One Saturday night we were there for quite a while drinking whiskey and water and having a good time. There were a few old-timers from the neighborhood and the sailors drinking to all hours. Like the old blind pigs the place never closed, so I have no idea what time it was. Someone was playing an abused, out-of-tune piano, and everybody was laughing and carrying on, encouraging him to play another song. Somehow it was decided that it would be neat to have a piano aboard ship, so one of the old-timers called for a cab and a bunch of us grabbed that piano and rolled it down the stairs and out the door to the sidewalk.
Some members of our drunken group ended up arguing with the owners of the Iroquois Club about why we couldn't take the piano to the ship. The others were arguing with the cabby about why we couldn't put the piano in the trunk of the cab. Eventually a deal was struck, something about free drinks the next night, and we took the piano back into the club. I was being fully indoctrinated into life as a sailor.
]]>