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LOOK TO FIND ALL KINDS AT AMERICAN LEGION BAR

September 8, 1989
Section: TICKET
Page: TK17

By Ed Murrieta

LAST CALL

--Forget about Ellis Island and Candlestick Park when the Dodgers are in town on a Friday night. The real melting pot, the true mix of humanity, the most honest collection of folks from every walk of life in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and with varying numbers of teeth and tattoos, sits in the middle of downtown at the American Legion Post 61 bar at 15th and H streets.

Late afternoon: A rubber-faced old hepcat, a thinner version of Buddy Hackett, skips a spry jig as Frank Sinatra croons ""New York, New York.'' At the bar is an older gent wearing a tan straw hat with a colorful band. He's sitting cross-legged on the bar stool, keeping time to a ballad with his right hand and sipping canned Budweiser through a red straw. A burly veteran with a hops-and-barley gut that pushes his Harley Davidson T-shirt to the limit stands by the pool table. A distinguishly grayed man in a dark, dapper suit sits at the end of the bar nursing a bourbon and water, and some young neighborhood bohemians and blue-collar types mingle at tables and by the bar.

Mid-evening: Two elderly couples, World War II vintage, relax with Manhattans in curved black booths, the men decked out in their best plaid jackets, the women sporting lovely blue 'dos. At the other end of the bar is an Aryan Nations poster boy: short cropped hair, goatee, tattoos and Nazi imprints on his sleeveless T-shirt. Further down, a thin, muscular guy with a Lyle Lovett haircut and a Tom Waits countenance is flanked by a couple of artistic-looking chums at the bar.

A diverse lot, for sure. But somehow at the Post 61 bar, it doesn't seem out of place, this commingling of classes and ages. After all, the American Legion is like a union for those who fought wars for Americans' right to gather democratically in any tavern they wish.

And the vets don't mind a few long-hairs hanging around.

"We welcome them all," says Andy Salontai, a 69-year-old ex-Army staff sergeant who served in Germany during WWII. "That's the story of the American Legion. We have all types of people. Diverse is a good word for it."

Says bartender Dave Membrila, "This is probably the most diverse bar in the downtown area. We get a lot of young people, local musicians, and we get lawyers, state workers and people from the phone company sitting around conversing with veterans.

"It gives them an opportunity to come into the Post and see what it's all about. They can talk to the people who fought in the wars. They can find out what the war was like from someone who was there first-hand.

"It's great to me that all kinds of people, no matter what their view, can come in here. It's interesting. This kid with long hair can sit there next to an old guy from the war and learn about the war."

Post 61 has a comfortable, neighborhood feel, your basic pool table, cigarette machine and jukebox joint: long sleek bar, brown-and-tan patterned linoleum, round tables and captains chairs, regular pool tournaments, Wednesday afternoon bingo tournaments and occasional pig-outs. But this is the only American Legion post in town that has a bar that's open to the public -- and you know you're in more than a neighborhood watering hole when you see the painting of the raising of Old Glory at Iwo Jima with a carafe filled with miniature flags perched in front, shrinelike.

Throwing that all out of synch, like so much anti-aircraft flak, is the fact that Post 61 has become a showcase for local rock bands such as the Earwigs, Sticklebacks and Rich Hardesty and the Del-Reys. They pack 'em in on occasional Friday nights.

"It's wild,'' says Membrila, who books the acts. "This place is packed. Sometimes we've had to turn people away."

And all this doesn't seem to faze old-time regulars.

"I live right here in the neighborhood, and this is one of the nicest bars around," says Cecil Beaman, an 89-year-old retired railroad conductor. "If they're old or young, they can't beat this place."

F A S T F A C T S

American Legion Post 61

15th and H streets; 448-4732

Atmosphere: Strange but refreshing mix of old and young ---- veterans and bohemians commingling. America.

Happy Hour: Monday through Friday 4-6 p.m. Well drinks and domestic beers, $1.

Best of the jukebox: ""Burning Down the House,'' Talking Heads; ""New York, New York,'' Frank Sinatra; ""Folsom Prison Blues,'' Johnny Cash.

Rating: * * * (out of four).

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