If it weren’t for the eye-grabbing signs out front proclaiming “COCKTAILS,” “Cold Beer,” weekend Karaoke events, and the promise of being served “a really good burger,” it might be possible to drive past the Willowbrook Ale House, at the far North end of Petaluma Boulevard, without even noticing it’s there. During the day, the tan-hued, brown-shingled, two-story structure almost disappears into its surroundings. At night though, with various neon signs announcing the names of popular beers, and a gentle glow emanating from within the Willowbrook’s many windowed interior, the venerable old bar and grill is a whole lot harder to miss.
And once inside, its many regulars attest, the Willowbrook is the kind of laidback watering hole you’ll likely want to keep returning to.
“This is a friendly, family-oriented place, what you might call old-school,” says Kirk Furlong, a bartender at the Willowbrook for over five years. “We’re far enough from downtown that we don’t get the ‘kiddles’ too often,” he notes, dropping a sassy sobriquet for the young and inexperienced drinkers now known for populating Petaluma’s downtown bars by the hundreds on weekend evenings. Says Furlong, “The kiddles we do get are the ones who don’t want to be downtown playing human bumper cars. I used to be the barroom manager for Finbar Devines, before it became Maguire’s, and I’ve pretty much had my fill of downtown.”
The Willowbrook, Furlong says, is a much more pleasant scene, where the patrons mostly know how to show a bit of decorum in public.
“Not that we don’t get the occasional clown or idiot, looking to get sloppy,” he says. “That just comes with the territory when you serve alcohol, whether it’s a roadhouse in Petaluma or the Carnelian Room in San Francisco.”
On this Sunday afternoon, as the tail-end of the Giants’ loss to the Oakland As plays out on the TV screen above the bar, Furlong serves a small, chatty assortment of patrons, ranging from the mid-30s to what the career bartender affectionately calls “retirement age and then some.”
Once known as the Willow Creek Inn, the iconic establishment has long been a part of Petaluma’s libation-imbibing history. The building was erected in 1886, and according to a large plaque just outside the front door, its original owner was William Harvey Hayne, who ran the place as a saloon in the early 1900s. Previously, it served as a stagecoach stop for Wells Fargo, and by the time Hayne’s widow sold the place to Herman Bartlett in 1907, it was named The Willow Brook Hotel. The building has had many identities and occupations over the years, operating as a grocery store and gas station through the Prohibition era, an important check-in point on the Indian Redwood Marathon race - which took place twice (in 1927 and 1928), and ran from City Hall in San Francisco to Grants Pass, Oregon - and various types of inns, hotels, and motels, reportedly once offering room rentals by the hour.
Today, the interior is decorated in classic, eclectic, barroom bric-a-brac style, from humorous signs about guns and alcohol - “Jameson’s is like Duct Tape - It fixes everything” - to the dozens of roadster-shaped whiskey decanters that fill shelf after shelf all around the bar. There are five pool tables, a “Guardians of the Galaxy” pinball machine, and a small, open kitchen in which the aforementioned “really good burgers” are prepared.
“They really are the best burgers in town,” confides the “retirement age” gentleman for whom Furlong is now pouring a beer. “If you like burgers, do yourself a favor,” he nods, knowingly.
Over the years, the Willowbrook has built a reputation for more than just its folksy atmosphere and colorful history. The place has become a major entertainment draw as well, focusing primarily on a couple of niche musical classifications. For over 20 years, Petaluma fiddler-and-mandolinist Ed Neff has held down his legendary Thursday night bluegrass shows here, with Neff and his band appearing the first two Thursdays of the month, and other session players performing on the others. On Friday and Saturday nights, for 13 years, Kat Hopkins has been hosting a popular karaoke session. There’s also a newer blues session every Sunday night. In addition to all that, the Willowbrook is the location of numerous PPC League pool tournaments a year, trophies from which can be found by the dozens as decorations all through the place.
“Coming to the Willowbrook is a little like getting together with your family,” allows Gary Simontacchi, the co-owner of the place for 23 years this month, along with Bob Varner. The two childhood pals bought the Willowbrook from Simontacchi’s father-in-law, and have operated it ever since.
“Say it’s corny if you have to, but this really is a family place, by which I mean, everyone knows everyone,” Simontacchi says. Noting the ale house’s many pool-related activities - all carefully marked on a behind-the-bar dry erase board, along with dates and times for the musical events - Simontacchi adds, “Like any family, different members have different interests, and that’s fine. That’s how we like it.”
According to Simontacchi, who’s worked in bars most of his life, some people are born to do it, and some people aren’t. He very definitely is.
“You shouldn’t run a bar if it’s not what you really want to do,” he says, “and if I didn’t like doing this, if I didn’t like people and enjoy spending time with them, then I would have done something else with my life. I don’t know what, though.”
Regarding all of those automobile decanters up above everyone’s heads, Simontacchi laughs.
“I started collecting those when I got out of the Army in January of 1975,” he says. “Happiest day of my wife’s life was when we opened this bar, and she finally got all of those cars out of our house.”
With a note of personal pride in his voice, Simontacchi reveals that every one of those auto-bottles is still full of Jim Beam. Not one of them has ever been opened.
“I used to tell people, when we first opened up the Willowbrook, that if business was ever bad, and they saw me pouring a bourbon and water out of a car, they’d now we’re in real trouble,” he says with a chuckle. “Thankfully, we’ve never had to do that, so I guess business has been good - or good enough to get by. And that’s all I really ever asked for.”
(Contact Community Editor David Templeton by writing him at david.templeton@arguscourier.com or calling 707-776-8462)
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