Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Oldest barman in the world

NEW YORK -- As bartender Hoy Wong remembers it, Marilyn Monroe came Wednesdays for lunch and ordered a Beefeater martini, very dry. Judy Garland sat in a corner drinking Johnnie Walker Red.

He said Danny Kaye pulled his jacket over his head to avoid being recognized and that Garland was very sad.

Wong is being honored Tuesday by his employer of 27 years, the Algonquin Hotel, on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
Wong, or Mr. Hoy, as he is known, has been working as a bartender for 58 years. Unless another candidate steps forward, his bosses seem safe in calling him New York's oldest bartender. They said he never misses a day and shows up early in bad weather.

Wong's birthday is Wednesday, but the hotel is throwing him a party a day early.

I heard him on BBC Radio 2 today .. you would have thought after 58 years he could speak English or at least New yorkish

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