![]() ![]() Klein sat near the pay phone where a bookie named Pappa Lou did business and Bob Johnson, the traffic court judge, handled his weekend docket. An orange seat cushion with Klein's mumbled endearment _ "God love your heart" _ hangs over the bar. Frank Klein, the hulking sports editor of the defunct Tampa Times, had a regular stool. Nostalgic talk like that leads to stories about the regulars who have passed along. Garcia said his dad was nice enough to bring him inside and buy him a Coke. Cuervo remembers waiting in the car while his dad went inside to "do some business." That was the late '30s. How long the bar has been open is unclear. "The Chatterbox," she said, in a crisp South African accent, "will be open for a long time to come." It was Elizabeth Ackerman, who owns the 'Box with her husband, the surgeon. "World-famous Chatterbox Lounge," said Lea. "AHHHHHHHGGGGH no!" said the man, clutching his throat. "You could sit home and drink coffee with your wife," Lea whispered sweetly. "If this place closed, where would I drink coffee?" asked one of the regulars who will go unnamed for obvious reasons. "If we close, I'd have to go back to teaching school, and I don't think the schoolchildren or the parents would want that to happen," Lea said. Lea said he'd heard the rumors of a Chick-Fil-A or a McDonald's coming in, but it's not so. Two regulars, Jerry "Coach" Cuervo and Ralph Garcia, leaned over coffee and a Coca-Cola. The chatterbox pub, aka The Best First Date bar, is one of the best neighborhood bars that is known for. Bonnie Amey, the day bartender for the past 11 years, was trying to read the paper in a spot of light behind the bar. Welcome to Saint Pauls 1 nightlife guide. He drank a double coffee from a tall glass. George was born March 24, 1941, in Tiffin, to the. Perciak Family Residential Hospice of South West General Hospital. Proprietor Dan Lea, a pumped-up Puck from Garfield Heights, Ohio, and a veteran of the University of Tampa's football dynasty in the 1970s, was holding down the west end of the bar. 81, of North Royalton, Ohio, passed away on Tuesday, Maat Thomas P. A sign at the front door still warned exiting patrons to "Watch Thy Step." The jukebox, scene of thousands of late-night, herky-jerky dance parties, sat silently along the far wall, like a bull waiting patiently for a matador. The long, curving, green-topped bar along the mirrored south wall was lit by the neon Rolling Rock bottle and a few other glowing beer signs. Even at noon, most of the square-footage inside the 'Box was dark enough to develop film. Inside, things looked and felt pretty much like normal. That led to a desperate message on my voice mail Monday morning: The Chatterbox was going down what was I going to do about it? Whispered word of the legendary bar's demise panicked a party bus full of normally jocular Gator fans last Saturday. ![]()
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