buckeyemike Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I'm reading a book about Notre Dame football called "Touchdown Jesus" and it mentions in detail a bar owner named Eddie Gadawski. When the book was written in 2003, he was 84 and still running his bar in Niagara Falls' old Polish neighborhood. As of last September, Eddie was still alive b/c he and his wife Irene celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and Eddie made a trip to South Bend to see a Notre Dame game. The bar is a Fighting Irish shrine, according to the book. I hope Eddie is still with us, because he's closing in on 90, and wonder if anyone here has patronized his place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I'm reading a book about Notre Dame football called "Touchdown Jesus" and it mentions in detail a bar owner named Eddie Gadawski. When the book was written in 2003, he was 84 and still running his bar in Niagara Falls' old Polish neighborhood. As of last September, Eddie was still alive b/c he and his wife Irene celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and Eddie made a trip to South Bend to see a Notre Dame game. The bar is a Fighting Irish shrine, according to the book. I hope Eddie is still with us, because he's closing in on 90, and wonder if anyone here has patronized his place. I remember hearing about it, but have never been to his bar. here are a couple links: Article about the book and Gadawski from 2006 Brief write up with a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 If you like that book? Have you read: The Last Fine Time From its deft first sentence ("Snow begins as a rumor in Buffalo, New York"), this detailed, wistfully affectionate re-creation of the immigrant experience clarifies the human cost of the disappearance of once-distinctive ethnic neighborhoods. Klinkenborg ( Making Hay ) tells the story of a tavern in Polish-American East Buffalo that his father-in-law, Eddie Wenzek, inherited in 1947 at age 27. Originally purchased by his father in 1922 during Prohibition, the workingman's bar was transformed by Eddie into a fashionable late-night spot. The flowing narrative evokes a time and place where streetcars clattered, where advertising had not yet molded a consumerist culture in a postwar America "beating its swords into appliances." The Wenzels sold the tavern in 1970 and moved to the suburbs. Klinkenborg links the bar's fortunes to the gradual erosion of Buffalo's sense of destiny, "a sad tale of unknotting." Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Klinkenborg ( Making Hay, Lyons & Burford, 1986) has written the history of a bar that flourished on the East Side of Buffalo from the 1920s to 1970. He also portrays two generations of the Wenzek family, the Polish Americans who ran and lived above "George and Eddie's" until the bar closed down. Yet, his incredibly moving book is much more than the history of a declining neighborhood bar and a city in transition. Klinkenborg's writing is superb; his sensitivity to the story is extraordinary; and his ability to capture a watershed period in the transition of American cities in one tiny institution like "George and Eddie's" is unique. Recommended for most public and academic libraries for its historical and sociological insights. This book deserves a wide readership. - Anne H. Sullivan, Tompkins Cortland Community Coll. Lib., Dryden, N.Y. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I'm reading a book about Notre Dame football called "Touchdown Jesus" and it mentions in detail a bar owner named Eddie Gadawski. When the book was written in 2003, he was 84 and still running his bar in Niagara Falls' old Polish neighborhood. As of last September, Eddie was still alive b/c he and his wife Irene celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and Eddie made a trip to South Bend to see a Notre Dame game. The bar is a Fighting Irish shrine, according to the book. I hope Eddie is still with us, because he's closing in on 90, and wonder if anyone here has patronized his place. I am humbled because I thought I had hit every bar of note within the city limits of Niagara Falls. This place looks like what is best about the region - real people in real places - no chain / sterile so called bars - thank you. i will make a note to have a beer in this place next time I am in town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVUFootball29 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Do real people actually hang out at chain bars? Or are they just extras in this movie of life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damj Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Eddie is still there ... not much of the neighborhood left ... still serves up great Polish food ... I highly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I'm reading a book about Notre Dame football called "Touchdown Jesus" and it mentions in detail a bar owner named Eddie Gadawski. When the book was written in 2003, he was 84 and still running his bar in Niagara Falls' old Polish neighborhood. As of last September, Eddie was still alive b/c he and his wife Irene celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and Eddie made a trip to South Bend to see a Notre Dame game. The bar is a Fighting Irish shrine, according to the book. I hope Eddie is still with us, because he's closing in on 90, and wonder if anyone here has patronized his place. Was there most every Friday night in the 70's and 80's. Still the place we go for fish when I am back in the Falls.Great fish etc. Great bar and cheap as hell as well. Last time in Eddie was still doing fine, but that was almost 18 months ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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