SCHOONER OR LATER

Back in the late 1970’s when I was selling apartment buildings, we used to have our Tuesday  office sales meetings at The Little Ships Galley in Alamitos Bay Marina. We liked the LSG because it was ran by this old timer named Schultzy. Schultzy was pretty old to us kids back then and ran a pretty slack ship. All there was ever there was Schultzy and his buddies.

As a consequence, the place was always deserted. Schultzy lived aboard an older gaff rigged ketch named Aegean Sea and enjoyed our patronage and we could meet away without upsetting him. One day, the place was closed up and we came to find out that he had a severe heart attack which he survived. The place was closed for a few months so naturally we didn’t and couldn’t go there any more.

A guy named Dennis bought The Galley. I am told that he was and still is maybe a Newport Beach fireman. Denny cleaned the place the place up and renamed it Schooner or Later. He also hired a waitress who wore a short skirt. Before you could say Bob’s your uncle, the place was a roaring success. Lots more short skirted waitresses and a full kitchen staff. He even set up tables outside and had outdoor seating. It is forty years later now and Denny has lost, as we all have,  most of his boyish good looks but his little enterprise is still flourishing. It gets rave reviews on Yelp and local magazines. There was a segment on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network.

The reason I am taking this little stroll down memory lane is because of the interesting times, as the Chinese would say, they are still in business. Of course like all other eateries in our fair land, they are hanging on by their finger nails.

Besides selling their food, for take out only, they are operating a pop-up store. We can stroll over to S or L and buy eggs. Dairy, luncheon meats, cheeses and produce. All at very attractive prices. A flat of thirty eggs for instance is $15 witch is less than the supermarkets were charging before the hoarding and price gouging began.

They are also selling family dinners like fried chicken, meatloaf, enchiladas and tritip. Friday is tritip night so we bought the tritip dinner for “4 to 5” for $35.

Denny’s sister Denise runs the day to day operation and I applaud her for working so hard towards this symbiosis.

Bravo Zulu Denise