By By Lauren Sheffer, News Correspondent
South Boston, the city’s best-known historically Irish neighborhood, is changing, a bartender at a local watering hole said.
Just a few blocks from the Broadway T stop in South Boston, at 471 West Broadway, stands the Blackthorn Bar.
Sitting behind the bar is Colin Kelly, passing drinks to clients. He has been a bartender at the Blackthorn Bar for the past eight years, and has witnessed changes both in the bar and the neighborhood of South Boston itself.
‘[The bar and South Boston have] gotten more yuppie-ish nowadays,’ he said. ‘It’s gotten more expensive. There’s a different clientele, not as much Irish. They’re not coming as much anymore. Now, it’s 50-50, American and Irish.’
A regular at the bar, or ‘Plasterer’ as he calles himself, Niall Tighe, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, said he has also noticed the demographic shift.
‘The Irish community has changed an awful lot in South Boston,’ he said.
As for Blackthorn, Tighe said the bar’s reputation has improved with the changing demographic.
‘It’s gotten a lot better. It had a bad name in the past. It’s gotten a lot more friendly,’ he said. ‘And it’s a more diverse crowd now, not just Irish.’
Indeed, Tighe’s description of Blackthorn now contrasts strikingly with his description of how it used to be.
‘I like the people, the chicks that come in here ‘- it just has an all-around good atmosphere, you know? It’s friendly, good fun,’Kelly said. ‘People are always nice. I’d say comfortable and just relaxed, really.’
The bar has a laid back atmosphere and live music on weekends, Kelly said.
‘I’d say people just come here to enjoy themselves, you know? It’s not a rowdy place at all. It’s a very relaxed bar, really,’ he said.
Adding to that feeling of relaxation and good humor were frequent jokes between Kelly and the customers, like the following banter between Kelly and Tighe:
‘We met here … across an open bar. Our eyes met. It was just chemistry,’ Tighe said.
Kelly turned around laughing with a wink, and said, ‘You didn’t know this was a gay bar, right?’
Just up the street from Blackthorn Bar, at 268 West Broadway, is Croke Park Bar.
Gerard Byme, the bartender for the past 15 years, said the name of the bar comes straight from the old country.
‘It’s an Irish name,’ he said. ‘Well, it’s named after an Irish football stadium. Most people know it better as Whitey’s. That’s the old name, before we took it over.’
Though he has 15 years of experience serving there, Byme swears the character of the bar has not changed.
‘They’re all characters, if you ask me,’ Byme said. The only thing that’s changed is that people live and die, and whatever, you know?’
Minutes later, Byme said with a wink and a smile that he would describe Croke Park’s customers as ‘drinkers … but seriously, it’s a real working class place, you know?’
Compared to Blackthorn, the look of the Croke Park is more casual, with neon ‘Samuel Adams’ and ‘Budweiser’ signs hanging against brick walls, alongside a stretch of canvas proclaiming ‘We support our troops,’ widescreen TVs over the bar, and pool tables, all obscured by several swirls of cigarette smoke. Though the conversation rarely lets up, in rare pauses one could hear classic oldies whispering from the juke box, like the Righteous Brothers’ ‘Unchained Melody,’ or Dion and the Belmonts’ ‘Traveling Man.’
With a beaming smile, Byme said, ‘Oh, it gets loud. It gets very loud. Jukebox’s blaring, TVs are going.’ Then a customer called from across the bar, and Byme began to walk away, but not before he stage-whispered, ‘Another aggravation,’ with a wink.
