farewell Tour Diamond Jim Brady's

Diamond Jim Brady's 75 Maiden Lane :

Harkin back to the glory days of the late 80's early 90's. Waterhouse Securities Headquarters were in 44 Wall Street,With a back door exit from National Westminster bank that left you atop the Hill on William and Pine. Just a 90 second stroll down the hill to Maiden
Lane and the front door of Diamond Jim Brady's. We were incredibly busy in those days, so it was a rarity when we slipped out during hours for a tail.


Occasionally on a payday Friday Val and I would sneak over for a decent burger, and an extraordinary Pint. Sometimes after work we would slake the thirst in Diamond Jims before boarding the R train home. Strangest moment was when Hank Szala and I met at Diamond Jims at 6:30 A.M. on Flag Day 2002 for a World Cup match between the USA and Poland. The bar was open for Irish Breakfast and Packed, The game was on the big screen and every TV . We feasted on scrambled eggs and Guinness. ( USA lost to Poland, but advanced when Korea knocked off Portugal same day). Hank went to work after the game, I went to Hoboken and continued the ride….was hammered by noon , had lunch in Arthur's and caught the 2:12 back down the Shore to Lil Silver……remember it like it was yesterday……can't remember a Damm thing about yesterday.

I popped into Diamond Jims last week just have to a look around and remember.

farewell tour......O'Haras

O'Hara's : 120 cedar street

Mike O'Hara himself will greet you at the back bar when you make your grand entrance from Cedar street…..just a pebble kick from the backdoor of firehouse 10 10 on Liberty Street. ….a stones throw from the old blue fountain that sat in front of the Deutsche Bank building less we forget, and of course with that comes the entrance to the World Trade Center plaza and the South tower. A long narrow bar borders the south wall if you come in from the Washington Street entrance, but why would ya?
All the action occurs at the three sided rectangular bar in the aft of the establishment. Cold beer always, Mets baseball when applicable, decent food, reasonable prices. …I enjoyed this bar in the pre 9/11 days….occasionally making the trek from my Waterhouse desk. My visits picked up when I took up residence in Tower 1 while manning a desk for Instinet. And after a hiatus from lower Manhattan , I became an O'Hara's frequent flier when I joined Fidelity at 1 World Financial at 200 Liberty Street.

Turns out the owner and I have some mutual acquaintances , shocker , and I have done my best to reintroduce some old friends to this delightful watering hole….today being no exception, as we cheer on the Metropolitans as they take on the Phillies. The building took quite a hit in 2001 , and Mike has a photo album of shots to prove it, if you find yourself in their and like to view photos , ask him to let you see it, he will gladly oblige. ( there is huge photo of the bar and building covered in wreckage from the WTC taken just days after the attack.) I take pride in going to this bar, to me it is a symbol or a badge of courage for all the survivors…….you see O'Hara's too rose from the ashes of that day to live again.

God Bless ya Mike, keep serving them cold.

As a side note , our good friend Richie Betts , having just evacuated from the Deutsche Bank building, stopped into O'Hara's for a drink to calm his nerves, thankfully he and the other patrons and workers survived when the 102 story building around the corner collapsed.

farewell tour

as i roam around, and make the rounds of saying fare thee well to my old haunts of lower manahattan, it strikes me that not as many people drink their lunch anymore......that's a shame....where did all the good day drinkers go.....even last week I had lunch with K-Mac in suspenders and he was having a diet coke.......says he's too busy to knock back a few at lunch and still be productive when he gets back to the office...........and I said "SO" ??

anyway I thought it might be nice to logintheblog all the establishments I feel a yearning to say goodbye to as I move across the Hudson the real JC.

I'll start with today's stop......if that makes any sense.

Nebraska Steak House on Stone Street:

not a big fan, never really went there much while it has been called Nebraska....$5.00 Coors Light Bottle part of the reason. ......although today there were a bevy of buxom bartenders, but that is not why I stopped there........I went there for the memories that were created under the previous owner/title.....this used to be Cassidy's Liquid Asetts.....a lot of cold beer was inhaled over the years standing by the upstairs bar with the window looking down on Stone Street.

another example of double standards

as if the differences in jailhouse treatment of Paris H as opposed to Dan Q Public aka Paris W were not enough .........comes word out of Bayridge that our own little heart patient was ordered back to the dump ( or behind the truck as it were) ...............are the unions loosing their strength? are union bosses selling out their brethren and lining their own pockets? NYPD starting salary 25K ?? who signed that contract ? Triple bypass patient ordered back to work in 100 degree heat and humidity ?? where is the union outcry ? what is wrong with this country ?

Messier the Great Strikes again

It took 4 patient days of sitting in the basement, 4 restless nights with very little sleep, 4 long days of sniffing the garage door and pacing the Floors, but hard work has once again paid off for the Great Hunter of Monmouth County..........at 4:37 a.m. this morning, Messier the great came up from the basement with her trophy Mouse in her mouth and triumphantly dropped itat the feet of her meal provider ( Val). As she has stated so many times in the past , Messiers Motto was and still is " they'll be no mouses in my houses".................the exterminator baton has been passed back to Grave.........Gravey ...your on the clock.......it's time for a kill to answer your compadre........and don't you dare take the easy road and go fishing........your adoring public demands something of substance.........Congrats again Mess.....Keep up the great work !!!

UPDATES !!

first time visitors looking for salaciuos gossip about my good friend Dano can go elsewhere.....just like in war time...."loose lips , sink ships".....................slow news day in LBI ??

Paris Hilton

why do celebrities like Paris Hilton get whisked out of jail, while friends of mine are forced to rot away for over 22 hours in a holding Cell.........No Justice ...No peace pipes............I am going to start waring a "Free Dante" button on my lapel........

page 12

Little blip on page 12 of the Post today.....Thank God it's nothing important.

June 19, 2007 -- Teams of al Qaeda-trained suicide bombers were dispatched to the United States and Europe from an Afghan camp 10 days ago, ABC News reported last night.
About 300 would-be bombers - including boys as young as 12 - were ordered to carry out attacks in Britain, Canada, Germany and the United States, the report said.
A Pakistani journalist invited to attend the camp took pictures of a Taliban commander congratulating graduates on June 9, ABC News said.
"These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from faraway places. Why shouldn't we go after them?" the commander, Mansoor Dadullah - whose brother was killed by U.S. forces last month - can be heard saying on tape.
U.S. intelligence officials dismissed the graduation ceremony as "aggressive and sophisticated propaganda." But Richard Clarke, a former counterterror expert in the Clinton and Bush White Houses, said the threat should be taken seriously.
"It doesn't take too many who are willing . . . and able to slip through . . . to the United States or England [to] cause a lot of damage," he said.
More than 100 people have been killed in three days of clashes between NATO and the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.

Flag Day

13 years ago this evening, in the wrold's most famous arena, in the heart of the city that never sleeps, The NEW Messiah delivered what so many others before him could not. The GREAT Mark Messier quenched a 54 year thirst and ensured that the Ranger faithfuls' Stanley Cup runneth over. Every member of that team immediately crossed over into "my" Hall of Fame. Nothing they ever do in the future would diminish that accomplishment. Alex, Leetchie, Graves, RICHTER !!, Mattieu Mattieu , BooooooK, Larmer, Mctavish, Noonan, Zubov, Nemchinov, Tiik, eddie O , etc etc .......forever immortalized and linked to that moment. Soon the Garden will be torn down, and as Neil Young says, time fades away, but that night will indeed last a lifetime Mr Rosen. and I for one will never fail to acknowledge its passing..........LETS GO RANGERS.....

X men

in case you were not included on the email, I have attached a copy below....yesterday was the anniversary of the Xaverian Track Team 1971 CITY Championship. Had i realized this yesterday, I surely would have stayed in brannigans for one extra beer and raised a glass to this accomplishment. Having run for Xaverian myself, and seen first hand the fierce competition of NY High school track, I can appreciate what a tremendous effort this took from every memeber of that team.......Congratulations.....don't ever let the date pass without acknowledgement.............ps...i watched the redsox game in scores with Arods Busty friend, and she said it ain't over until cynthia "the fat lady" rodriguez sings.

33 years ago today...on a rainy Saturday morning in the Bronx - lightening strikes, as the mighty Molloy Stanners (from Queens!) were dethroned by the scrappy (not to mention superbly coached) Clippers from Brooklyn (birthplace of civilization)!

Xaverian High School becomes Track and Field New York City Champs!!!!

One of the greatest upsets in the history of sports!

I'm heading out in 15 minutes for a 3 mile loop to the train station...and while even a measly 3 miles is a challenge now, I think about what happened 33 years ago - every day I run - and that helps me finish my workouts.

I sometimes wonder - was it a dream? Did it really happen? How did we ever win? Talk about comebacks!

PS - beers at 6pm...Yanks at 7pm...I sent this e-mail to Torre too...as Yogi says, it ain't over until it's over. We sure proved that saying is true.