[RP TownTalk] Funeral For A Friend

[Jeffrey Yorke]

*May 27, 2016, 1:45 pm EDT*



*Funeral For A Friend*


Obituaries are for the dead. But sometimes it’s worth talking about a
friend who has only hours to live and still has every expectation of
bringing joy and excitement to many until the end, bitter though it may be.


The end? At 3 am Sunday, May 29, the S&J Restaurant & Bar in Riverdale Park
will lock its doors. It will be for the final time. But until then, the
cozy dive will be the life of the party for scores of those bent of living
another day, no matter their condition or their stage in life.



There are a few in the area who will say “I have never been in that awful
place.” They’ll never know what they are missing, like so many of us, it’s
the heart of this long standing restaurant and bar that made this spot
special. It’s the people who have been there that will but in varying
degrees, like “missing” relative: A lot, a little, not so much.


We’re talking about a neighborhood dive. A place where a fern or a potted
plant could never live. Where a martini never found its proper glass and
where the chili pot was never empty, just added to. And the beer mug rings
on the bar top could be yours, or maybe your grandfather’s.


But the S & J was a place where longtime friends who’d never met, came to
forge relationships for life. Some crept out of a blinding snowstorm into
the warmth of a bizarre karaoke night and found themselves in deep and
wonderful conversations that ended only when the bar check arrived, the
lights came on. And when Rusty the bouncer smiled and said “goodnight.”
More often than not, the conversations grew into meaningful relationships
built on activities outside the Queensbury Road roadhouse: summer boating
adventures, national and foreign travel, and sometimes, shared sheets.


S & J, which as local lore has it, stood for Sarah and James. She was the
owner some six decades ago, and her son, James, cooked and kept the bar.
The establishment was one of several bustling hot spots in Town Center in
its day. More recently it’s become known as the grammatically incorrect
“S&J’s” -- there has never been an accounting for the added apostrophe and
“s.” But that didn’t matter, everyone knew what you meant.


Little had changed in the place until a decade and a half ago when lifelong
Riverdalian and DeMatha High football standout, Steve Schmidlin, came along
and tweaked the place. And tweaked it again. Steve made meals the food
worth eating, created entertainment nights and packed the space with
friends. After Steve’s death in February 2007, widow Ziggy carried the
torch for years, aided by former Riverdale Park Mayor and otherwise all
around superman, Guy Tiberio, but the flame began to flicker, and will soon
flicker out.


S & J was never as horrible as some thought, and never as great as it could
have been. While credit cards were always accepted, plastic personalities
were not. It was just what it looked like: a great place to find a friend
and a cold beer to enjoy with a good burger and really good soup, wings and
potato skins. It was a good place to have a great conversation with someone
you’d never expect to enjoy talking with. It was one of those places you
always look for and rarely find.


May God rest its merry soul.


*Ziggy Schmidlin said the wake begins 8 pm Saturday, with food “and
whatever else I have in the stash.” *



-- Jeffrey Yorke

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-- 
Jeffrey Yorke
Yorke Property Management, Inc.
Yorke Partners
Jeffrey at YorkeRents.com
301-502-1243
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