On Lawrence St. Frank’s Diner was a coffee shop that on many days the high school sharpies would hang out at. Many times that was where the class cutters would congregate. The immortal LHS football coach Ed Buckley would love to tell the stories about going to Frank’s to round up his players that would later become State Champs namely, Joe Pauta, Mike Riccio, Mike DiGaetano and others.

Remember “Where the elite meet the dawn”? Sure you do! It was the old Nick Maloof’s and it was an after-hours place were Syrian food was the special and maybe a late night highball could be available, too. Today it’s not Syrian food or bread; it’s Lebanese or pita bread.

The Puritan was a hangout on Essex St and so was the Downyflake. Sonny’s Restaurant drew many people after the movies and the owner’s son now is the owner of Hayes’ Café, a place that for years had a hole in the wooden floor patched with asphalt. It may still be there! Many politicians hung at Hayes and so did many city workers. It is rumored that a Street Department crew patched the floor with some stock left from a street paving job, although in those days it might have been a job order from City Hall.

There was an Al’s Diner on Essex St. where Leo’s bar was just across from the Elderly at Essex and Broadway and an Al’s Diner still exist after all these years on South B’way going toward the now closed Sacred Heart Church and many of the old crowd still start their day with coffee and a great breakfast there. You could also get a lot of the “skinny” on the city’s doing at Al’s Diner in Southie.

Could we ever write an article and omit the Mrs. and Me Diner on South Union St.? It was a place right out of a Damon Runyon novel. There were more characters to hit this place that you could count: Mayors, Alderman, ex athletes, construction workers and an occasional “lady of the night”. This place opened about 10:30 or 11:00 pm and the bars would close at 12 or l am so, of course, many of the patrons of Vic’s formerly Jennie’s, Dan’s Cafe owned by the late Sammy Abbott, the gang from Jeff’s Café, owned then by Mort Donahue which is now called the Lightship and the gang from Gilligan’s also called the Whippet Club, last-rounders came from the British Club and from Bucko’s and the Calumet and Ivers Club on So B’way. You would and could likely meet anyone at this place. Maybe it was a forerunner of “Cheers” where everyone knew your name. The cook in this place was the chief of all the characters that frequented this place and his name was Ernie. He would call almost everyone “mushroom.” Eventually, people started calling the place either Mushroom’s or Mushy’s. People came from all around the city and overnight truckers would stop by for a snack.

The food was nothing to brag about and if Ernie was in a bad mood he would explode and scream and rant like crazy at whoever put in the order. On summer nights his screaming and yelling would bring the cruisers two or three times a night to quiet things down. Most cops knew all the customers and Ernie and would just tell him to knock off the noise and yelling. Most of the customers were coming after a night of throwing back some big numbers of beer or heavier stuff - it wasn’t drugs in those days - and the saying “he or she was pretty high” meant that that person had consumed too much alcohol.

One night Ernie was screaming and acting up about making French Toast cause it cluttered his grill so naturally almost every third person would order just to get him going and of course he’d explode. Yelling throwing things and also throwing all of us out and even calling the cops who told him he was the one they wanted to simmer down. Can you imagine because of French Toist as he called it?

Well, when things finally calmed down, he’d let us back in and lo and behold an out of state rig driver pulls up and comes in and sits on the stool next to me and starts a conversation. He says, “It’s nice to find an all night diner and to be able to take a break on his way to Presque Isle, Maine, after driving most of the night.” He said, “The coffee is pretty good; what do you think I should order?”

Of course, I said, “This guy makes the best French Toast you’ve ever had.” The unsuspecting transient gives Ernie his order as Ernie now seems pretty subdued and it was like flicking “nutty switch” as Ernie went off. He called the driver every name in the book and invented some swears that I’ve never heard again, threatened to call the cops and threatened to come over the counter with a knife if this “&0%$#* didn’t leave; this at the top of his lungs.

The poor driver couldn’t leave fast enough and was as scared as I’ve ever seen anyone as he went to his rig. All of us “regular attendees were all broken up with laughter at this scene. Eventually Tom Branco and his wife Mary bought the place and although the crowds were still pretty good with Ernie the Mushroom out of the picture, it was a different mood. I must say that although there was a diverse crowd and many that had too much to drink there was rarely any fights among the patrons.

I am sure that many of you that read this column at one time or another had found your way to “Mushy’s” and could add many more stories about it and also the others mentioned above. I hope we’ve brought a smile to your face and if you’re the truck driver you are probably just now finding out why you got thrown out of that nice little diner in South Lawrence for just ordering what the short order cook was screaming about “French Toist.”
 

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