Cheers to Cole's, celebrating 75 years
The legendary Buffalo tavern keeps the party going
Published: November 03, 2009, 7:19 am
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People say that at Cole's, the Elmwood Avenue tavern, time seems to stop. Once, the time actually did stop.
The story goes that Donnie Pappas, the late legendary bartender, was having a busy night. The magnificent clock over the doorway stopped and Pappas, busy with a bar full of casino workers, failed to notice.
He did notice, however, when officers began ticketing the cars outside. He rushed to the door. "What are you doing?" he shouted. "People are allowed to park here until 4 a.m."
"Sir," the cops replied, "it's 7:45."
Dave Shatzel, who owned Cole's since 1974 and recently passed it on to his son Mike, loves to tell that story. The facts may have stretched over the years. Originally, the time was probably 4:45 a.m., or maybe 5.
But when a bar like Cole's is 75 years old, there are bound to be a few tall tales.
Cole's is toasting its 75th birthday with a bash on Wednesday. The Nov. 4 date is a nod to the tavern's address, 1104 Elmwood Ave. The party starts at 5 p.m., lasts indefinitely, and includes drink specials, food specials and door prizes.
Buffalo boasts a handful of hallowed neighborhood bar/restaurants that, playing host to generations, have become institutions. Among them would be the Steer, Brunner's, The Place and Brennan's Bowery Bar (which Shatzel Sr. used to own and is now owned by his son Dave Jr.).
But Cole's, with its Elmwood Avenue location, proximity to Buffalo State College and popularity among politicians, professionals and rowdy rugby players, is an especially colorful case.
And as they prepare for the party, the Shatzels are serving up the stories.
There was the night the chandelier fell. The Shatzels are proud of their chandeliers. Decorated with anchors and tridents, they come from a shuttered Marine Midland bank in Rochester. But once, one of them plunged, splitting a table in half.
"Luckily, the people had just gotten up," Shatzel Sr. says. He instantly recalls the names of the patrons, before adding that the chandeliers have since been securely fastened.
Another story has it that Dave Shatzel, now 76, once danced naked on the bar. "He was in boxer shorts," counters Mike Shatzel. "And we didn't know who it was."
Even Cole's history is unusual. The building began life as a Pierce-Arrow showroom. The cars were driven up a ramp and displayed on the top floor, in what is now a banquet room.
It became a bar in 1934, founded by Herb Cole, whose photo is on display back by the staircase. The Shatzels brag that the Cole's license was the first one issued in Buffalo after Prohibition.
"There have been a lot of people swinging from the rafters. A lot of people dancing on the bar," Mike Shatzel sighs, waxing nostalgic.
That part about the rafters? He means it literally. "Once it was even me," he says, looking up at the heavy wooden beams. "I had bruises on my legs for weeks."
'No comment'
Even on a Tuesday night, with no game on TV, Cole's is crowded. Five strong men are behind the bar, serving drinks with military efficiency. The head bartender, white-haired and alert, is Marty Loesch.
"I think of myself as the commissioner of fun," Loesch says.
One Tonawanda patron identifies himself only as Ray. "There have been some wild nights here," he says. "There have been, yes. That is a judicious way of saying, 'No comment.'‚"
Next to him, Tim Renzoni and Nick Azzarella, both about 30, are splitting a pitcher of beer and a platter of wings.
"Tim used to travel through storms to get to Cole's," Azzarella laughs.
Renzoni now lives in the West Village, so he doesn't hike to Cole's as he used to. But he still stops in a lot. "The thing about Cole's is, no matter who you are, you can find someone to get along with," he says.
Two UB law students agree. "We had our end of the year party here," says one of them, Jamie Caldwell.
She elaborates: "It's not, like, gross here."
Good thing, though, that people who come to Cole's to enjoy the restaurant's esteemed food are insulated from the noisy bar area by a wooden partition topped by antique carousel horses. The atmosphere at the bar itself could sometimes be called controlled chaos.
Mike Shatzel points to the wooden horses. "You get the drunk people, they always want to climb up on them," he says. "We used to let them. Then one rugby player, he leaned back. You can see where he broke it.
"Now once in a while we let a small girl, maybe, get up there. Recently a limo pulled up, it was this couple's anniversary, they met here, and they had their little girl. All she wanted was her picture on the horse. So we got her up there."
If a patron gets too wild, a Cole's bartender might escort him outside, give him a few bucks and send him next door to another historic bar, Mr. Goodbar's. "Mr. Goodbar's was there when I bought the place," Shatzel Sr. says. "We've always liked those people."
The Cole's folks are unafraid of confrontation. When Willis McGahee of the Buffalo Bills famously insulted Buffalo, they rushed to retaliate. "If you brought in his jersey we'd rip it up in front of you and use it as bar rags, and give you a $20 tab," Mike Shatzel says.
The program was so popular that, Mike Shatzel says, he was called to the phone and heard the voice of an angry McGahee. "I hung up on him," he gloats. "We were waiting for him to come walking in the door."
Irv stops in
Their name might be German, but the Shatzels are Irish. The men do not seem to be the settle-down kind. Shatzel Sr. admits, Irish eyes sparkling, that Dave Jr. and Mike have different mothers. Mike has never been married. Dave the younger has been married twice.
But Cole's has played a great part in the Buffalo marriage business. They brag about the number of patrons who met their spouses at the dark, antique, wooden bar.
Like all great taverns, Cole's is the center of an extended family. "Irv Weinstein was in here last week, asking about my dad," Mike Shatzel says.
Former Mayor Tony Masiello is a regular. So is a basketball teammate of his, Buffalo State College music professor Chuck Mancuso, who has a menu item named after him.
Mayor Byron Brown used to be a familiar face. "He hasn't been in much since he became mayor," says Mike Shatzel. "But before that he used to come in a lot to eat."
Consistency is key
How does a bar come to be legend like this?
"Dad has shown us the secret, but we can't reveal it," jokes the younger Dave Shatzel.
Part of the secret, though, has to be consistency.
"We are open every day of the year," Mike Shatzel says. "Some of our best times have been during storms. Everyone hikes in. They know we're open. Waitresses call me up, say, 'I'm snowed in.' I say, 'Fine, I've got four-wheel-drive, I'll be over to get you.'
"Christmas is one of our most popular days, because not many other places are open." He grins. "If you're home for the holidays, and you don't have a home, you can always come to Cole's."
After all, the Shatzels go there themselves.
"If I didn't own it, I'd still hang out in it," says Dave Shatzel the elder. "I think it's important, that you like what you're doing."
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