Bars and restaurants are becoming a one-in-the-same identity. Many cities and towns use to have local pubs or taverns where workers and friends congregated
just for a drink and chat before getting home for dinner with their families. If they didn’t have anyone to go home to though, they had a crew at the
local pub who looked after and checked in on them, a chosen family. Oak Square in Brighton lucks out in having one of the longest running taverns in
its neck of the neighborhood located at The Last Drop. From locals to students, to running groups, and even charitable neighbors this local staple
has brought in people of all backgrounds to become regulars who frequently pull up a seat at the bar. Many residents actually come together throughout
the year to support a local chapter of a worthy cause out of The Last Drop. I sat down with a committee member of the local chapter to hear about this
interesting relationship between these two groups.
Pictured (Left to Right) are Randall, Ryan (bartender at The Last Drop), and fellow TPSF committee member, Andrew, with the Mitchell Nash Memorial
Trophy.
Randall is the VP of the Boston Chapter of Three Piece Suit Football (TPSF) and a Brighton native. “The Last Drop has been under the current ownership
since about 1988-1989 but this space has been a meeting spot for neighbors since before I was born. It almost has this romanticized feel to it,
and it is not just because of the way it looks inside, but there is a generational identity to this pub that has helped us in creating the TPSF
community here.” TPSF is a charitable foundation that supports Operation Delta Dog whose mission is to pair dogs with veterans who suffer from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they readjust after being deployed. “Doug Bacon, the owner, has been so generous to give us this space
to organize for TPSF. Doug even generously donates every year to our two events, the TPSF Football Tournament and the Golf Tournament.” And speaking
of their golf tournament, even that has a tie to the community built at The Last Drop. Randall shared with me that when he joined TPSF in 2016
he was in charge of putting together the tournament. And what does one naturally do when planning an event but ask the question, “will people even
show up and participate?” Well, a neighbor by the name of Mitchell Nash signed up a foursome for the tournament almost immediately to help support
a great cause. The night before the tournament, Randall received a call that Mitchell had passed away suddenly. “I was beside myself, and I almost
talked myself into cancelling the tournament. Many people reminded me though that the reason Mitchell supported this tournament and this organization
so quickly was because of the good it does for our veterans, but to also support his neighbors.” The committee each year now, since his passing,
has given out the Mitchell Nash Memorial Trophy to the winners of the tournament.
The bar has a historical feel to it with the exposed brick and tiled floors. You can even play a game of pool or throw darts with your group.
Randall cannot help but beam a little about the fondness of the work he gets to do with TPSF at The Last Drop. “This was my parents spot when they
came to this place while I was growing up, and now it has turned into mine. The name of the bar is just so fitting to the type of place it has
been to this neighborhood over the years. The Last Drop has the “Latest Last Call” in the city, but it is also the last of its kind when it comes
to a local pub. A meeting spot for so many people like the “Brighton Bangers’ running group, or even as the place to go after the annual parade
or the tree lighting, it is nothing more or less but a place to simply be a part of the community.” I then notice the decorative slips of paper
that cover the wall for those who gave $5 or $10 in support of the Winship School. It is a bar, there is no escaping that, but it is more than
just a place to let loose while being safe. What you can also find when you are behind its red exterior is a neighbor who is there to support you
or willing to get to know you, if you just pull up a seat at the bar. Help Brighton Main Streets by considering the Power of Giving Ten.