(Sabrina, spiritualist and vendor of spirits behind the Willow Bar). Sabrina was on duty behind the Willow bar. She is an intensely spiritual mixologist, and you can always get your palm read or get an account of the full karmic impact of whatever is happening on our side of the bar from her. Saturn was […]

Harbor park bench Cup of Shizuoka tea Cormorant floats On a placid sea copyright J.P.N. | Poetry, Etc., From Kanagawa, South of Tokyo, Japan www.carllafong.blogspot.jp

Mac did not have a good weekend, nothing bad, but the Docs had taken beer away from him again. Boomer had the shift off to do family business, and Big Jim was covering for her along with Liz-with-an-S. There was energy in town, the elections and the partisans on both sides had become irritating. It […]

(COMNAVAIRPAC Headquarters, Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, CA). Boomer was behind the Willow bar, and she was pouring with abandon. I had not had a good day at the office, and it was a relief to her about what her kids were up to, how her Dad was doing, and the rest of the […]

(1966-vintage shrapnel from a rocket attack in Saigon). Willow was quiet, but it was a wary quiet, awaiting the arrival of people who would drink away the stress of the day. Old Jim was listening to music on his MP3 Player, Mac Showers was dressed casually in an aloha shirt and slacks. Jasper was holding […]

It was a Thursday afternoon at Willow. Big Jim and Liz-with-an-S and the irrepressible Jasper were attempting to manage the crowd at the Amen Corner. Jon-wiithout and John-with were enjoying drinks next to Old Jim, and Long Hair Mike was chatting up Jarhead Ray as they immersed themselves in the wonderful world of post-work at […]

(Saying farewell at Arlington National Cemetery) It was April 16th, the Day After the funeral. The pictures had been posted, the toasts were raised at the wake at Willow. The haunting sound of the highland pipes covered the retreat of hundreds of officers and Sailors from the grave site. Mac’s earthly remains were given over […]

(Boomer takes that critical first Happy Hour order. Photo Socotra). The people and employees at Willow seem to blend together into an ersatz, if quite real, family. When things were going well at the restaurant, all was right with the world. When there was a shake-up in the personnel line-up behind the bar, it was […]

(Boomer behind the bar at the Amen Corner. Photo Socotra). Willow was bustling, and it was with good reason. The last Friday night of the month was the fabulous Buffalo Night, in which Tracy O’Grady re-creates the most famous sandwich to ever come out of Buffalo, New York: the astonishing ‘Beef on Weck.’ BOW is […]

(Tinker Belle holds down the Willow bar). Willow was having one of those golden afternoons where the doors to the patio were propped open and the dust motes glowed in the rays of the lowering sun. Jasper was running around as always- I don’t know when he doesn’t work- and Tinker Belle was handling the […]