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The Yankee was a decidedly non-chic tavern on Boundary Street in Beaufort. By looking at it, you'd think nobody would notice when it went out of business or care when the goofy building with no windows and an Alamo facade was ripped down where the Boys & Girls Club sits today.
But this was one Yankee that Beaufort tolerated, then embraced.
It's really because of the personalities of Manny and Pearl Palmer, who ran it after blowing in from Atlantic City, N.J., about the time Hurricane Gracie hit in 1959.
"I wanted to get out of here, but we were too broke to leave," the feisty Pearl recalled when The Yankee celebrated its 25th anniversary, just months before it closed in 1985.
Inside, it had sort of a garage motif, with a hard floor, undecorated walls and mismatched furniture. The locals were used to some of its staples: cold longnecks, flipper machines, pool tables and a jukebox. They learned to love such oddities as pastrami, corned beef and bagels. It was one of those hard-to-explain curiosities, a Deep South dive with deli food where families went for Saturday morning cartoons on TV. Manny made M&M pancakes for the kids and lobster omelets for parents.
Pearl was asked the secret to The Yankee's success during the anniversary celebration. Her answer was vintage: "Hell if I know."
Manny, the gentler soul who ran the place by day, and Pearl, who struck fear into Marines and anyone else by night, are now both buried in the Beth Israel Cemetery around the corner.
Two weeks ago, their sons, William "Billy" Palmer of Beaufort and Robert "Shorty" Palmer and his wife, Sandy, of North Carolina, created The Yankee's own Facebook page. "The Yankee Tavern 1959-1985" has struck a chord with 350 fans -- a full 25 years after the last bowl of Manny's "Damn Good Chowder" was served and Pearl stubbed out her last cigarette at the perch where she watched TV.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
The Yankee's grip on Beaufort is uncanny.
"My first visit to The Yankee was when I was just 11 and Daddy set me up shooting pool with some Marines while he enjoyed a beer," one Facebook fan writes. "Later, in high school, it was the place we all went after funerals, fistfights or finals."
Another writes: "My last memory there was on my way to the hospital to have my son and made hubby stop in and get a pizza."
It was where the late state Sen. Jim Waddell, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, would sometimes help Manny cook breakfast or write the University of South Carolina Beaufort budget on a napkin with the president.
It was where the solicitor ate lunch, two tables away from the defendants.
It's where Manny let anyone and everyone "vote" as many times as they wanted during every election of interest and posted the tally behind the bar. To the amazement of all, the results consistently nailed the actual results.
It's where bartender Sandy Dawes produced two movies using Yankee customers and plot lines. And why not? As Billy Palmer said, the place was filled with "a cast of characters, to put it mildly."
Retired lawyer Jim Gibson recalls a premiere at The Yankee. Someone borrowed a long, baby blue Cadillac to squire "dignitaries" up to the red carpet added by the side door. He wore a tuxedo.
And today a Facebook fan writes, "My dad painted Tidalholm for both 'The Great Santini' and 'The Big Chill,' and he took me to The Yankee to meet the whole cast of 'The Big Chill.' I guess they really liked the place."
Another writes: "My mother hated the fact that I worked there, until I convinced her to come for lunch and most of Beaufort was there and she knew them all."
It remained that way until the end. Beaufort Gazette reporter Elizabeth Foster wrote of the 25th anniversary party:
"Polo-shirted businessmen and their wives pulled extra chairs up to the tables; a younger, blue-jean crowd monopolized the pool tables; and shrimpers gathered near the hors d'oeuvre table."
A REUNION
And now an official reunion to swap Yankee stories is planned for May 29. Details are still being worked on. But Gibson, who is organizing it, said it will be at the Social Hall at St. Peter's Catholic Church.
For Gibson, it started with a question from the Beaufort Three-Century Project, which is pulling together a lot of stories in conjunction with the city's 300th anniversary coming next January. He was asked what makes Beaufort unique.
To him, Beaufort "was always so unstratified -- everybody mingled. It was a great melting pot, and The Yankee was one of those places."
He thought of 15 people he associated with The Yankee and they are bankers, a mortician, a private investigator, real estate people, college professors, lawyers, newspaper editors, a CPA and a goat-skin importer.
"Now they will gather at a Southern Catholic church to honor two Jewish Yankees from New Jersey who ran a restaurant that's been closed for 25 years," Gibson said.
It's hard to explain, but that's why The Yankee matters.
