Monday, March 17, 2008
St. Patty's
I used to work in the number one Irish bar in Chico California during the post "Pioneer Days" debacle, where MTV posted a map on how to get to Chico and told everyone to party it up.
Well we never caused any riots after that year, but they did try and pin the whole riot on us, but since most of the regulars at that time were the Chico State Baseball team and they surrounded our beer garden (later turned into a "dome") with baseball bats and protected it from the rioters. They did have front row seats to the burning of the TV news van and the police vehicle that got torched but still Riley's had NOTHING to do with that.
But the 5 years that I ran the joint at 5th and Ivy, we had some of the best St. Patty's days ever! One year we sold 57 kegs of green beer between 6am and 4pm. that is 113,088 ounces of beer, or roughly 9424 12 ounce beers in a 10 hour period. or 158 beers per hour which coincidentally was close to our capacity of 161 people(Not that we followed those rules I had almost 220 people jammed in there at one time). So for 10 hours we averaged one beer per person per hour. Not to mention the 30 liters of Jagermiester and other assorted shots that were being devoured by the populace. It was a ton of fun!
Every year we would run a skeleton crew the night before St. Patty's so our number one crew would be fresh for the 5-4 shift, however since I was the Manager I had to make sure that all was smooth and since I lived above the bar it was noisy enough that I couldn't get to sleep until the bar closed anyway so I generally worked that night. When we would sut the doors at 2:00am on the 16th we would always, ALWAYS have 20-30 people walk out of the bar and turn around so they would be first in at 6am.
Nucking Futs I tell ya!
One year I had to call the fire department because this regular Kurt Stassi (yes that is his real name, he can't know about the inter webs so it's ok) decides it would be a good idea to have a fire so he walks to his frat house the AGR house and drags back a BBQ. One of those great big Webber models, and proceeds to create a BON FIRE on the sidewalk, next to the bar.
Every year we would get done with the party and Nick and Kevin (the owners) would take the first crew out for drinks at a tiny little place, 1/2 a block away called Joe's that survived on blue collars and our over flow. They also make the BEST bloody Mary's in Chico! ( I still talk about them and I haven't had one for 15 years.
Man how fucking young and stupid was I? I can't believe that this was almost 21 years ago...I could have had a kid and taken them out boozing today! That is weird I tell ya!
Anyway, Party Monsters ENJOY the drunkfest that is St. Patty's and be safe! You never know when you'll wake up old!
Well we never caused any riots after that year, but they did try and pin the whole riot on us, but since most of the regulars at that time were the Chico State Baseball team and they surrounded our beer garden (later turned into a "dome") with baseball bats and protected it from the rioters. They did have front row seats to the burning of the TV news van and the police vehicle that got torched but still Riley's had NOTHING to do with that.
But the 5 years that I ran the joint at 5th and Ivy, we had some of the best St. Patty's days ever! One year we sold 57 kegs of green beer between 6am and 4pm. that is 113,088 ounces of beer, or roughly 9424 12 ounce beers in a 10 hour period. or 158 beers per hour which coincidentally was close to our capacity of 161 people(Not that we followed those rules I had almost 220 people jammed in there at one time). So for 10 hours we averaged one beer per person per hour. Not to mention the 30 liters of Jagermiester and other assorted shots that were being devoured by the populace. It was a ton of fun!
Every year we would run a skeleton crew the night before St. Patty's so our number one crew would be fresh for the 5-4 shift, however since I was the Manager I had to make sure that all was smooth and since I lived above the bar it was noisy enough that I couldn't get to sleep until the bar closed anyway so I generally worked that night. When we would sut the doors at 2:00am on the 16th we would always, ALWAYS have 20-30 people walk out of the bar and turn around so they would be first in at 6am.
Nucking Futs I tell ya!
One year I had to call the fire department because this regular Kurt Stassi (yes that is his real name, he can't know about the inter webs so it's ok) decides it would be a good idea to have a fire so he walks to his frat house the AGR house and drags back a BBQ. One of those great big Webber models, and proceeds to create a BON FIRE on the sidewalk, next to the bar.
Every year we would get done with the party and Nick and Kevin (the owners) would take the first crew out for drinks at a tiny little place, 1/2 a block away called Joe's that survived on blue collars and our over flow. They also make the BEST bloody Mary's in Chico! ( I still talk about them and I haven't had one for 15 years.
Man how fucking young and stupid was I? I can't believe that this was almost 21 years ago...I could have had a kid and taken them out boozing today! That is weird I tell ya!
Anyway, Party Monsters ENJOY the drunkfest that is St. Patty's and be safe! You never know when you'll wake up old!
