I like stories like this one. It's a shame that we don't see more of this sort of thing...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who mixed martinis for Marilyn Monroe and poured Scotch for John Lennon was feted as New York's oldest bartender when he turned 90 this week, and he vowed to keep working.
Hoy Wong, who was born in Hong Kong and served in the U.S. military in World War II, is known simply as Mr. Hoy at the historic Algonquin Hotel where he has served Manhattans and martinis for the past 27 years in the dimly lit Blue Bar.
The Algonquin, which touts Hoy as the city's oldest bartender, threw a birthday party for him on Tuesday night, inviting customers past and present as well as staff, friends and family. Asked about retirement, Hoy said: "I never think about that. ... Now I'm 90 but I don't feel I'm that old."
Hoy started tending bar in 1948 and worked at various hotels and restaurants, including Freeman Chum in New York where he served Monroe drinks, before moving to the Algonquin where former Beatle Lennon used to order Scotch.
Hoy was coy about his celebrity customers, but his granddaughter Jennifer Zhang-Mckenna said he would occasionally come home with anecdotes from work.
"He would tell me that the Duke of Windsor told him he made the best martini in the world," Zhang-Mckenna told Reuters.
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I included this story not because I think that bartenders are fascinating people, but because it is truly special if you are considered to be the BEST at whatever you do. Or if you can do the same job for 58 years without going nuts, well, that's something too.
