"THE IMPROPER"

When I first "washed ashore" on Cape Cod in the Summer of 1976 after graduating the University of Connecticut that Spring I used to go to the "Improper Bostonian" located in downtown Dennis Port.

Back then then drinking age was eighteen and the "Improper" was always jam packed with people each evening particularly on Monday nights as they had "Quarter Beer Night" where you could order twenty-five cent draft beers and listen and sing along with Ray Boston while sipping your cool frosty draft beer and wandering between the upstairs and downstairs bars. It was quite the sweaty, smokey place back then as smoking was allowed and there wasn't any air conditioning. The quarter beers were served in a glass mug with a curved in glass bottom so that there were probably only five or six ounces to each beer. For a quarter I guess you can't be that picky. I splurged one time early in the Summer and bought an Improper Bostonian glass imprinted beer mug which held about ten ounces of beer so I was able to get a better value for my hard earned quarter spent on each beer.

The "Improper Bostonian" is still in business after all these years and I saw from their sign that "Shango Ax" will be playing there on April 30th. I understand that there are new owners at "The Improper" from the days when I used to quaff their fine inexpensive ales for pocket change. The drinking age in Massachusetts is now twenty-one with no smoking allowed and they probably have air conditioning and them there fancy televisions.