the time). We walked late night through the back door (off Richard Street) and sat in the side room away from the bar. We sent the tallest of us up for six drafts. Because he could reach the bar and his money was green, he qualified for as many draft beers as he could carry back to the old wooden booth with faux-leather covering in the back room. Such memories! Circling back to the bartender of the unwashed masses... My take on Walter’s passing... I was shocked and deeply saddened — my heart sank when I first heard who it was with me having many fond recollections of Mike’s Café and bartender to the proletariat of Edgeworth, Walter Wishoski. His awful death in 2022 brought back a flood of childhood memories spent in Mike’s. The Czechowskis opened their doors at 208 Highland Avenue in (I believe) the late 1940s; Mike’s was a thriving neighborhood bar for a good chunk of many of our lives. I reached out to Dickie (“The King of King Neptune”) Santo to probe his Mike’s Café memory bank cuz Dickie and his gang of mischief makers also spent much time at Mike’s. The similarities of our Mike’s experiences are almost identical. I’ve gone to the Dickie Santo THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Wednesday, December 24, 2025 “There was probably a dozwell many times in the past (just last month, actually); he has contributed pure gold (such as this story from the past) and continues to make me look good. Take it away, Robby and Barry’s big brother: “I read about the tragic accident resulting in the death of Edgeworth’s own Walter Wishoski and word quickly spread around the area. I remember back in the day when my friends and I were in our early 20’s and the Dukakis administration had just passed a law that if you were caught drinking and driving you could face jail time as well as a $1,000 fine. So, during that winter my friends and I decided that it would be best to stay local and not risk driving to the clubs up and down Route 1 or to Revere Beach. All of us, being from Edgeworth ourselves, decided to make Mike’s Café our weekend hangout for the winter. en of us hanging out there each and every Friday and Saturday night. [Mike’s] was well known around the area and people would come from all over to grab last call which was at 2 AM! The first night we stepped into the place we were received by puzzled looks from all the hard-core old timers at the bar and legendary bartender Walter Wishoski as if to say, “what are you kids doing coming here!” At that time the price for a draft beer at Mike’s was 35 cents! One could partake from a selection of Ballantine Ale, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, Miller High Life, or Tuborg to name but a few. Walter also poured one hell of a mixed drink as well as a ‘heavy handed’ shot! “Food offerings ranged from hard-boiled eggs, whole dill pickles, hot dogs as well as ham & cheese sandwiches, salami & cheese sandwiches, and roast beef & cheese sandwiches which Walter sliced to order and piled so high one thought it was as if you were eating a large sub from the Big A! We also had the ‘dinPage 7 ing room’ all to ourselves which included a TV with the old Cablevision ‘remote’ box (connected to the TV by wire) with the A/B toggle switch and channel buttons as well as a Pac Man video game machine! All you needed to bring with you for a fun night was $10 which would cover 20 draft beers apiece ($7), a roast beef and cheese sandwich ($1.50), 4 games of Pac Man ($1) and a 50-cent tip for Walter! “We drank so many drafts that it soon forced the price to go from 35 cents to 40 cents per draft for water and labor costs because of all the glasses that Walter had to run through the dishwasher at the bar! God bless Walter as he put up with so much grief from us that winter. All kidding aside, I would like to express my condolences to the Wishoski family for their loss. It is truly a shame and an awful way for him MUSINGS| SEE PAGE 8 Lawrence A. Simeone Jr. Attorney-at-Law ~ Since 1989 ~ * Corporate Litigation * Criminal/Civil * MCAD * Zoning/Land Court * Wetlands Litigation * Workmen’s Compensation * Landlord/Tenant Litigation * Real Estate Law * Construction Litigation * Tax Lien * Personal Injury * Bankruptcy * Wrongful Death * Zoning/Permitting Litigation 300 Broadway, Suite 1, Revere * 781-286-1560 lsimeonejr@simeonelaw.net SABATINO/MASTROCOLA INSURANCE AGENCY 519 BROADWAY EVERETT, MA 02149 Auto * Home * Boat * Renter * Condo * Life * Multi-Policy Discounts * Commercial 10% Discounts * Registry Service Also Available PHONE: (617) 387-7466 FAX: (617) 381-9186 Visit us online at: WWW.SABATINO-INS.COM
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