1) Since the first announcement came by surprise September 11 that Doyle’s would be closing, the tide of “last-timers” has been swelling ever greater. Shoot, when I went down for a late lunch this afternoon, I saw a large van from the Council on Aging for a town about 20 miles away.
1a) For the most part, these “last-timers” appear to be either very elderly or families with very young children. If any of these people were regulars, it was well before my time.
2) Seriously, the place is jammed. It’s a pity they didn’t announce the closing six months ago, which might’ve generated enough business for them to stay open!
2a) And the noise! Tonight the front room and the center room were like bubbling, simmering pots of soup, the volume at boiling point, but with the occasional bubble of barking and roaring above the din from another part of the room.
3) All this crush today meant that a) I had to eat lunch at the bar, which I have done perhaps only twice before, and b) wait 25 minutes for a table tonight.
4) But once I got seated tonight - at a table in the center room near the old phone booth - the waitress came to me and said “One of Rick’s booths just opened up.” And I dashed for one of my favorite four booths on the other side of the room, and Rick Berlin Himself looked after me.
5) All this “last-timer” traffic has slammed the kitchen, so much so that now they’re only offering a limited menu. At least I can still get my salmon salad with Italian on the side, but there are no club sandwiches of any kind.
Earlier this week - comparatively calm, but full.
6) I am finally reading Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood, by Karina Longworth, creator of the You Must Remember This podcast. That’s my thing: I sit in my booth and read and eat my dinner. More than once tonight - more than once at every meal I’ve had there in the last ten days - I’ve been unable to read, only to look up at the air between the ceiling and everyone’s heads, believing but unable to fathom that soon these rooms will no longer exist.
6a) Because it seems inevitable that the future of the site will not include the Doyles building, but yet another condo building, perhaps as tall as five stories. When I think how much trouble the developer behind my home had about ten years ago when he wanted to tear down what had been the Doyle’s stable . . . but I don’t know what the preservationists would think of a building like Doyle’s that gives every appearance of having been “loved to death.”
7) I think some of the staff are still shellshocked. How can they have time to process everything when they are run off their feet by the crowds?
8) I’d say the countdown continues, but no one seems to have an idea of how long we have to count. I am hopeful they can at least make it through Hallowe’en . . . for one thing because my birthday is a few days before Hallowe’en.
The back room.