Behind every great man...

Today's a very special day for everyone at Patsy's, because it's Concetta's birthday! If you aren't sure who Concetta is, then this blog was meant for you, because I'm about to tell you all about the story of Patsy's partner in business - his wife!

If you've read my blog about Patsy, you'll know that he came over to America first, and sent over for his family when he'd made enough money. That meant that Concetta was waiting in Italy with their oldest daughter, Anna - when it was finally time, she eagerly came over to America and joined Patsy.

That's Concetta with a baby Anna!

However, her experience in America was very different from Patsy's. Patsy had to learn English so that he could maintain a job and function in America, but it also meant he could translate for Concetta. As a result, she never fully learned English, and spoke Italian all her life.

In the early years, she was instrumental to the success of Patsy's. Since money was tight, they couldn't hire as many employees as they'd like, which meant that Concetta answered the phones, took reservations, greeted people, and even made drinks when another bartender wasn't available! Funny enough, when Sinatra was much younger and was still trying to hit it big, he'd come into Patsy's and help Concetta out whenever she was really swamped.

Concetta was actually phenomenal at making drinks, a trait that stemmed from her desire to save the restaurant as much money as possible. She perfected the measurements because even a drop of wasted alcohol was something that, in her eyes, the restaurant couldn't afford.

This extended to the family's personal finances, as well. Patsy was incredible when it came to bringing people into the restaurant and keeping them coming back, but Concetta managed the income of the restaurant and was constantly making sure that the family would have enough to keep the restaurant going while also keeping themselves in good shape.

All that saving paid off - look at that car!

Even when Patsy's was established, running well, and had a full payroll of employees, Concetta continued to work in the restaurant. She didn't make drinks anymore, opting instead to sit at the front desk, still greeting people and answering phones. She did, however, teach my father how to make drinks! Like many of our family members who've worked at Patsy's over the years, Concetta never wanted to stop working there, even when she realistically could have. The restaurant had become home, and the customers were all old friends.

As Patsy's wife, she raised a beautiful family and maintained a great home. But as Patsy's business partner, she helped his restaurant persevere in its early years, when every penny mattered. 

Concetta and Patsy on their 25th Anniversary!

September 10th, 1903 - December 2nd, 1976

Happy Birthday, Buble!

Today's Michael Buble's birthday, so we'd love to wish him a happy one. It's worth noting that this isn't the first time we've wished him a happy birthday!

In fact, a few years ago he celebrated his birthday with us! The picture above actually shows him cutting the cake that we brought out for him. He was pretty excited about it!

So excited, in fact, that he gave Joe a kiss!

Michael's been a great customer for many years, so we wish him a happy birthday, and many more!

~Paul

Patsy's is fine!

Super quick update to let everyone know that Hurricane Irene didn't do any significant damage to Patsy's. We're totally fine and back open, but our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were seriously hurt by the hurricane.



 ~ Paul

Hurricane Irene!

Hey everyone,

Quick update to let you know that Patsy's will be closed Saturday and Sunday because of Hurricane Irene. The city has effectively been shut down because the subway and MTA won't be running, and we don't want any of our workers risking themselves by traveling into the city. So, it made much more sense to be closed.

Stay safe, everyone, and hopefully the hurricane blows over without any serious problems!

- Paul

Sal will be on Seriously Sinatra tonight!

Hey all,

Just a quick update - if you have Sirius XM, you'll be able to tune into the Seriously Sinatra channel tonight and hear Sal! He was up in Boston this weekend and recorded a segment with them - it'll air sometime tonight (Saturday) between 7 pm and midnight. It should be a great interview, so if you're able, definitely check it out!

~ Paul

Touring CBS with George Pettignano!

From left to right, that's Peter, myself, and Joe - the three lucky guys who got to tour CBS!

George Pettignano has become a close friend to everyone at Patsy's. Some of you may know him as a singer - in fact, he's sung at the restaurant several times in the past. However, he's also a pretty important executive over at CBS, and the other day he offered to take my younger cousins and I on a tour of the studio!

The inner workings of CBS are naturally pretty impressive. My cousin Joe and I are both massive computer geeks, so we were in awe of the servers that CBS has. I didn't want to take any pictures of those because I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed to, but take my word for it - they had a massive infrastructure. Not only that, George actually showed us the older computers too. The ones where you had to manually plug in and remove wires when you wanted them to do different things. Apparently it was all very cutting edge in the 60's, but compared to the sleek, wireless computer systems they had, it definitely looked antiquated.

We were taken around to a lot of the sets of various shows - from the studio where BET is filmed, to another studio that hosts a variety of shows (such as the marriage ref), to all the various news and day-time T.V. studios, it's amazing how much is housed in the New York offices. The news rooms were particularly impressive, and one of the coolest parts is that several of the cameras are actually controlled by computers, rather than people. (There's even a big red "emergency shut-down" button on each of them, which I found pretty hilarious).

We snagged a picture at the Doppler booth with the CBS Early morning weather man - Pretty cool!

Finally, we got to go inside the Ed Sullivan studio, and see some prep work for the Letterman show. That was really interesting - while we didn't see Letterman come out, we actually saw the writers having a 'round table' of sorts on the stage. They were trying out various gags, seeing what worked and what didn't. It was pretty interesting seeing how some bits they weren't that excited about, but others had them (and everyone watching) cracking up. Then the band came out (including Paul Shaffer) and we got to hear them practicing the songs they'd be playing before and after commercial breaks.

 

When we'd finished touring CBS, it was naturally time to eat, so we swung back to Patsy's and had tons of food! All in all, a pretty good day. ; )

 Incidentally, George will be singing at Feinstein's on August 24th. It's going to be his biggest event yet and he's extremely excited about it. We'll be helping to host it with a four-course dinner that kicks off at 6 pm, and the show gets underway at 8:30. If you're interested, call 212-339-4095 and lock in some seats!

A tribute to Rosemary Clooney

Today marks 9 years that Rosemary Clooney passed away - it's amazing to think that so much time has passed since a great friend of ours left us.

Some time ago, we had a tribute put up on Rosemary Clooney's site. Since this is the anniversary of her passing, it seems appropriate to repost it.

http://rosemaryclooney.net/remembering/tribute/#patsys

It's a great read, so you should definitely check it out, but there's one part I'd like to quote because it sums up our relationship with her particularly well. It's from Anna (my Meema);

""Rosemary started coming to Patsy's when she first got to New York. My father took such a liking to her, he told her when she was struggling to find work, that she could have a meal here anytime. He said to her, 'someday if you could pay me back when you make it, then you pay me.' She was part of our family and we've lost a dear friend. She referred to me as her sister, even when she signed my copy of her book, she signed it, 'To My Sister Anna." 

Sal with Rosemary, one of the many, many times she visited the restaurant