They just don't make them, or at least not many of them, like Lucille Mathews. Legend in Dallas, she started working at the Lakewood Landing in 1959, shortly after leaving Jack Ruby's Carousel Club, and tended bar there for over 30 years. In a profile that ran in the Observer's 1999 Best Of issue, Mathews talked about her love of Dallas and her customers:
"I've tended bar for two generations, served parents and their grown children," she said. "People ask me to their weddings. Then they'll come back on their anniversaries, and sometimes, later, divorce sets in. I guess the one thing I've learned is that nothing's permanent. Bar conversation tends to be the great equalizer. Other than economics, which can make a big different in your life, of course, we're all in the same boat with primarily the same problem. We all go through the same ups and downs in our lives."
It's been 10 years since Mathews passed away, and Lakewood Landing is remembering her with a memorial party this Saturday, September 17, starting at 8 p.m. Cheryl Vorhis at the Landing asks you all to stop by and have a drink with them.
