VFW Hall at Beach Chalet

03/01/10 - posted by John Martini

The recent messages about "Shorty" Roberts' place on Great Highway reminded me of another drinking hangout of the 1960s and '70s -- the Beach Chalet, or as we knew it, the "VFW bar."

I never drank there personally (favoring instead the Cliff House bar) but passed the Beach Chalet almost daily and remember it always looked, to put it mildly, seedy. The exterior featured grungy windows encrusted with a combination of dirt, salt and tobacco smoke, through which some sort of neon signs glowed nightly. A wondrous assortment of beater cars and motorcycles was usally parked outside. Rumor had it the place was a biker bar.

My first time actually going into Beach Chalet was to attend a friend's wedding reception in the upstairs hall (a truly high-tone event), and I while I didn't linger downstairs I have a vague recollection of the long bar and its stacked bottles nearly obscuring the WPA frescoes painted on rear wall. My interest in historic preservation was just awakening at that point, and I don't think I truly appreciated the deeply tarnished gem that was the Beach Chalet.

Last week I had brunch at the cleaned-up Beach Chalet and marveled at the wonderfully restored frescoes and new interpretive exhibits about GG Park, and wondered if anyone had documented the era of the VFW drinking establishment and its mobile clientele. Can anyone flesh out the story?