For this week’s north country history lesson, we go back to the end of prohibition. Emily Griffin takes us to Colesante’s in Watertown where eager patrons could get their first legal drinks in 1933.
WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – As prohibition was finally ending, George Colesante saw a business opportunity, one that’s lasted almost 90 years.
“That’s the very first license Dad got,” owner George Colesante said, showing pictures on the wall. “That’s a picture of him down there, and his first customers up there.”
Prohibition in the United States ended in 1933. That same year, George Colesante opened the bar on Factory Street that he’d later pass on to his son.
“I think that was right after I come in with him,” Colesante said, indicating another photo. “That’s me and Dad, he was happy I was here, you know, and he was pretty tickled that I was able to take over the place.”
A lot has changed over the past 89 years, but not Colesante’s.
“I pretty much kept it the same way my father would’ve wanted it, you know, and very little has changed.”
The floor is the original, and the sign that still swings. Colesante even runs the place just like his dad.
“Dad said to me just before he died, he grabbed ahold of my shirt and he pulled me down and he whispered in my ear, ‘don’t never start bar tabs, George!’ I always took that advice, I never started bar tabs.”
And since the day the bar opened,you’re likely to get a story with your beer.
A favorite is one his father would tell about the day World War II ended.
“He told me the police came down and they shut down every bar on Factory street on VJ Day because of all whoopin’ and hollerin’, and that was kind of a funny story he told.”
For just a few bucks and maybe a few hours, Colesante’s can offer you something other bars cannot: a drink and a trip back in time.
Colesante says he’ll run the bar as long as he’s able… then he hopes someone in the family will continue its legacy.
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