Maddie's closes after 62 years in Marblehead

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January 21, 2008

By Mike Stucka , Staff Writer The Salem News Mon Jan 21, 2008, 10:29 AM EST

MARBLEHEAD - Paul Jones wasn't going to let a fellow customer of Maddie's Sail Loft go unhappy. So when he heard the bartender say the place had run out of Heineken on its last night, Jones cut through the kitchen to outside and returned from a store with another 24 bottles.

"A lot of history here, a lot of memories and good times," Jones had said earlier in the bar, where a plaque remembers his older brother, Marty. His favorite times? Jones looked away, chuckled, chuckled some more and kept chuckling: "I'd rather not say."

Maddie's Sail Loft, world-renowned as one of the best sailing bars, closed yesterday, one month shy of 62 years as a Marblehead institution. Last night, longtime patrons flooded back into the bars for one of its busiest nights in months, mixing memories with Miller Lite and rum.

For many of the customers, Maddie's was instrumental in their marriages.

Rocky Rothwell met his wife, Sally, during one of the Great Races, an event that started as a bar bet between runners and canoeists racing from Watertown to the front door of Maddie's. Years later, the Rothwells met a guy in San Diego who didn't know much about Boston - but had been to Maddie's.

Sally Rothwell said one of the most extreme regulars was a man everyone just knew as Elmer, who always sat on the second bar stool. That was enough for the U.S. Postal Service.

"One day he got a letter here, addressed to 'Elmer, Maddie's,' and it got here," she said.

David Moran said that Maddie's had a staffing crunch one day in 1982, because maybe 80 percent of the employees went to his wedding. On April 20 of that same year, his friend Alan Schiller met his wife, a schoolteacher named Barbara, at the end of the bar.

Around that same time period, Nick Venezia was being born. The 25-year-old was mourning Maddie's last night, offering profanities to describe his loss.

"It's always been here," he said. "I worked here when I was 14, washing dishes."

Maddie's owner, John Tangusso, said he and his wife, Jayne, had intended to be investors in the property. They instead became more-than-full-time managers, leaving Jayne to quit her education and John to stretch between the bar and his law practice. Efforts to find equity partners to share the load failed, leading the Tangussos to what he called a retirement from the bar. A real estate posting describes Maddie's as a landmark and lists it for $325,000.

"Hopefully someone comes along who will continue the tradition," John Tangusso said. "It's a great institution. You can tell by the turnout there's a lot of people who care deeply about Maddie's."

With a bar on the ground floor and a restaurant underneath, Maddie's became popular with sailors and neighbors alike. Some yachtsmen coming into town never seemed to let their feet touch the ground before they made it to Maddie's. Yet the pub's days of excess seemed to turn into a liability for Maddie's, which was called before Marblehead selectmen for alleged alcohol violations.

Veterans of Maddie's last night said they were hoping for a resurrection, even as they shared memories. There was the original owner, Kenny Duncan, who opened during the Blizzard of '78 as a self-proclaimed public service. There was his mother, whom everyone only knew as Mother. A post near the bar's entrance remains filled with small plaques honoring Maddie's regulars who had died.

One regular, Michael Havens, said he hoped to negotiate a deal to reopen the bar by the end of the month.

"This place is a heritage. It's a landmark. If you go anywhere in the world and mention Maddie's it's amazing how many people have been there," Havens said. "To me, Maddie's is Maddie's, and I will fight tooth and nail to make this place live."

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Maddie's closes after 62 years in Marblehead

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