The oldest bartender in the city?
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Traffic watch
Highlights from major construction projects around Pittsburgh and surrounding areas this week
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Source: Esri
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George H. Martin got his “15 minutes of fame,” as promised by Andy Warhol. He just had to wait a while.
No doubt the oldest bartender in the city, Mr. Martin instantly became famous when he turned 90 years old in 2018, thanks to his friends and customers at the Allegheny Elks Lodge No. 339 on Cedar Avenue on the North Side.
“We turned him into a celebrity at 90,” said Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference and a member of the lodge. “We were chatting one day and he told me that he’d be working on his 90th birthday, so we came up with a promotion for him to serve 90 drinks on his birthday.”
Mr. Martin continued the tradition for the next two birthdays at the lodge, where he had tended bar since the 1960s. His birthday celebrations turned into major events and drew hundreds of well-wishers every year.
The longtime lodge officer — a member for 70 years -— quietly, and unsurprisingly, donated all of the proceeds raised at the events.
Mr. Martin, of Bellevue, died Feb. 8, after suffering injuries in a fall last month. He’d turned 93 just a week earlier.
An entertainer from a young age, he grew up on the North Side, performing in the Allegheny High School theater and playing French horn in the band.
After high school, he enlisted in the military, where he switched to trumpet as a member of the 71st Army Ground Forces Band.
He attended Carnegie Tech after his service and became an independent interior designer.
The snappiest of dressers on any occasion, Mr. Martin worked in the menswear department at Kaufmann’s Downtown and as a window dresser for other stores.
“He was always dressed to the nines,” said Keith Olash, trustee and past exalted ruler at the Elks lodge — a role Mr. Martin served in for seven terms. “Even behind the bar, he would always wear a tie and a special vest that someone made for him. He always wanted to look good.”
“He was a first-class character,” Mr. Fatla agreed. “He was always nattily dressed — he always believed in dressing well. He was of that old school.”
During after-work drinks at the William Penn Tap Room in the 1980s, Mr. Martin and several of his Kaufmann’s co-workers decided they would open a bar.
Over the years, he owned three, in Ross, Millvale and the North Side before devoting his retirement years to working the Friday and Saturday night shifts behind the Elks’ bar.
Though he held many official titles at the Elks over the years, it was the four decades he spent as entertainment chairman, booking concerts and shows, that he was most proud of, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2018.
“All I want to do is make them happy,” he said in a February 2018 story. “I want to see a smile on their face.”
“He was definitely a showman,” Mr. Olash said. “He loved to be onstage. If we were doing something, he always either emceed or coordinated it and he led everyone in song.”
His moving rendition of “God Bless America” was always sung at club meetings and his birthday parties.
“He sang it at every meeting and he would lead us all in one verse at the lodge meetings,” Mr. Olash said.
“He always sang it in the key of G, for George,” Mr. Fatla recalled.
Mr. Martin was an unforgettable character, said Sarah Suiter, current exalted ruler at the lodge.
“He was known as ‘Mr. Entertainment,’ organizing Mother’s Day, Flag Day, and championing the collection for Christmas charities for the lodge,” she said. “George was the epitome of what it means to be an Elk. He exemplified charity, justice, brotherly love, and fidelity. He had held nearly every office possible in the lodge, including being the beloved chaplain until his death. George will be deeply missed.”
“He loved the Elks — that was his life,” said Mr. Martin’s daughter Cynthia Martin, of West View.
His 90th birthday event and subsequent birthday parties infused new life into the community and reinvigorated Mr. Martin in his later years, Mr. Fatla said.
“We packed the place — the county executive would come and read a proclamation with the mayor and council members,” he said. “I think it took him like 45 minutes to serve 90 drinks the first year. We had bartenders assisting him because people would be threedeep at the bar.”
“Of course, the pandemic robbed us of his 93rd birthday party, which was going to be on Feb. 5 — we planned to host a virtual birthday party with him livestreaming behind the bar with local celebrities stopping in for a drink, but then George fell and broke his hip a couple of weeks before,” said Mr. Fatla, who hopes to continue the tradition in Mr. Martin’s honor in coming years.
“He liked being around people, and he really, really missed his wife Mary Lou,
who died in 2017, so the birthday things really gave him a milestone each year to shoot for,” Mr. Fatla said.
Mr. Martin looked back fondly on what he called “a good life,” in the 2018 PG story.
“I’ve had a beautiful time of it,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. So far.”
Along with his daughter, Mr. Martin is survived by a son, William J. Martin, of Euston, Del.; four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is planned for sometime in the future.
Contributions can be made in George Martin’s name to the Elks Lodge 339, 400 Cedar Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212.