He really did know your name

March 15, 2009 7:20 AM

Eddie Doyle, 69, has been laid off from his job in Boston. Who is Eddie Doyle? Nobody special, just a bartender at a bar in Boston (that used to be) called The Bull & Finch. If that doesn't sound familiar, you might have seen the outside of it in the credits of a little television show in the 80s. The show brought thousands to the bar each day but the current recession has taken its toll and the owner, who has been friends with Eddie for 40 years, had to make some tough choices.

But Eddie was more than just a bartender, his annual Cheers for Children auction passed the $1 million mark in 2004 (although its future is now uncertain). He's responsible for a lot of other charitable events and even started a running club, The Boston Barleyhoppers, that resulted in 22 marriages. He organized activities for the bar's employees and started their softball team. Yet he was too busy to meet most of the people he had helped.

So if you're in Boston at the end of the month, stop in and raise a glass to a Boston institution.

Bonus Normisms.

posted by tommasz (37 comments total)

So if you're in Boston at the end of the month, stop in and raise a glass to a Boston institution.

Please note that no one from Boston has gone into that bar since about 1985.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:26 AM on March 15, 2009 [13 favorites]

I know, it's the ultimate tourist trap. When I visited, around 1985 as it happens, I recall being shocked at how much my beer and burger cost. And the line for souvenirs was out the door. I still have the matchbox.
posted by tommasz at 7:31 AM on March 15, 2009

Where no one knows your name
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:51 AM on March 15, 2009

I don't live too far from there - I went there once to say that I've been there. It was really loud and crowded and my burger was sub-par, but hey! It looked kinda like Cheers!

It's too bad that 99% of Eddie's clientele are tourists, who even if he does know their names, won't be coming back for a second round.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 8:04 AM on March 15, 2009

Crap. This means they're hiring Rebecca back, right?
posted by hal9k at 8:07 AM on March 15, 2009 [6 favorites]

He's responsible for a lot of other charitable events and even started a running club, The Boston Barleyhoppers, that resulted in 22 marriages.

Let's hope this stops the insanity, before there's a #23.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:13 AM on March 15, 2009

Also, did Doyle get a phone call from Norm Peterson?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:17 AM on March 15, 2009

Personal anecdote:

There exists a photo of me in a tuxedo, mooning the line of people waiting to get into Cheers from the third floor of the Hampshire House. (I was in a wedding party. I'm pretty sure only the photographer knew that my pasty ass was illuminating Beacon Street.)
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:29 AM on March 15, 2009

I thought this was gonna be about that Mitchum movie, "Friends of Eddie Coyle."
posted by From Bklyn at 8:35 AM on March 15, 2009

Apparently everybody doesn't know his name.
posted by swift at 8:48 AM on March 15, 2009

But at least his troubles are all the same.

And ... scene.
posted by swift at 8:49 AM on March 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Maybe he can get a bit part on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with Sam?
posted by orme at 8:50 AM on March 15, 2009

The guy's nearly 70. Shouldn't he be retired anyway?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:17 AM on March 15, 2009

When you're a bartender, what do you retire to?

(See also: golf pro.)
posted by rokusan at 10:02 AM on March 15, 2009

The guy's nearly 70. Shouldn't he be retired anyway?

Yeah, he's got all that 401k money saved up, and probably a hefty pension. Besides, once people turn 65, what good are they?
posted by incessant at 11:32 AM on March 15, 2009

That was a much better bar, really kind of fun, prior to it getting all touristy and trading on its Cheers fame. Then came fame, a line out the door etc. and even when you bypassed the line it was a different place inside, although I have no idea what it has been like recently now that much of the hype has died down. I am sure the Mayor is right and the locals probably never really came back.
posted by caddis at 12:29 PM on March 15, 2009

Please note that no one from Boston has gone into that bar since about 1985.

Best recommendation I have ever heard for a bar.
posted by srboisvert at 1:00 PM on March 15, 2009 [9 favorites]

Besides, once people turn 65, what good are they?

I know that America is tough and all, but do you really expect people to work until they drop dead?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:02 PM on March 15, 2009

"Nobody goes there anymore; It's too crowded." Y. Berra

The Bull & Finch used to serve a decent Blue Cheese Burger before TV fame drove locals like me away. Many people are disappointed when they go inside because the bar never resembled the TV set and still doesn't. And Eddie Doyle would never be confused for Sam Malone.
posted by birdwatcher at 1:47 PM on March 15, 2009

I know that America is tough and all, but do you really expect people to work until they drop dead?

I can't speak for this guy, but I know a lot of people who work because they want to, not because they have to.

I'm not claiming to be one of those, but I know a few.
posted by absalom at 1:47 PM on March 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

birdwatcher: Don't get me wrong, but I believe he would have been the model for Coach, not Sam?
posted by absalom at 1:48 PM on March 15, 2009

boston sucks
posted by ChickenringNYC at 2:03 PM on March 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I know that America is tough and all, but do you really expect people to work until they drop dead?

I expect people to stop when they want to stop, not when someone tells them they're too old to work.
posted by incessant at 2:12 PM on March 15, 2009

Yankees suck!!!
posted by ericb at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2009

Cheers sucked.

I mean it. It was 23 minutes of people insulting each other.

I hated that show.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:36 PM on March 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

It was 23 minutes of people insulting each other.

You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 5:01 PM on March 15, 2009

I expect people to stop when they want to stop, not when someone tells them they're too old to work.

That's the thing though, sometimes they do get too old to work. The man's near 70, and while he might be competent, he's certainly not going to be quick as a younger worker, able to lift or move as much, etc. When times are good and the economy's strong, companies can keep on less efficient workers for morale and out of loyalty. When it comes time to need to lay someone off though, it should be the least capable person, and unfortunately, the ravages of age very well could make it the oldest.
posted by explosion at 6:05 PM on March 15, 2009

"When it comes time to need to lay someone off though, it should be the least capable person, and unfortunately, the ravages of age very well could make it the oldest."

You also have to consider what it costs to train someone, and whether they'll stick around for 40 years. Bar service is not a career for most. It's usually a revolving door. But there are still some neighborhood places which tend to eventually produce a lifelong bartender. But the lifelong bartender may take your regulars if you fire him, and in tough times, regulars may be more essential to the business than casual customers.
posted by krinklyfig at 6:38 PM on March 15, 2009

boston sucks

I had posted a response that a moderator apparently deemed crass and removed, despite allowing the thoughtless trolling which initiated the response to stand. So I will rephrase it a way that is less coarse:

When one says that something "sucks," one is euphemistically suggesting that the object of derision is a passive partner in an act of fellatio. I am confused as to why chickenringNYC would find it worth commenting on Boston's sexual practices; both his mother and sister are themselves passive partners in multiple acts of fellatio with persons previously unknown to them.

Dear moderators, I hope the above is at least as insightful and eloquent as "boston sucks." Additionally, I hope my comment is allowed to remain seeing as how "boston sucks" has set as a precedent by being left unmolested and I feel that my comment is at least on the same level of discourse.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:49 PM on March 15, 2009 [4 favorites]

I've only caught glimpses of reruns channel-surfing, but when I lived in Boston in the early 90's I used to hear tourists whining that "it didn't look the same way inside that it did on tv".
posted by brujita at 8:45 PM on March 15, 2009

...both his mother and sister are themselves passive partners in multiple acts of fellatio with persons previously unknown to them.

Honey, from what I've heard, they've both been very much active (hardly passive) participants. At least my boyfriend tells me so!
posted by ericb at 12:15 AM on March 16, 2009

I used to hear tourists whining that "it didn't look the same way inside that it did on tv".
Which is why there is a second Cheers at Quincy Market (Faneuil Hall) which is a replica of the bar in the TV series.
posted by Gungho at 5:52 AM on March 16, 2009

And Eddie Doyle would never be confused for Sam Malone.

But would he be confused with Eddie LeBec?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:25 AM on March 16, 2009

I am confused as to why chickenringNYC would find it worth commenting on Boston's sexual practices; both his mother and sister are themselves passive partners in multiple acts of fellatio with persons previously unknown to them.

Typical Boston response. You couldn't just go back with the New York sucks (a slam dunk given his user name) Or Yankees suck, which the mods did allow to stand.

No, you have to go all Boston on us and go nuclear with the reference to his family.

Stay Classy, Boston.
posted by cjets at 9:33 AM on March 16, 2009

yeah, "ya mutha..." is so not New York.
posted by caddis at 10:06 AM on March 16, 2009

The Cheers in London is closed and boarded up, I saw the other day (it was at the bottom of Regent Street near the Cafe Royal). I don't see it as a great loss - more a hopeful sign of endtimes for the Hard Rock Cafe.
posted by athenian at 1:21 PM on March 16, 2009

You couldn't just go back with the New York sucks ... No, you have to go all Boston on us and go nuclear with the reference to his family. Stay Classy, Boston.

Some dick drops a lazy attack on my favorite city, and I'm admonished for my lack of class for escalating?

Anyway, my original retort was an equally lazy "bah, your mother" which was clearly meant to carry the same sentiment as "boston sucks." But that was deleted, so I rephrased it and that made it stronger. I was joking anyway-- I don't even know chickenringNYC's sister.

But that didn't stop her from offering to blow me when I walked past her methadone clinic in Washington Heights.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:20 PM on March 16, 2009 [2 favorites]