A lot has changed since a bar first opened on the corner of Pearl and Houston streets, next to the historic Robert Louis Stevenson House in downtown Monterey, in 1960. The city built a conference center. Monterey Bay became designated as a national marine sanctuary. The U.S. Army installation at Fort Ord closed. ATMs were invented.
What hasn’t changed is the vibe of the unassuming, cash-only bar.
“It’s just a happy local neighborhood bar,” says owner Doug Garnero. “Nothing has changed except the names and the faces.”
Well, one thing has changed; the white-colored stones on the interior were once black with soot, when smoking indoors was permitted.
Garnero, 62, was born and raised in Monterey, and started working in the hospitality industry as soon as he could work – bartending and washing dishes. He spent a few years in Hawaii in the early ’70s, then returned home and got a job as a bellman at the Hyatt. His dad, Alfred Garnero, bought the bar 45 years ago, in 1973, renamed it after himself and called Doug to ask him to help tend bar.
He never looked back, and in 1980, took over. (Alfred died in 1999, nearly 20 years after Doug took over; today, his staff tends bar and he’s “the fill-in backup guy.”)
Garnero never changes the offerings, and there are no custom cocktails here – no “frou-frou drinks.” (His choice is brandy soda.) “If you change it, you’ll surely ruin it,” he says. “Everyone has a great idea. If they give you something for a suggestion box, toss it in the garbage can.
“Get a good drink, and have a good time. That’s the philosophy of the place.”
Alfredo’s opens at 10am, and the daytime crowd of regulars are largely Garnero’s friends, representing a mix of Dodgers and Giants fans, and during a Thursday-afternoon baseball game, not a single seat at the bar is open.
In the evening, especially on weekends as 2am closing time approaches, the jukebox is going and it gets packed: “At 1 in the afternoon or 1 in the morning, the age difference is about 30 years,” Garnero says. “The older guys are all home in bed. The youngsters are out.”
Over a mid-afternoon Budweiser, Garnero offers some advice: “When you write the story, keep it simple, like this place is. That’s the way we are here.”