Patrons celebrate tavern’s last day

Luis Pena

The institution known as the Yankee Tavern had its last supper

Sunday, with a handful of patrons sharing their drinks and memories.

The nearly 15-year-old establishment closed due to economic

reasons; however, the closure did not stop the locals who frequented

the pub and its location from showing up for one last round.

Skip Wharton of Newport Beach, a longtime patron who has been

coming to the tavern’s location since 1970 when it was called

Isidore’s, said he was extremely upset about its closure.

“I’m really disturbed. I have been coming here since this building

opened up,” he said. “We’ve gone through some changes as far as

ownerships and things, but now all of a sudden we have this comfort

zone with the Yankee Tavern.”

Even though the tavern’s closure upsets Wharton, he said he will

always have memories of the happy times that he spent there.

“I’ve had my own table, my own barstool here and all the ladies

that I’ve invited here over the years [have] become big fans of the

Yankee Tavern, big fans of football, big fans of baseball,” he said.

“This is a relaxing weekend nighttime [place] if you want just a pot

pie like mom use to make you [can] come in here and you have yourself

a nice dinner.”

Bill McDowell, a longtime resident of Newport Beach who has been

coming to the same location since the 1950s when it was a Chinese

restaurant, was so sadden when her heard about the tavern’s closure,

that he and his wife wore black arm bands.

“I have no famous days [here], every day has been fun,” he said.

Many patrons talked about how comfortable they felt when they came

to the tavern.

“I have been coming here for several years and the first time that

I ever walked in here as a single person, I felt comfortable coming

in mostly because of the bartenders and the people that work here,”

Donna Hermann of Newport Beach said. “They made you feel so welcomed

and I always felt like I could come in and have a good time.”

Hermann said her fondest memory was ofthe horse-racing trips to

Del Mar Racetrack that the tavern would plan for its customers.

“We would come in here, have breakfast and they would have tickets

for all of us to get into the horse races at Del Mar,” she said. “We

would get on a bus, get down there, go to the horse races, then come

back here and have dinner at night. It was a great thing.”

Even with the tavern’s large local clientele, it also had its fans

from afar. Hermann’s friend, Sheryl Heinrich of Mesa, Ariz., said

that when she and her friend would come to the tavern they would be

recognized even though they wouldn’t come in that often. Both agreed

that it was “a hometown place to go.”

* LUIS PENA is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at luis.pena@latimes.com.