Hoy Wong - NYC's oldest working bartender
New York's oldest bartender still mixing martinis at 90
by Alfons Luna Wed Aug 23, 1:15 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - Retirement is the last thing on Hoy Wong's mind. The New York bartender, who turned 90, plans to carry on mixing martinis just as he
has done for the past six decades.
Believed to be the city's oldest working barman, Hong Kong-born Wong shows few signs of wear and tear, despite his four score years and 10, and talks
energetically in punchy phrases with a marked accent.
He still pours with a steady hand, just as he did for Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and the Duke of Windsor.
Wong fled Hong Kong in 1940, the year before it fell to Japanese forces, and moved to San Francisco where he joined the US Air Force and learnt
English.
Demobilized in 1946 after serving in India and China, he moved to New York and started serving cocktails two years later.
It was while working in Freeman Chum, considered one of the city's first chichi Chinese restaurants, that he served most of his celebrity clients.
Marilyn Monroe, he remembers, would come to the restaurant for a liquid lunch. "She would have a Beefeater Martini. She was very nice."
Judy Garland, he recalls, was also fond of a tipple: "She was lovely. She liked to drink. She liked it a lot."
Joe Di Maggio would come every Saturday night and sit in a corner. "He would drink Johnny Red and soda, sit for four, five hours. He didn't want to be
bothered."
John Lennon and Henry Kissinger would both come to the Algonquin Hotel, his employer for the past 27 years, and shared a taste for Scotch, he adds.
He has a clear nostalgia for the New York of times past.
"It was cheaper. The salaries were also lower. I earned 45 dollars a month when I started. Working six and half days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day. A
cocktail cost one dollar and a shot of Scotch 75 cents," he reminisces.
"Conditions have improved. Now I make 23 dollars an hour."
Wong himself quit drinking 30 years ago and never smokes, although he professes to have a weakness for women.
The Algonquin, which fittingly claims the distinction of being New York's oldest working hotel, threw a party for Wong on Tuesday night, inviting 300
of his friends and clientele.
One of them, George Aprile, now 60, came to thank the nonagenarian for serving him when he was still underage more than 40 years ago.
"I was 17 and he would let me drink. I saw his picture in the papers and he looks the same. I still could remember his name from those days," he said.
Wong still works five days a week, spending his entire eight-hour shift on his feet.
His advice for a long life comes down to common sense.
"Not many secrets. Eat right, take a nap and every day get exercise working. Don't worry about money," he suggests.
The 90 year old is far from slowing down and has no thoughts of putting down his cocktail shaker for good.
"I don't plan to retire. I love my job. I love to meet people. President Bush needs money, he needs income taxes, so I will help."
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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