PASADENA, Md. — Mr. Irv remembers growing up on 1516 Hanover Street.
Or maybe it was 1615.
Anyway, this South Baltimore native is very excited. He is two sleeps away from turning 100.
“I don’t even know how I did it,” said the soon-to-be centenarian.
Irv Koch worked as a carpenter at Beth Steel. He went into the Navy and served in the Pacific.
“I am very proud of that and very proud that I made it back alive,” Mr. Irv said.
Once out of the service, he found a palace in Pasadena, right on the Patapsco River.
While touring the house, he found a bar in the basement. It came with a license.
Suddenly, Mr. Irv was tending bar.
You would not know there is a bar in this place once owned by a meatpacking family from Light Street in Baltimore. They used this as their summer home.
Mr. Irv made a landmark.
On Saturday night, all of Pasadena and beyond will be driving to 2054 Knollview Avenue.
Bobby Weaver, who owns Pasadena Diesel Repair, is the main man behind this party. He has known Mr. Irv all his life. His dad was Irv’s great friend.
“We has so much love and support all over Pasadena for their love of Irv,” Weaver said.
If you have not been in there in a while, don’t worry; nothing has changed.
It's still cash-only. Shooting pool. Playing the jukebox and drinking beer. But what you will notice is that the bras—all 500 of them—that were once dangling off the ceiling are now gone.
Mildew got the best of them, so Irv had to snap them off.
“Everything deteriorates; everything, if it sits, it dies, and that’s why I keep moving,” he said.
His stepdaughter says how proud she is of him. She says Irv wonders, "Why with all the bars around why do they come see me?"
That’s easy, Irv; everybody loves a legend.
