Hank Dietle's Tavern
"People say Hank Dietle's is a
step back in time," Kevin said, "It's not, this is time." That
claim was made in a variety of ways by patrons of this long time Maryland
establishment on the evening we visited. The building itself is 100 this year --
the inverse of the establishment's liquor license, which is numbered
"001" (allegedly because it was the first license issued after
prohibition).
The building wasn't built to be a
tavern, but rather a general store with two gas pumps in front. According to
local legend the store was an anomaly. Supposedly, this location has been the
home of a tavern or pub since colonial days.
Old is the rule at Hank Dietle's.
Even the wooden bar is secondhand, purchased in the 1940s after a fire destroyed the
original. The owner of the place found one at a bar in Baltimore and sawed it
to fit the space. It's older than the building.
There are some new things inside Hank
Dietle's. There are now several television screens in the tavern while there
used to be just one. (Two of the screens were playing the same Nationals game
while we were there.) I assume the one pool table has been there for quite a
while, and there's a rather cool Noir Detective pinball game, as well as a
video casino game on the bar.
You might say the menu is limited.
They serve wine and beer. There are a variety of bottle beers, canned beers,
and beers on tap. As for wine, the night we were there, the choices were merlot
or chardonnay, both from a box. There are also waters and sodas, and all the
options were visible in the fridge behind the bar. Outside, the Corn Beef King
food truck offered food to go (eating it the bar was perfectly acceptable), but
the food options inside were on a rack (a variety of Utz chips).
A jazz duo, an acoustic guitar and a
standup bass, played a great variety of tunes from "Jesu, Joy of Man's
Desiring" to the "The Flintstones" theme. Though a high tech
juke box is in the place, most nights there is live music, with Rockabilly on
Saturday nights (and the juke box isn't played while live music is available).
We visited on a beautiful warm
night, so the porch outside was crowded with people still enjoying the sun when
we arrived after 7:00 pm. We made conversation with folks inside, asking the
questions we ask every week, "What makes for a good bar?" and
"What makes for a good church?"
After Mindy ordered her merlot and I
ordered my pale ale, I struck up a conversation with a Kevin, who was sitting
alone at the bar. In answer to my question as to what makes for a good bar, he
said, "Cold beer." He also answered with just two words about what
made for a good church, "The homily." But when I asked, he was happy
to elaborate on his answer. "The homily should make the Biblical message
applicable to the 21st century. Last Sunday, I heard a great one. If I gave you
$168.00 and asked for one back, would you give it to me?"
I said, "Sure."
"Well, God has given you 168
hours in the week. Is it so much to ask to give Him one hour at Mass?"
Turns out, Kevin gives more than one
hour a week to church. He said he goes pretty much every day. "Have you
ever been in Best Buy with twenty television sets blaring all around you? I
think all of life is like that these days, always something coming at you. But
when I go to church, I feel like I can turn off those TVs one at a time and
have some peace," he told me.
After that, I talked to a fellow
named James, the first of two people for the night who agreed to answer our first
question, but not our second. He was older than we are, a native of the area,
who hadn't come to Dietle's until a couple of years ago. "You don't come
here for the ambience," he said, "But it is unique and has its own
style. You can't help but love something that's been around forever. It has a
charm you can't find anywhere else."
James said he wouldn't answer the
question about what made for a good church, but he told me what he thinks about
Christians following a god who had been killed. I mentioned that Christians
believe Jesus didn't stay dead. He let me know he thought the idea of the
resurrection was absurd. He went on to explain his theories of humanity being
brought to earth by space aliens, and his understanding of the seven chakras of
the human body.
Meanwhile, Mindy was talking to
people at the other end of the bar. Savannah and Wes were both happy to say
what they thought made a good bar.
Savannah said, "When you walk
in and you feel like it's where you're supposed to be."
Wes added that the environment and
people made the difference. He said "funniness and fun" mattered.
Savannah said, "I'm not going
to lie. This is my first time here and this guy is what makes me feel like I'm
supposed to be here." When I asked what made for a good church, she said,
"I'm going to let Wes answer all my questions from now on."
Wes was happy to take the
opportunity. Even though he was just waiting at the bar for change for a game
of pool, he was happy to chat while he waited. A good church, he said, had
"loving caring people who make you feel loving and caring while you're
there." He also felt it should be non-judgmental.
After he got his change and a
pitcher of beer, two women came up to sit at the end of the bar. Mindy asked
them her questions, too.
Pam was closer, so she answered
first. Like Frank, she said she appreciated the ambience of this place,
"but that's not the whole thing, you feel like you can be yourself."
She said the things she valued in a church were racial diversity ("that's
very important to me") and good music. She also recommended churches in states
we haven't been to yet, which we appreciated.
Mindy also talked to a young woman
named Amanda, who happened to be Pam's daughter. She said she didn't really go
to bars, but had been working at Hank Dietle's for almost two years. The owner had
gone through her checkout line at Safeway a number of times, then asked if she
wanted to work some shifts at Hank Dietle's. She did say, though, that she felt
that the important factors for a bar were that it should be inexpensive, it
should be a good place to meet someone, and there should be screens to watch
games.
When Mindy asked her what made a
good church, Amanda said she appreciated a pastor who could put Scripture in
context to make it understandable. She had been raised in a Unitarian Church,
but now was looking for something more "Christian," with engaging
sermons that are "more like engaging lectures rather than talking at you.
It should have a welcoming community."
Kieran, who was tending bar, told us
he'd only been working there a couple of days. But he was friendly and welcoming
-- and there's something about an Irish accent that earns extra points in our
bartending book. When asked about what makes for a good bar he said,
"Customers and bartenders. The end". (He expanded on this a bit,
pointing out that a person could have the same beer at home as at a bar, but
the company and the people serving make the experience completely different in
a bar.)
As for what made for a good church he said,
"Lack of judgment for a start. Churches tend to not practice what they
preach...They should have an open door and a welcoming attitude." He feels that some of the core philosophies of
what religions believe has been lost -- for example, he said, "come ye,
come ye all" and "judge not, lest ye be judged."
I felt we needed to talk to the
musicians before we left, if only to thank them for playing the theme to the
Perry Mason Show. Since they hadn't started their next set, we were able to ask
them our questions. Steve, the guitarist, thought a bit about what he
appreciates about a good bar. He said, "you don't go to just one
kind." He said that this was the kind of place he liked to come for a beer
with friends, but if he was taking his wife, she'd probably prefer a fancier
place. He spoke affectionately about Hank Dietle's history and tradition, and
said a good bar offers a warm welcome but "you don't want to pay $20.00
for a cocktail."
Thierry, the standup bass player,
said that a good bar should have a good choice of drinks, good music and a
pretty bar maid. He pointed out that while Hank Dietle's was a very interesting
place, it wasn't typical for the area (we'd already heard that this was the
only bar that was just a bar; everyplace else in the county is primarily a
restaurant). Thierry declined to answer our church question, but Steve said
that a good church should have a sense of community the people in it should
agree with each other theologically, politically and sociologically.
As we were leaving, I had another
chance to talk to Pam. She said our conversation made her think about
something. She said that she would be more willing to go to a church if she
knew it would be as welcoming and nonjudgmental as a bar, where she didn't have
to worry about being criticized for her clothes or her behavior. We certainly
were made to feel welcome at Hank's Dietle's.
WOW!
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COOL!
www.gwadzilla.blogspot.com
I shared your post with a post about this upcoming show and Hank Dietle's
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