Do you know what Freedom is?

I've just come back upstairs from my new most favorite spot on the entire planet.  It's a bar in the hotel called THE LAST HURRAH.  This is the second night that I've enjoyed a stay at the Last Hurrah and I need to share it with whoever is reading this.  The Last Hurrah is a man's kind of bar.  You won't find a single person in there sporting a sideways Mossimo baseball cap.  You won't find anyone in there at all that has shown up to simply "be seen."  I think if you ordered a Red Bull and Vodka you'd be kicked out.  No,the patrons of the Last Hurrah have shown up to drink.  And I love each and every one of them while I sit at the bar.  And that's just the patrons...

The carpets are dark.  The chairs are of an even darker molasses leather.  Everything is low lit and comfortable.  Along with your drink you are served a bowl of warmed up mixed nuts.  And music?  Nothing comes over the speakers that is newer than Frank Sinatra.  NOTHING.

The man behind the bar looks just like Mo from The Simpsons.

And what's this bartender's name?  Joe.  I kid you not.  Aside from the slight difference in name and lack of a bow tie and apron, Mo and Joe are twins.  Same hair.  Same voice.  Same question-mark posture.  Here, I snuck a photo of him on my iphone...

 

Right?  Right?  You see what I mean?  Look at the back of that head.  The similarities are uncanny.

Now, Joe is the boss of that bar.  There is another bartender operating back there with Joe.  He's bald and has jagged sea cliffs for cheeks and looks like he's just dying to lean into your face and say "I'm tellin' you, that kid's got the shinin'!"  But that bartender is nothing but a lowly lieutenant.  Every drink has to go through Joe- even if the other bartender makes it.  Joe has to approve.  You want an Old Fashioned? Joe knows you want it.  Did the lady down in the corner ask for a Gimlet?  Yes she did, and Joe knows how she likes it.  Did the old guy sitting in the middle of the bar just fall asleep while his drinking buddy went to bathroom?  Yes.  But that's okay, because Joe knows he'll wake up once his pal returns.

Last night an older guy comes in to the bar.  Joe doesn't even ask what he wants, he just starts making it.  The guy says, "Hey Joe!  I guess it's the Holy week here in Boston, huh?"  Joe replies, "Yep.  The start of Red Sox season and oh yeah, Easter."   A little while later the guy asks Joe, "Hey Joe, this week the Jews got Passover, the Christians got Easter...but what do the Muslims got?"  Without missing a beat Joe looks up from the highball glass he was polishing and he says, "They got Obama!  Heh heh heh!"  Now, there are many ways to take that comment.  I elected to take it with a sip of my ten year-old on the rocks.

Now, earlier today, the family took a walking tour of THE FREEDOM TRAIL!!!!  WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Ahem.  The Freedom trail essentially covers all of Boston's historical basics.  We had a tour guide that dressed in allegedly accurate American Revolution historical garb.  But I'm not writing a dissertation here so I'll just throw one suggestion out to you...if you think you know truly who the Sons of Liberty were and what how the American Revolution unfolded...do yourself a favor and look further into it.  The Sons of Liberty were far from Gods.  They were men with ambition, and I think that has been left out of the story of the Revolutionary War history lesson that has been that was taught to us all.  I think this is a shame because this is the aspect that makes the story of American particularly compelling.

On a final note, Tiffany wanted me to note my error in the previous post where I cited our hotel as the Omni Peterson.  Our hotel is actually called the Omni Parker, and this is the hotel that invented the Boston Cream pie.

Hmmm Whiskey..