Say it ain’t so, Joe
In his 57 years as the bartender in the Park Hyatt’s Roof Lounge, Joe Gomes has served celebrities, politicians and writers. He’s protected women and stopped a suicide. Now it’s his last call
“Joe Gomes is the rock upon which the Toronto cocktail scene was built.” GORD HANNAH HEAD BARTENDER AND BAR AMBASSADOR FOR DRAKE HOTEL PROPERTIES
A couple walk into a bar — the Roof Lounge at the Park Hyatt — and make a beeline for bartender Joe Gomes, who at that very moment is being photographed for this story.
“We’re here to see you, too,” Gail Weddell says excitedly to Gomes. Gail and her husband, Tom, are in town from Vancouver.
“We came here 52 years ago after we got married and Joe was the bartender,” she explains. “We didn’t expect him to be here, but when we checked in, they told us he still was.”
If they’d put off their trip much longer they would have missed him.
After 57 years working the rooftop lounge at the corner of Bloor St. and Avenue Rd., 75-year-old Gomes is retiring. His last shift is Oct. 28. Gomes is such an iconic figure in Yorkville, the hotel put out a press release announcing his retirement and praising his service.
“Very few can adapt to the changing environment that exists over such a long career but Joe stayed true to his roots and touched the lives of many,” says Park Haytt general manager Bonnie Strome.
Gord Hannah, head bartender and bar ambassador for Drake Hotel properties, credited Gomes for Toronto’s now vibrant cocktail scene.
“Joe Gomes is the rock upon which the Toronto cocktail scene was built,” Hannah says. “It has taken us almost 30 years for our community to understand and execute the bar program that Joe did 50 years ago.
“As an ambassador for the city of Toronto and for the entire hospitality industry, Joe Gomes leaves us a legacy of loyalty and integrity,” he says, adding that the Park Hyatt bar was his favourite date spot.
Gomes, meanwhile, is looking to the future.
“I’m setting up my next adventure and the timing is just perfect,” he says.
In January, Gomes is opening a bed and breakfast on the island of Madeira in his native Portugal.
He came to Toronto in the summer of1959 and almost immediately got a job busing tables at what was then the Park Plaza.
“I was 17 years of age with blond hair and I didn’t say a word. My cousin’s the one who talked. I was hired right away,” Gomes recalls, “so it must have been my looks.”
In 1962, age 21, he started behind the bar and has been there working the 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. shift at least four nights a week ever since. It used to be five nights, but he scaled back a few years ago. He is possibly — probably — the longest-serving bartender in Toronto.
Needless to say, Gomes has seen a lot of changes from his 18th-floor rooftop perch.
Initially, he had an unobstructed view of sailboats on Lake Ontario, but that has been blocked by countless bank towers and condos. The near-daily clutch of writer-regulars and luminaries, including Morley Callaghan and Mordecai Richler, whom Gomes knew quite well, were rowdy, but well-behaved.
Pierre Trudeau drank there. So did Lester B. Pearson (gin and tonic). And Pierce Brosnan, Christopher Plummer, Burt Reynolds. He recalls actor Russell Crowe stayed at the hotel with his family while filming in Toronto. And in 2011, singer Paul Anka came specifically to meet the legend. The two chatted at the bar until 4:30 a.m.
Gomes’s first big celebrity sighting, though, was the Duke. Legendary western actor John Wayne was doing a press junket with co-star Elsa Martinelli and some of the wild animals for the 1962 movie Hatari!
“John Wayne was shooting a movie here and I was called in to serve the whole crew in the banquet room and Elsa Martinelli was there and she had these leopards with her,” Gomes recalls. “It was exciting because, in those days, all the money I had used to go to the movies.”
He was star-struck then. But he isn’t anymore. “When you’re young, everything is exciting.”
But it wasn’t all glamourous movie stars, polished politicians and wild jungle cats. In between the pleasant everyday crowds, Gomes broke up fights — sometimes before they started — protected women from harassment and, in 1991, saved a man’s life.
A patron ordered shots (tequila, he thinks), went to the bathroom and on his return, he passed the bar and went out to the deserted patio. Sensing something was not right, Gomes followed him and found him at the ledge, grabbing him by the leg until security arrived.
The fact that Gomes was able to stop the suicide attempt has a lot to do with how he oversees the room.
“Some people serve the drinks and their mind is somewhere else,” he says. “Mine is on my job. When I’m here, I’m here. When I’m home, I’m at home.”
That’s part of the Gomes recipe for being a successful bartender. More important advice, he says, is for bartenders to take care of themselves and, most important, to stay away from alcohol.
On their way out, Gail and Tom Weddell wish him luck and everyone jokes about going to see him in Madeira.
“If you do, I will pick you up at the airport with a smile!” Gomes says. Follow Joe Gomes’s next adventure on Twitter @joesvilla or book a room at joesvilla.wordpress.com