Dixie Tavern
I'm new to the board, but was reading some of the earlier posts & saw Toddo Marino mentioned a few times. He owned the Dixie Tavern on 20th & 5th. Toddo, shall we say, knew his way around.
Anyway, back in the 50's and 60's, my father owned a barbershop downtown on Flatbush Ave. Ext. It was a full service shop with manicurist & bootblack. His customers were mainly area businessmen, judges, lawyers and even some guys who never said what they did, but it was pretty much known.
Toddo and his very close friend and "driver" Jimmy were steady customers and appreciated the service my Pop & his barbers gave. They came in regularly for haircuts and shaves. Every once in a while, Toddo would invite our family to the Dixie Tavern for steaks on him. I was a teener & was always impressed over the fuss Toddo used to make about Pop being his special barber.
For a period of a couple of months, this big longshoreman used to come in to the shop & demand that he be taken care of immediately, regardless if there were regulars waiting for their appointments. On this one particular day, in he comes while Toddo & Jimmy are waiting their turns in the back. As soon as Pop finished with the customer in his chair, the moron jumps in, announcing as usual that he's in a hurry. Toddo doesn't say anything but looks at Pop who is now applying a hot towel to the jerk's face. He waves Pop to the back & asks who this guy is & Pop says he only knows that he's a longshoreman & pushes his way around every time he comes in. With that, Toddo tells Jimmy to go and speak to him. So Jimmy walks up to the chair, picks up a straight razor from the counter, removes the hot towel and tells the guy to get up from the chair quietly, put on his coat and never come back. Pop says the guy's eyes were bulging out of his head when he saw the razor. That was the last time he ever showed his face in the shop.
Pop is gone now, & I suspect so are Toddo & Jimmy. It was a great story that Pop never tired of telling. I only remember Toddo as a warm and generous man who understood the term, respect.
Anyway, back in the 50's and 60's, my father owned a barbershop downtown on Flatbush Ave. Ext. It was a full service shop with manicurist & bootblack. His customers were mainly area businessmen, judges, lawyers and even some guys who never said what they did, but it was pretty much known.
Toddo and his very close friend and "driver" Jimmy were steady customers and appreciated the service my Pop & his barbers gave. They came in regularly for haircuts and shaves. Every once in a while, Toddo would invite our family to the Dixie Tavern for steaks on him. I was a teener & was always impressed over the fuss Toddo used to make about Pop being his special barber.
For a period of a couple of months, this big longshoreman used to come in to the shop & demand that he be taken care of immediately, regardless if there were regulars waiting for their appointments. On this one particular day, in he comes while Toddo & Jimmy are waiting their turns in the back. As soon as Pop finished with the customer in his chair, the moron jumps in, announcing as usual that he's in a hurry. Toddo doesn't say anything but looks at Pop who is now applying a hot towel to the jerk's face. He waves Pop to the back & asks who this guy is & Pop says he only knows that he's a longshoreman & pushes his way around every time he comes in. With that, Toddo tells Jimmy to go and speak to him. So Jimmy walks up to the chair, picks up a straight razor from the counter, removes the hot towel and tells the guy to get up from the chair quietly, put on his coat and never come back. Pop says the guy's eyes were bulging out of his head when he saw the razor. That was the last time he ever showed his face in the shop.
Pop is gone now, & I suspect so are Toddo & Jimmy. It was a great story that Pop never tired of telling. I only remember Toddo as a warm and generous man who understood the term, respect.
Comments
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thanks for the story -- it's a great one.
if you're interested in finding old friends, you might stop by the "Brooklyn Back When" board, where a number of PS ex-pats hang out. (but you can always come back here and tell us more stories, too!) -
Hi! Yes! I remember the dixi Tavern. My Mothers family came from 19th street between 5 & 6 ave. I went there with Grandpa a few times in the early 1970's and a few times in the 1980's when I was an adult. Sammy the cook made a real good steak! I think Totto's Son took over before it closed.
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a href="http://s707.photobucket.com/albums/ww72/jeanhart/?action=view¤t=EdKlangSrwithhisdad.jpg"; target="_blank">
Grandpa & Uncle taken on 19th street. 1940's -
Say Jean Hart, what did they call the nabe back then?
Was 19th St "South Brooklyn" or what? -
Hello!
Back then we were just Brooklyn as I recall. I lived in Park Slope most of my life. It was a good place to grow up! Lots of memories of the area. -
Jean Hart wrote: Hello!
thx
Back then we were just Brooklyn as I recall. I lived in Park Slope most of my life. It was a good place to grow up! Lots of memories of the area.
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Subject: Re: Dixie Tavern
joestrip wrote: I'm new to the board, but was reading some of the earlier posts & saw Toddo Marino mentioned a few times. He owned the Dixie Tavern on 20th & 5th. Toddo, shall we say, knew his way around.
Well I can tell you first hand that is exactly how Toddo would react to something like that.
Anyway, back in the 50's and 60's, my father owned a barbershop downtown on Flatbush Ave. Ext. It was a full service shop with manicurist & bootblack. His customers were mainly area businessmen, judges, lawyers and even some guys who never said what they did, but it was pretty much known.
Toddo and his very close friend and "driver" Jimmy were steady customers and appreciated the service my Pop & his barbers gave. They came in regularly for haircuts and shaves. Every once in a while, Toddo would invite our family to the Dixie Tavern for steaks on him. I was a teener & was always impressed over the fuss Toddo used to make about Pop being his special barber.
For a period of a couple of months, this big longshoreman used to come in to the shop & demand that he be taken care of immediately, regardless if there were regulars waiting for their appointments. On this one particular day, in he comes while Toddo & Jimmy are waiting their turns in the back. As soon as Pop finished with the customer in his chair, the moron jumps in, announcing as usual that he's in a hurry. Toddo doesn't say anything but looks at Pop who is now applying a hot towel to the jerk's face. He waves Pop to the back & asks who this guy is & Pop says he only knows that he's a longshoreman & pushes his way around every time he comes in. With that, Toddo tells Jimmy to go and speak to him. So Jimmy walks up to the chair, picks up a straight razor from the counter, removes the hot towel and tells the guy to get up from the chair quietly, put on his coat and never come back. Pop says the guy's eyes were bulging out of his head when he saw the razor. That was the last time he ever showed his face in the shop.
Pop is gone now, & I suspect so are Toddo & Jimmy. It was a great story that Pop never tired of telling. I only remember Toddo as a warm and generous man who understood the term, respect.
I was a frequent custome of the Dixie on Monday night for years Toddo's cook Sammy wasa very good cook and his steaks wre the best around they would put Peter Luger's to shame. I also went to visit the old man because I enjoyed playing cards with the regulars that hung out there,Toddo's bar tender John is still one of my closest friends, I miss a guy who was always in their " Johnny Dee" a gentlemens gentlemen always a soft spoken voice, but he got his point across well. He owened a mens clothing store on 18 st & 5 ave Chuck & Charles.
Im not so sure that I knew your Father but if his shop was the one where you had to go down a few steps, the shop was right off the coner of Court Street.
Those were the good old days at my age now this was a nice suppeise to run across this page. -
Hi Fred!
Sammy also made a great sauce! It was not too spicy and had lots of parsly in it. -
Hey Fred:
No, Pop's shop was on Flatbush Ave. Extension, just a few doors away from DeKalb Ave. & the B'klyn Paramount, which was managed by Susanne Pleshette's father. Many of the Brooklyn Dodgers were regular customers including Jackie Robinson, which is another story for another time.
BTW, someone asked on another thread, what was the old neighborhood called back then. To some it was Park Slope, but we wuz from South Brookyn. In fact there was a street gang named just that, the South Brooklyn Boys. -
Hi Fred,
My Grandparents lived on 19th st between 5& 6 ave . My Grandfather was a regular at the Dixie Tavern his name was Michael Sarno ( I think they called him Dekke)I was wondering if you knew him. -
Sorry but I did know him at least by name maybe by face
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Toddo was my great great uncle. And Sammy "the cook" was my grandfather. It was nice to stumble upon this site and see that people remembered him after all this time. He was one of a kind.
Howdy, Stranger!
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