The high point of the evening, for me, was meeting Christine. I’m happy to tell anyone I meet that, since Dad rarely spent his free time anywhere else, I pretty much grew up in the place when it was the Stonycreek Hotel. So my jaw dropped when the charming young lady sitting next to me said, “My grandfather used to own this bar.” Rudy Plesnik(sp?)!!?? Dad feared no man, and respected only a few, but he respected Rudy as much as he did anyone. I spent many hours sitting at that bar waiting for Dad: drinking cokes, eating Rolos and Snyder’s chips, and marvelling at the size of the big man’s arms. Rudy was soft-spoken, tall and fit, and had arms the size of most men’s legs, and he put up with no crap. He never verbalized it, but the Southside’s motto “No Jerks Allowed” began with Rudy Plesnik. It was an honor to share a few minutes with his granddaughter.

Anyway, enough about my memory Lane. We’re here to party. If you don’t know, you live under a rock. Tulune’s Southside Saloon is Johnstown’s only import bar. They’ve got over a hundred and fifty import and craft beers listed on the menu. I wouldn’t mind if they’d add Pilsner Urquell, but maybe next time I’ll try the Krusovice Cerne Schwarzbier instead. Who woulda thought Johnstown could support a bar that isn’t sucked in by all that Bud vs. Miller marketing crap, and that only sells imports, and some of them high-end imports at that. Rudy isn’t the only one to be surprised by their success.

And successful they are, especially if you judge by the quality of the staff, the size of the crowd, and the response of the patrons. This place is jumpin’ and everybody gets a buzz off the bounce. Being about the oldest fart in the outhouse, I’m not always at ease hangin’ with the Utes, but I settled right in here. Eleven years in Boston, and 20 years in Amishland and I’ve only found one other bar (Lancaster Dispensing Company) that feels like home. I can’t wait to get back to Tulune’s. What was home once, is home once again.

And the food! Lordy, I have died and gone to heaven and the St. Pauli Girl is offering me horse devours! Oh Mommy please don’t wake me now! (If she hadn’t been so attractive, I would have paid a bit more attention and been able to tell you what the hell’s goin’ on on the TV.) The food was awesome (overused word, I know, but it fits here), and, for this evening, it was free. Awesomer! I think this was some kind of pizza roll, and we had some crab puffy thingies and some keilbassa wrapped in bacon with a hint of maple flavor, and there was some sweet cakie kind of stuff and then some sort of stromboli or calzone or something that blew me away.

I’d provide more details, but I just assumed it was all on the menu. But it wasn’t. They made all that good eats up special just for me and my network (see preceeding photos – can you hear me now?) I was hoping to order that stromboli stuff somewhere down the road, and was disappointed it isn’t on the menu, but someone told me (and don’t hold me or them to this – it was just said in passing) that on a slow night, you can pretty much get anything you want. And the entire staff busted ass all night long. This infectious energy and attitude has gotta come from Sean, the manager, and it gets picked up by the entire crew. The bar was two-deep for most of the night, and no one had to wait more than a couple of minutes for service. These guys know what they’re doing, and they do it well, and it looks like they all enjoy doing it. It’s a real hoot watching them work.

And I guess that’s why everyone is smiling. Everybody picks up on the good-time vibe and passes it on to the next one. I believe we’ve got no excuses. It’s up to each of us to carry the party with us, but, a lot of the time, you’ll walk into a place and they just wanna bring the party right down. The best bars work hard to keep the flame shining bright, and the Southside is one of those bars: great food, great crowd, and blow-you-out-of-the-water service. I wish I could carry this place around in my hip pocket.

On a final note, I mentioned that I fell hard a dozen times on Saturday night. The first 3 times were over Winnie Cooper, the St. Pauli Girl, and Inks-R-Us: all three beautiful, charming and gracious women, with honest smiles and 150 imported beers at their fingertips. Ladies, I love you all, and I hate to do this, but I’ve gotta break your hearts. There’s just no way it would ever work out. I’m always off somewhere shooting photos, or sitting in bars and falling in love. You all deserve something better. But I will be back soon to give you all a chance to change my mind. Till then…

Scroll down for more photos:

No jerks allowed, but they let me in anyway.

On a night when the stars came out.

Tulune’s Southside Saloon official historian.

Love Sucks 2008 @ the Southside Saloon