There were gin mills in every town. Santa Barbara had Joe' and the snake pit in the hotel. In Lompoc, I can't remember the name but it was one of the last bars in Calif to have a On Sale & Off Sale license and where a lot of guys would cash their checks. Last I heard they were still in business. If you were on a long beaner you would drive over to the Hitching Post in Casmalie. It was owned by the Ostinie family and Ben worked as a Brakeman & Conductor out of SLO. We were on the Lompoc job together one time and we went over. Damn good prime rib. In Guadalupe it was the Far Western Tavern. Great steaks and a big bar. I was told someone brought it and turned it into a yuppie joint and the quality of food went down. At SLO you had the "Caboose" in the Park Hotel, McCarthy's downtown, and Motel Inn & Silent Woman at the north end of town. All these places are long gone. McCarthy's was moved down the street and Bulls is still in business. Can't forget "This Old House".

San Miguel had the Buckhorn or Elkhorne Saloon. They also had and I guess, still do, an Off Sale & On Sale license that they got when WWII started training people at Cmp Roberts.

In Wat. Jct, there was the Pajoro Room in the Resitar Hotel, Roaring 20s across the street and the Miramar Cafe a few doors down. They would run a tab for you and when you worked in at the end of the month you paid it. There was never a person working out of SLO that wrote any bad checks. At the Miramar & Resitar if someone did, they would give you the check, you would give them the money they were out and collect from the person that wrote it. That is one thing you did not want to do in SLO and get known for writting bad checks or owing money. You also had a great Trainmaster in Wat. Jct, HFF and a great RFE in SLO, LEP & SPO. They would "talk" to these guys and the habit was gone. And down the block towards the Santa Cruz main was the Del Monte. If you had wheels you could go to Garbenie's (spelling) and the Leprechaun. There was the Bearded Clam towards Aptos and a few more.

In the City we would go to the J&B Club out near 16th & Harrision for lunch. You would order a steak sandwich for around $4.00 and it would come on sourdough bread. They also served a jug of red wine and one of white. A bunch of sliced cheese of different kinds and plenty of bread & butter and vegi plate. You couldn't eat the whole thing and take half back with you to the Blue Room for dinner.

Back then there were a lot of bars and nobody thought anything about having a beer or two. You just didn't make it a habit if you were on duty.


Nudge