Around Town: Continuing tales from the Proper

The summers are long in La Cañada Flintridge.

How long are they?

It was 5:01 p.m. on the same hot Monday at the Flintridge Proper. The Happy Hour was over. No more $5 deviled eggs. The barkeeps had begun to wash the copper Moscow Mule mugs.

Suddenly, a man appeared. He was well-dressed and slender, wearing a $300 Saks tie, a $900 Brooks Brothers sport coat and a $20 Italian-flowered apron from Fish King.

Shhh! The man whispered. Follow me.

It was Skippy, the Proper’s secret bartender.

I followed him to the back, past the stable-themed restrooms. He opened a small door.

Wow! I exclaimed. I didn’t know this was here.

Before me was a small patio, in area hidden from Google Maps.

I knew this because I had Google-stalked the Proper’s owners, Brady and Mary Elizabeth Caverly, while vetting them for a recent Thursday Club evening presentation. It was an excellent program.

But I was off the Thursday Club Board, once again. Free. Unencumbered.

The patio was a verdant, vine-covered, totally imaginary space and insanely large space behind the restaurant.

Shorty Menifee, the founder of Bow-Tie Cleaners, which used to occupy this stretch of Foothill, would have been jealous.

Before us was a small table with a starched white cloth, the Proper’s cloth napkins, set with the Proper’s iconic Nick & Nora cocktail glasses.

Skippy gestured. We both sat down.

I’m worried about your columns, said Skippy.

Why? I asked.

Skippy thought a moment. You make it sound like you drink all the time, not just once a week.

But I only drink once a week, I said, trying not to gaze at the table. It was covered with small plates of olives, pickles, a cheese tray and fruit.

Darling, every week, your column is about the Aviation Cocktail, he said.

But the paper only comes out once a week, I replied. Plus, it’s summer; the town is dead.

Moderation, said Skippy. You must exemplify moderation is important. Take the Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book of 1935…

I gasped, interrupting his words of caution. The Bar Book?

What did any of this have to do with the history of La Cañada Flintridge, Amelia Earhart or the Aviation Cocktail?

To be continued…
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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.