Swallows Inn-famy : Colorful San Juan Bar Wins Apologies After Letter Riles Owners, Patrons

Townspeople might be chuckling about it now, but no one was amused when it was first suggested that the Hairiest Man Contest was too good for the Swallows Inn, a venerable downtown honky tonk with a wooden floor and a wild past.

The ruckus began earlier this month when a letter on San Juan Capistrano Fiesta Assn. stationery prompted a retraction demand from the bar’s owners and the letter writer’s resignation from the association board, which holds the contest as part of its annual festivities marking the return of the swallows on March 25.

The letter from then-association secretary Carole Worthington informed Swallows Inn owners that the contest was being moved to the El Adobe restaurant across the street. But it went on to add that switch was being made because the Swallows is a “dangerous, dirty and low standard barroom” with “brawls, disorderly conduct, low ethics, fowl (sic) language and general misconduct.”

Worthington says the letter was meant as a “private joke.”

Whatever its intentions, the letter went over like prune juice in the beer when Steve Nordeck, a bar co-owner, posted it for loyal patrons to see.

“I was torqued beyond words,” said Tony Rogers, a 47-year-old police officer at a college and Swallows customer. “What I said you can’t print.”

The bar owners talked to their lawyer, Ken Steelman, who wrote the association board demanding a retraction of Worthington’s “spurious, insidious, defamatory and libelous allegations. . . .”

But Steelman’s letter was not without its own humor.

“The Swallows has abided by all applicable codes and the only animal ever admitted into the Swallows was a horse which was recently used in the filming of a scene from a new Clint Eastwood movie, which brought additional revenue to the city of San Juan Capistrano,” it said.

Gilbert Aguirre, another of the bar’s owners, said he instructed Steelman to be firm yet funny.

“I didn’t want to hurt anybody,” said Aguirre, who is grand marshal of this year’s fiesta parade.

On Jan. 20--the same day Steelman’s letter was dated--not one but two letters of profuse apology were promptly penned to Nordeck.

“Please accept my sincerest and deepest personal apologies,” offered Jeff Schroeder, president of the association.

Schroeder explained that the association was moving its Hairiest Man Contest to the El Adobe restaurant only because it has more space and the association wanted to combine all its contests--Hairiest Man, Soiled Dove and Adult Hat and Boot--into a single event called Fiesta Grande.

And besides, Schroeder insisted, Worthington’s letter hadn’t been reviewed by him before it was sent, as it should have been.

“It was certainly tongue-in-cheek,” Schroeder said of the letter. “We are major supporters of the Swallows Inn. We are there as patrons.”

In another letter, Worthington said her first missive was “a private joke” that was “poking fun at all of us.”

Worthington, who was a member of the fiesta association for about four years and whose daughter was named Junior Miss Fiesta not long ago, reiterated in an interview that her initial letter was all in jest. She and her husband have been denizens of the tavern for at least 18 years.

“I still love the Swallows,” Worthington said, adding that she plans to go back someday, once the flap subsides. “Right now I need to get my pride back.”

There are already indications of forgiveness.

“I can’t even walk down the street without people from the association saying, ‘We are sorry,’ ” Aguirre said.

Richard O’Neill, one of the wealthiest men in Orange County, who owns the El Adobe and is a co-owner of the Swallows Inn--said, “Too many people took it seriously, so now’s the time to forget it.”

However, he added wryly, Worthington could have been more humorous in her initial letter by saying that “cursing has dropped 50% since (O’Neill) took over this place and ethics has soared.”

So as the dust settles, perspective has returned, just like the swallows.

“I like this stuff,” City Councilman Gil Jones said. “It brings back some of the true character of the community.”