"We were stopped dead," recounted the reverend, evoking the spirit of Easter: "'sorry, we don't let sandals in here.'" The thing is, though, sandals are having something of a moment and we must not allow the austere, puritanical instincts of one East Anglian wine-bar proprietor to drag us backwards into a mollycoddling revival of the Vestments Controversy of 16th-century England.
Afterward, Mr. Fenton and others — including the bar's proprietor, Peter Gunther, who knew Kerouac — will answer questions.
The bar's proprietor explained to a visitor the origins of the "good daytime beer" he had recommended (he commissioned it, as one might commission a play).
The bar's proprietor, Brian Flanagan, is a former "Jeopardy!" champion, and his tavern is a stomping ground for many of New York's greatest aficionados of random information.
Among those bellying up at the novel's Mission District haunt are No Eyebrows, a cancer-stricken former attorney; Shambles, a sex worker with a bruised heart of gold; and a performance artist known as Sylvia Suture, whose ferocious antiwar act will put the bar's proprietor in the cross hairs of an unstable Iraq war vet.
The bar's proprietor Dave Barrett said, "When you walk in, the two front doors have two of George's quotes: 'It's not a lie if you believe it', and 'Everyone must like me, I must be liked.'" He added: "One guy contacted me last night who lives in Melbourne and who is in the middle of eight different George Costanza paintings.
There are eight people in the town bar including the proprietor and a new immigrant who mistakes our order of rum and cokes for Bud Lights.
One recent evening, a man walked in and saw a pigtailed woman sitting alone on a red vinyl stool at the bar, chatting with the proprietor about organic-food distributors while jotting notes in a burlap-covered journal.
"We love the idea of creating an experience for our guests that extends beyond the time they're in the bar," said David Kaplan of Proprietors LLC.
Just a few years old, Rockbot has seen impressive growth as it's expanded beyond sole-proprietor bars and restaurants to multi-location chains.
