For three decades, Red’s Bar and its owner Arnold Shapiro welcomed generations of revelers, dance-floor demons, barflies, workers needing a friendly, after-hours drink,comically hairy male strippers and folks needing a place to hopefully find a special someone for a night or perhaps the rest of their lives.
At the center of it all was the bar’s namesake, the man everyone knew as Red, a high-energy, friendly and welcoming sort who is just as likely to greet you with a big hug as a hearty handshake.
Since the bar closed in 1988, Shapiro, has held periodic Red’s Reunions. Many of them were timed to his milestone birthdays beginning in his 80s and going up to and including his 90th, two years ago. But rather than wait until he turns 95 or 100, the next and, according to Red, the final Red’s Reunion will take place Saturday, Feb. 27, at Tangier.
The entertainment will be provided by Red’s former house band, LaFlavour, and the Cover Band. Red’s former “right-hand man” Jimmy Mansfield will be in attendance, and there will be appetizers, a cash bar and, of course, Red.
I attended Red’s 90th birthday, and although I didn’t know anyone and had never been to Red’s or the other places for which he’s known (including El Cid, Frank’s Place, Buck’s, Posh, Rosemont Country Club and many other venues), I had a good time watching the camaraderie, hearing some funny stories and laughing at old videos of the 1980s Akron bar scene.
The videos included random patrons doing random night-at-the-bar activities, along with the aforementioned comically hairy male strippers and an old “Best Sun Tan” contest that, as a naturally smooth chocolate dude and native Californian, was just hi-frickin’-larious.
Aside from being mesmerized by the videos, I also needed to catch my breath because I simply couldn’t keep up with the Birthday Boy as he worked the large ballroom from front to back and side to side.
“He’s been at so many places ... every time he’d retire, somebody would call and say come and help us,” said Marge Thomas, Shapiro's girlfriend and one of the organizers of the event.
“So all these people from all these places are coming. ... and everybody just dances and catches up with old friends and that’s what Red’s Place was all about,” Thomas said.
But is it really the last call for the Red’s Reunions?
“I think so, sincerely. Maybe if I make 100, maybe I’ll do that,” Shapiro said, joking that he’s been selling discount tickets to his 100th celebration with the caveat “No refunds!”
“We’ve done pretty good. I’m getting older, other people are getting older, the bands are getting older. I think it’s time we’ve had four or five ... it’s good that way,” he said.
Shapiro, who volunteers at Akron Children’s Hospital one day a week, said he still gets asked to work at bars and clubs. Hardly a day goes by where he doesn’t see someone from the old days.
“This happens nearly every day,” he said, noting he occasionally gets invited to former patrons’ class reunions and sometimes even goes.
Thomas agrees.
“It’s just fun to see people and be with them, and because he’s 92, he knows several generations,” she said.
“And, honestly, if I was a jealous woman, I couldn't stand it. I’m not kidding you; these women are all over him and he’s a hugger and a kisser and he loves on everybody and they love on him. So that’s really what the party is about,” Thomas said.
Back when Red’s opened in the late 1950s, there was a U.S. naval base near Akron Municipal Airport. According to Red, it cost a bar owner 20 percent of the net to have any live music other than a nonsinging piano player. Folks dancing at a bar wasn’t an automatic part of an evening.
“That kind of destroyed entertainment for a while. ... But you know, generations change and music changes. Elvis really got people dancing and Motown was part of my big years,” he said, noting how he was able to bring in cover bands from all over the country and as far away as the Philippines to play the hits of the day.
Red also recalls a particular Valentine’s Day when he had a troupe of male dancers as part of a fundraiser for a local charity. Naturally, the ladies in attendance began calling for Red to shake his groove thing onstage.
“I said noooo! It’s going to cost you $500 if I go up there. In 10 minutes, they had $500 ... and I did it!”
“I got up there and stripped! They got that on film. That was funny; I had enough drinks in me. It took a few but I did it.”
This momentous event happened in the early 1980s.
“And I was an old man then!” he said, laughing.
“It’s been a great ride. I can’t ask for anymore. If anybody wants to have a party for me, they can and I’ll join them.”
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Read his blog, Sound Check Online, at www.ohio.com/blogs/sound-check, like him on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1lNgxml and/or follow him on Twitter @malcolmabramABJ.