
When I was in my early 20’s, I worked at a bar in Philadelphia called Society Hill Hotel on 3rd and Chestnut. It is one of the oldest hotels in the United States if not the oldest, I honestly can’t remember. The bar was beautiful, it looked like something out of the 1800’s with beautiful cherry wood and huge mirrors and windows covering the entire place, during the day it was bright and open and sunny. To this day it makes me respect bars that can stand the test of time, that place always felt like home. The staff was amazing and everyone treated each other like family which is rare in the bar business. There were 3 owners, a crazy Frenchman, a sweet (but somewhat shady) Italian, and in insanely drunk Irishman who often would dance on the bar top and fall off. The Italians girlfriend was a stunningly beautiful African woman who would always bring flowers to the bar and rarely did not have a smile on her face. All three owners were very nice people but uhh… well we will get to that later. The work was hard for very little pay, but everyone got along so well no one really cared too much. During the day there were two plump middle-aged menopausal women chefs, one white from South Philly, one black from North Philly. Both were HILARIOUS, smoked Newport’s like chimneys and would often curse out customers if they complained about the food or didn’t tip a waitress. The bartender “Irish Bob” is to this day one of my favorite people in the world, Bob was an old school bartender with a thick Irish accent and amazing sense of humor who had traveled the world and settled in Philadelphia. He now owns a bar in Spain. Bob is probably the nicest person anyone could ever meet. There was another bartender (cant remember her name, who was dating a man who disappeared, I don't think to this day that they ever found him. Bobby and Lisa lived with Bob down the street and the 4 of us would go out quite often, resulting in horrible service for the poor unlucky bastards that came into that bar the next day.
Then there was Gayle…
Gayle was the oldest person who worked at SHH. She was tiny about 5 feet tall, slightly plump and had short white hair and piercing blue eyes which crinkled when she smiled. Gayle spoke in a south Philly accent and lived with her mother from what I remember. She was a sweet woman and the “mom” of the place, everyone loved her. When I first met Gayle I thought she was insane. She was talking about being psychic and seeing some woman outside that gave her a “bad feeling”. She often spoke about there being a ghost of a young girl and an older Victorian woman haunting the hotel. No one argued with her about that, the place could get weird, I mean really weird, glasses falling off of tables for no reason weird. Once Gayle told Chris he was a gladiator in a past life and was killed by a lion and was talking about his spirit animal and shit… we kind of just looked at each other quite confused.

Then something really crazy happened…
We often had what we called “rock around the block” where we would go to other bars on the block and “exchange beers” with bartender friends. I once heard a quote that there’s probably a million dollars in tips in any given city that just floats from bartender to bartender that will never be put into a register, its true. One day Gayle and I went across the street to a now defunct bar I cant remember the name of. My friend was bartending and another friend Chuckles was cooking so we knew free food and beers were involved after a shift. The bar was pretty dead, so Gayle told me she was going to read my tarot cards. After some coaxing I agreed. Not only did she tell me exactly what my grandfather looked like blue eyes, curly hair, tall (keep in mind I am mixed race, I didn’t know my grandfather on my black side, she didn’t know that) she went on and on about things that absolutely blew me away. She told me my grandfather’s ghost was protecting me along with another ghost she couldn’t recognize. She mentioned one of my friends would steal something blue from me (which happened) one of my friends was keeping a secret from me (drug problem, she admitted to me later, and recalled Gayle saying this in front of her looking at her) Told me I would leave the bar and I would be angry (happened) but I would leave and work for a short stocky man with blonde spiky hair and blue eyes, I would think he’s shady but he’s a nice guy (fucking happened a week later) Told me my future husband would have blue eyes and blonde hair (didn’t happen!) She mentioned my new job would lead to “something different” (It lead to me moving to New York City) Please keep in mind she told me everything in much greater detail, but honestly this was years ago and I’m surprised I remember this much. After I left that bar I saw Gayle very rarely, although sometimes I would pop by and say hello to her. The bar ended up having serious issues, rumors of tax fraud, theft and shadiness from one (or many) of the owners. But as I said before, Philadelphia is a city of rumors, who knows what really happened. The place was sold a few years ago, still keeps the same name and I haven’t been back.
I still wonder what ever became of Gayle.







