drink was not available in North Carolina until 1978 and then only in places where the sales were over 50% food or were a private club (that's simplifying a pretty complicated thing actually). Before that Brown Bagging was possible in some public establishments. Even after 1978 some places did not have liquor by the drink...I worked in the Tijuana Fats' in Blowing Rock from 1984 until 1986 for example and there we only had a Brown Bagging license (Blowing Rock didn't get Liquor by the drink until 1986 or 87 I believe).

The whole thing is pretty complicated actually -- North Carolina instituted alcohol laws piecemeal for the most part.
 
Liquor by the drink was not available in North Carolina until 1978 and then only in places where the sales were over 50% food or were a private club (that's simplifying a pretty complicated thing actually). Before that Brown Bagging was possible in some public establishments. Even after 1978 some places did not have liquor by the drink...I worked in the Tijuana Fats' in Blowing Rock from 1984 until 1986 for example and there we only had a Brown Bagging license (Blowing Rock didn't get Liquor by the drink until 1986 or 87 I believe).

The whole thing is pretty complicated actually -- North Carolina instituted alcohol laws piecemeal for the most part.
That makes more sense. I graduated in '74 and one buddy graduated in '75. The other three had flunked out a year or two before 1974.

So my edit : oh, to be 26 again...but in my mind I'm still 17yo and I have to remind myself, when ogling the UNC co-eds, that I am 73yo and just like Jimmy Carter said, lusting in my heart is very inappropriate.

Signing off to attend the 73rd birthday brunch celebration of a buddy who was not at Fats that fateful day but did graduate with me in 1974. I am promising myself to only drink two Bloody Marys🤪
 
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