I was sadden to read that Don Yee, the proprietor of the old Tea Cup bar and restaurant had passed away. Geoffrey Dunn (Santa Cruz’s best historian!) wrote up a great article “Last Call at the Tea Cup” this past week in the Good Times about Mr. Lee’s life and his memories of the Tea Cup. For even those who have not lived in Santa Cruz, it is a great salute to a very special place that no longer exists.

What a glorious old bar it was! In some ways it was like a secret little place even though everyone knew about it. To get into it, you had to go up a narrow passage of stairs and upon entering it, you had the dinning room on your right and the bar on the left. I spent many nights from 1984 through 1988 there and had the great pleasure of meeting and talking with Mr. Yee.

As Mr Dunn puts it so well,

And then, with the Loma Prieta Earthquake, it was all gone. Just like that.

While we the drinkers of Santa Cruz did lose the Tea Cup in the great earthquake of 1989, many of us have great memories of the place. I am also happy to report that a “physical” part of the Tea Cup still remains. Mark Swanson of the One Double Oh Seven Club rescued the actual bar and to this day it is in use at his place.

There are lots of stories about the Tea Cup, but I will bore you with only a couple of my memories.

Delgado gets Busted

The boys where doing one of our “Man Nights” in 1987. It was your typical night of drinking. We would start drinking at the Hind Quater and then proceed to bar hop. These were great brain cell killer nights. As was the norm, the Tea Cup was on the route.

On this particular evening, we made it to the Tea Cup around 11 pm. One of our mob was named R. Delgado, who decided that he needed to inspect the kitchen.

What for?

Only Delgado knows for sure but my hunch was he was trying to steal something. It was his nature to take things, as was his nature to sing loud and neglect bathing.

As I was sitting at the bar, out of the corner of my eye, I see Delgado slump back into the bar. In a low voice he tells us that he has been asked to leave. I look around to see Mr. Yee just shaking his head. Turns out that Mr. Yee had caught old Delgado trying to find some free food.

Despite this episode, Mr. Yee always welcomed our group back… but he did watch Delgado.

Russ’ 21st Birthday

Back in the summer of 1988, Russ J finally turned 21. Of course the Tea Cup was on our route after we had visited Lulu Carpenters. My memory is that getting Russ up the stairs was a little tough, but getting him down was even harder.

The Bet

Drinking at the corner of the bar late one night, the Tea Cup was unusually quiet. There were three of us - Russ, Stan and myself - in our little group, the bartender and one sole drinker at the other end.

A guy and two girls walk in and sit at the bar. The guy leans overs and whispers to the bartender. The bartender looks around and smiles.

Next thing I know, one of the girl jumps up on the bar and drops her coat. There she is standing in a hot white negligee and she proceeds to strut up and down the bar. None of us knew what to do but gawk and look stupid.

So we gawked. And looked stupid.

After three or four strolls up and down the bar, she was helped down and the trio depart to applause. Turns out she had lost a bet.

I still pat the spot on the bar where I was sitting that night when I am at the One Double Oh Seven. Now you know why and why I love that old bar!