In almost every major city of the world with any urban legend, it doesn’t take much effort to find a dive bar, a well-worn place that you plunge into for shots and beer and camaraderie.
The definition was made for Patty’s Inn, a ramshackle watering hole a block south of SAP Center in San Jose. Patty’s boasts a special pedigree: It opened in 1933 with the end of Prohibition.
Over the years, the old bar at Montgomery and San Fernando streets has survived fire, an auto crash and an attempt to build a baseball park for the Athletics.
Now it is squarely in the path of what is likely the biggest development San Jose has ever seen — a planned expansion of Google that could occupy 8 million square feet.
One morning recently, I rode my old Nishiki bike over to Patty’s Inn to gauge how long-time patrons were taking the news that Google might end their long party.
Let me set the stage: Going into the bar is like entering a gallery of Bay Area sports history that is offering a specially curated exhibit from a flea market.
Behind the bar is a “Battle of the Bay’’ poster that recalls the rivalry between the A’s and the San Francisco Giants. A hazy painting of a nude sprawls near the clock above.
Everywhere are American flags, notes of foreign currency, and strange mementos like a faux Mounties hat, an ancient swivel chair, or a little snowman dressed in a straw suit.
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Seated at one end of the bar when I visited was Michelle Flores, a friendly UPS worker from Hollister, who was taking a break after her overnight shift had ended.
I didn’t have to prompt her too much for an opinion. “If Google is an American company, they should totally want to save this place,’’ she said. “We love tradition, and dive bars are a tradition.’’
“This city is growing but it’s still small enough that you can appreciate your bars and restaurants,’’ added Flores, who likes to stop at Patty’s Inn when she goes to a concert or takes the train to San Francisco.
Though I tried, I couldn’t reach the bar’s 73-year-old owner, Ken Solis, for his thoughts on the Google development and the passing of the pub. He once likened running the bar to a “civic duty,’’ a sentiment that many of his regulars would endorse.
But in the interests of fairness, it’s worth noting that the San Jose public already has paid Solis a substantial sum for the cost of displacing his business.
Richard Keit, the executive director of the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency (known as SARA), the bar’s landlord, told me that Solis already has received $550,000.
Keit says says Solis is contractually due to receive another $100,000. But because Patty’s Inn did not pay rent for a while, the actual amount due is around $45,000. “He (Solis) wants to stay as long as possible,” Keit told me.
City officials acknowledge it’s unlikely that Patty’s Inn, so tied to a specific place and history, will reopen after Google arrives, which is expected to take at least a year. The bar will join the other San Jose joints that have passed — among them Bini’s and Manny’s Cellar.
I’ll mourn it. There aren’t many places in our town with a direct link to one of America’s great follies, Prohibition. But I have faith that something better will arise in its place.
Scott Knies, the executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association, talks of the transforming power of the Google development — bikeways, creek trails, attention to public space and wildlife, superb architecture.
When I told him I was writing about Patty’s Inn, Knies added a thought about the Google development. “It’s going to involve bars,’’ he said.
Dive bars? Probably not. Watering holes worth visiting? Yes.
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