Ghosts of Midtown Past

I really don’t intend to turn this blog into some nostalgic homage to the midtown area of days gone by. That being said I wouldn’t be doing justice to the people, places and times that made me who I am if I failed to touch on some of the people and places who are no longer here. So for the two people who read this ,suffer through my self indulgent trip down memory lane. And thanks for reading Mom and Pop.

Miltons Tap Room was at 32nd and main st right about where McDonalds now sits. I lived right around the corner in a beat up old building on Warner Plaza. I was all of about 18 at the time, but Miltons didn’t card so that was how I came to spend many an afternoon getting faced and honing my cool persona. At least I thought I was cool. Anyone who had been at least halfway around the block knew better. I considered myself as slick as Fast Eddie Felson , while the regulars had me pegged as Eb from Green Acres.

Miltons played jazz which was the one thing I didn’t like, it always sounded like everyone was making shit up as they went along, still does. Jazz aside Miltons was a living time capsule. When you walked in you had to pause for a minute to let your eyes adjust. One wall was covered in bounced checks dating as far back as the thirties. There was always a couple of professional drinkers propped up at the far end of the bar and a constant parade of pimps, hookers, and shady characters. Most sane people would have taken one look around and high tailed it south to waldo. I on the other hand could think of no better place to be.

Miltons is long since gone. The old man died back in the early eighties. Time marches on, progress or what passes for progress, has erased the slate. Fast food chains, building material superstores and parking lots have taken over. It is probably a mystery to the modern suburbanite why anyone would miss what I’ve just described. I suppose its a matter of the familiar. I’ve long since quit drinking (turned me into a complete dick), and I’ve cleaned up my act, for the most part. Still I wouldn’t mind spending a few hours tucked into a corner of Miltons watching the grimy melodrama of the Dirty and Desperate.