They Came Out In Droves!

It was a fond farewell and the attendees no doubt closed the place at 2 a.m.  We weren't among them.

Suzy's Bar and Grill is our local pub and we have faithfully popped in to re-hydrate over the years and numerous changes of personnel.  I remember the real Suzy's, followed by a father from New Jersey who bought it for his daughters to run (and you thought a car for high school graduation was excessive) and then Sal Longo who fought unsuccessfully with the City of Hermosa Beach to a have a full liquor license back in 2016.

Suzy's gave up the battle and that's when Sal decided to sell.  The new owners are Adnen and Lenore Marouani who also own Barsha Wines and Spirits.  They said they want to fluff the place up a little, change the bar menu to reflect a "Mediterranean  diet" which only means one thing to me:  little bowls of hummus with pita chips on every table - a twist on chips and salsa.  I'm against!  Even after I checked to see exactly of what it consists.  Foods from Greece, Italy and Spain with lashings of olive oil.

The feature that kept Suzy's going for a long time is live music every night which has given tremendous breaks to aspiring local musicians.  The new owners have stated publicly and often that the music stays.

We wanted to pay our respects and we arrived at 5:30 p.m. to a packed house.  Every possible seat inside had a butt on it.  The crowd surged out onto the patio.  Our friend "D" found us at the patio doorway and the three of us huddled half in and half out of the door.  Richie and "D" were deep in Dodgerville and paid no attention to me.

One of the guys on the patio had secured a table and two chairs, one occupied by a friendly lady and he asked me if I'd like to sit down?  I was grateful and did.  "Amy" engaged me in conversation about her ancestral tree.  She was part Finnish, Danish and I think I heard "a dash of French."  The noise was continuous and L O U D.

The gent who gave up his seat was hailed by a tall, tanned, blue-eyed man, and they fell into conversation.  During their chat they turned to the ladies (me and Amy) and the newcomer remarked that back in the day, he dated a 16 year old and he was 22!  Interested, I asked, "So how long were you in prison?" and two the  guys erupted into truly great roars of laughter.  You could easily hear them over the crowd.  

Blue eyes was so delighted that he began praising my beauty (non-existent) and indicated he wanted to run away with me as I was a rare specimen of beauty and brains.  He was lit up like the Christmas display at Rockefeller Center, of course.  But affable.

Always leave''em laughing so  I made my adieus and escaped to the car.  Richie and "D" promised to just "finish our drinks."  We went home; "D" had spotted three of his friends and was happily engaged with them.  God knows what time they did leave.

Suzy's is to re-open at the end of August.  I think we'll trundle past three days after it does, based on the farewell.