That Night at Al's Place

#283 / Flood Time Capsule: 2003

Twenty years ago this week, the band’s weekly jam session convened at a neighborhood bar called Al’s Place, next door to Flood harmonicat Sam St. Clair’s office near downtown Huntington.

Al Hawarny used to own what he called “a real bar” around the corner, but as he aged (he was 87 the night The Flood flocked in to play), Al found that establishment a bit too much to operate. That’s when he converted the first floor of his house at 604 7th Ave. into a bar and ran it as a hobby, just for friends.

Al’s Story

Al — who lived to be 92, dying in the spring of 2009 — was very proud to hold the oldest beer license in the state.

Originally from Kfir, Lebanon, Al was the son of a man who died while fighting the Ottoman Empire in WWI. At 14, Al came to the U.S. , later landing a job in Detroit. At the start of America’s entry into World War II, he enlisted and was among the men who parachuted into France on D-Day. He received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after being wounded in action in France in July 1944.

After the war, Al returned to Huntington and opened that original bar in 1948.

Love Story: Sam & Joan

Sam loved Al like a grandfather. And it was at Al's Place that Sam met his wife-to-be, Joan, 22 years ago. “She was a brave soul to walk in the door,” Sam says.

“Sam and I met there on a blind date,” Joan remembers, thanking their friend Anne for setting it all up.

In those days, Sam was a regular at the little establishment. He enjoyed going in to watch “Jeopardy” on Al’s black and white TV, Joan said. “He also often reaped the benefits of his wife Lila’s dinners.”

Like Sam, Joan fell in love with ambience of the little bar, often chatting with Al after she ended her work day as a geologist at the US Corps of Engineers.

The Flood’s Night

That night in November 2003, the band found Al to be every bit as sweet a guy as Sam told them he would be.

“I remember helping to set up for The Flood gig,” Joan recalled this week. “Al had a lot of ‘antiques’ — random furniture from his family’s apartment upstairs — that we moved around to set up a cozy listening area and stage. It was an intimate evening.”

The place was packed. The acoustics with the ceramic tile floor were great, the audience was wonderful, and the guys made themselves another warm Huntington night memory.