Arts&Entertainment
Duffy s Fishbowls, Sbitbook
keep students coming back
This is the fifth in a series of 12 stories exploring
the history of the O Street bars. The strip - which
begins at 14th and O streets and runs down to Ninth
and O streets - has served as a major gathering place
for University ofNebraska-Lincoln students for the
past 70 years.
A
JL -9L. bar needs to provide comfort and solace
for its patrons.
It needs to be a place where people can walk in, sit
down, have a drink and lose themselves for a few
hours.
It doesn’t have to be trendy or happening, but
instead it just has to provide a cozy atmosphere.
Maybe add a jukebox somewhere in that mix.
5 fftfiftlliings have allowedDuffy’s Tavern, 1412 O
St., to maintain a successful clientele for more than 60
years.
You might describe the bar as a little dingy, with
dim lighting. It’s a place where die bartenders don’t go
out of their way to kiss your ass.
On any given night, you can walk in and see a few
regulars sitting at the bar or on the shiny wood table that
runs down the cento- of the room, a couple of people
shooting pool in the back and a group huddled in a cor
ner booth sucking down a fishbowl.
You can walk into the back room to listen to the
blaring music of some local artist or hear a traveling
band who stopped in Lincoln to do a show.
Every other Monday, you can check out local com
edy acts and, on Thursdays, you can let your rock ’n’
roll passions - or nightmares - loose with the live
karaoke band Shithook, which always seems to draw
the same quiet souls on stage to belt out the Stones, the
Beatles, Elvis or the screaming strains of Janis.
The alternative scene, which offers a wide array of
talent and entertainment, was implemented by a couple
of young bartenders, along with three other investors,
who purchased the bar in 1986.
Its history, though, hardly begins there. And what it
has become has been a long time in the making.
Duffy’s was opened by John Wilhelm in 1938, just
after prohibition ended.
The original bar was half the size of the main area
and contained the bar fixture that is still there today.
Reg McMeen, one of the owners who took part in
investing in Duffy’s in 1986, said he has a sign that
reads “Beer: 5 cents” that he thinks was probably dis
played during this time in the bar.
In 1953, Wilhelm sold the bar to Warren Goldstein.
In the 1950s, the bar, which featured a shuffle board
table running down the center of the room, thrived on a
variety of patrons.
Mary Goldstein, the former owner’s wife, helped
run the bar.
“It was a real nice place,” she said.
She said the main drink sold was Hamm’s, on tap,
and eventually the bar began to serve liquor.
She said her husband, despite strong opposition in
the community, played a big role in the push to get
liquor served by the drink in Lincoln.
Regulars in the bar included those stationed at an
air force base on the outskirts of Lincoln, railroad
workers and a ladies’ sewing circle, she said.
It also became a hangout for college kids - espe
cially on Thursday nights.
“The young and old people got along very well,”
she said.
One of the bar’s big draws was the shuffle board
tournaments, which were held regularly.
“The lady’s sewing circle could beat the pants off
those young guys,” she said. “And they could put down
the beer.”
She said the bar special was her homemade beef
stew and a sloppy joe served with a glass of beer for a
dollar.
Her fondest memories are those of the regulars,
whom she described as “her children,” who would rou
tinely hang out at the bar.
She said there was a group of college kids who
would hang out on the weekends and called themselves
“the R Street boys,” because of the house they lived in
on R Street.
That group comes from all over the country to get
together with one another and with Mary once a year.
They all return to Duffy’s and take in a Husker football
game, she said.
During Goldstein’s ownership, the front half of the
bar was extended to its current size.
In the mid-’70s, Goldstein sold the bar to Larry
Cole.
Margarette Cole, Larry’s wife, said the bar had a
Please see DUFFY’S on 11
STORY BY Josh Nicols
ART BY Melanie Falk
and Delan Lonowski
