A sign of the times

NEWS ITEM: David Ray, the owner of the venerable Locke-Ober, acknoweldged what a city already knew: He has sold the building on Winter Place in Downtown Crossing.

Boston has suffered with a change of eating and dress code patterns. In a phrase, Mr. Ray noted its closing in The Boston Globe: “Formality, here as everywhere, is a thing of the past.”

Here in The Berkshires, formality is known at Blantyre. The days when coat and ties are required at The Red Lion Inn has passed.

As The Globe announced the closing: “Locke-Ober, for a long period of time, represented Boston, or a certain element of Boston: bound in tradition. She was a grand old Lady who wrote the menu of success for many years in Boston’s Financial District.

“Founded in 1875, it’s where the captains of downtown industry mingled with the city’s most prominent lawyers and financiers over lunches composed of lobster stew and thick cut steaks.

“Famed maitre d’ Tony Accardi presided masterfully at the door. Jackets were required of diners, and many of the waiters – all male – marked their tenures not in years, but decades.”

Does Locke-Ober’s name ring true to many in Berkshire County? Don’t know.

I do know that my father, G. Carlton Jordan, Jr. almost daily had lunch there and at night entertained my mother, Dorothy P. Jordan, in a room off the dining room after going to the theater.

As a youngster, at 10 or 12 years of age, I would have dinner there to acknowledge a birthday and enjoy a fruity Ward Eight, which was a combination of grenadine and ginger ale. For an adult, it was a potent whiskey drink for the rich and famous.

What made Locke-Ober special was its location on Winter Place, its clientele and its service, along with good food.

This spring I took my wife, Christine, there for dinner. It had all the elements of past visits. Although many of the old time waiters and maître d’ have retired, and some have passed on.

Paul S. Evans, who worked in the brokerage business in Boston with my father, reminded me my father would order cheese on scrod for lunch. And my father liked the restaurant’s tripe. Mr. Evans also was sad of the announcement.

And in my reflections of Locke-Ober of the good food, service and a true sense of Bostonian style, I remember one element from my father – which may have value to you the reader today: One treats today’s busboy – or waiter – with respect and tip accordingly because soon he may be the maître d’ or owner of another restaurant which you may wish to visit.

Case in point: Locke-Ober had a busboy, named Joseph ,who moved up the ranks and eventually moved over to the Ritz Carlton on Boston Common as the maître d’ of the dining room.

Always, he was a welcoming person, who remembered my father and later myself. We were not demanding, and we tipped accordingly and were always treated well. It too was an experience until they sold off the hotel. Today it is called Taj Boston.

And while the closing of Locke-Ober is sad, this truism prevails from one generation to the next: Treat those who work without rank as an equal to one with rank because down the road one may look for their help and guidance.

Posted by George C. Jordan III on November 1, 2012. Filed under Opinion,View from the Tower. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry