So did the advice.
"You should put plaques up for all the classic bars like this," slurred one city booster.
"Isn't that your job?" I asked.
"At least make a list of all of them," he continued, although not that coherently.
Been there, done that. In fact, I showed him the evidence: many scrawled-on, stained sheets in my reporter's notebook dating three Friday's back, when the news first leaked out that Duffy's would close on November 30 (technically, at 2 a.m. today) and I joined some fellow mourners at the corner of the 70.1-foot bar. There we lamented worthy saloons long gone, and listed those still deserving of toasting.
The survivors (starting in downtown, staying within city limits, at least a decade old and, in the case of *, under non-original ownership but still worthy): El Chapultepec Carioca Bar Shelby's Star Bar Wazee Lounge* My Brother's Bar Club 404 Campus Lounge Candlelight Ogden Street South Lincoln Roadhouse Stadium Inn College Inn Mozart Lounge Kyle's Brewery Bar II Don's Mixed Drinks Lancer Lounge Hilltop Squeeze Inn 15th Street Tavern Bull & Bush 4-Mile House Satire PS Lounge Recovery Room Bastien's King's Court Mozart Lounge Stockyards Inn
...and, every January during the National Western, the very best bar in the world: The Cowboy Bar in the basement of the Hall of Education.
Have your own nomination? Send it in. Raise a glass -- filled with whatever's still available -- for a last toast to Duffy's. -- Patricia Calhoun
