By Paul F. Vang
You almost have to be Lutheran to get this, but when this reporter moved to Butte in 1988, we joined a local church.
The first time we went to a potluck dinner we all sang a table grace that starts, "Be present at our table, Lord." My wife and I stumbled at the end of the little song, when the people sang, "May strengthened for thy service be," instead of what we were used to, "May feast in paradise with thee."
When we questioned why the different wording, we were told, "Because "paradise' is a bar on Harrison Avenue."
As it turns out, it' the "Pair A Dice" bar, not "Paradise," and it' one of the many unassuming, blue collar bars that dot Butte' neighborhoods.
John Perino, 62, who has owned the Pair A Dice since 1983, is a long time loyal member of Montana Tavern Association and the Silver Bow Tavern Association.
While he' never held any state offices, he served as president of the Silver Bow association in 1988 and has served as treasurer since 1994, when he took over the treasurer' books from one of the mainstays of Montana' hospitality industry, Bob Pavlovich.
Perino, like many of his colleagues in the business, comes from a family tradition of owning a bar.
Perino' grandfather came to the United States from Italy in the 1930s, finding work as a coal miner in Illinois, later moving to Roundup, and finally became a hard rock miner in Butte.
John' father owned a bar in uptown Butte, "Perino'." It' now the site of Maloney' Bar, but Perino smiles when he says, "I was up there just a couple days ago and saw they had a Perino' matchbook on display."
Perino is unsure about the bar' history but believes it goes back to the 1930s. "I just know that I used to come in here after I turned 21, back in the mid-"60s."
And John Perino has a brother who owns the Cribbage Board bar in Jefferson City.
Though taverns are a family tradition, John Perino didn't get in the business at an early age. He previously had a vending machine sales route in southwestern Montana, a job he started while still in high school.
Was he ready for a change at the time he bought the Pair A Dice? "Yes I was," he says, adding with a laugh, "Yes, I am now, too."
While Perino is at an age when many retire, he' really not ready. "I've been thinking about it," he admits. "It has some appeal," he quips, "but I don't work that hard now."
Looking back at a quarter century in the tavern business, Perino has seen a lot of changes.
"A lot of people have been through the same thing," he says modestly. "We went through the 18-, 19-, and 21-year-old drinking age laws. It was interesting."
Perhaps more interesting were the days when the Pair A Dice bar sponsored a softball team, during a period when Butte was a hotbed of adult softball leagues. "We'd sponsor a 40-team tournament every summer and everybody would gather here after the games."
While looking back at those long ago post game parties gives Perino both a smile and a shudder, he tells of the beer slide. "They'd pour beer on the floor. Then they'd go across the street to get a good running start and then go sliding across the floor on their bellies.
"The cops made me put a stop to that," he chuckles, as he also recalled that some young women were sometimes topless by the end of their slide. Putting a lid on the softball parties was often a major challenge, and the swamper' job cleaning up the floors, the next morning, was a really major challenge.
Perino probably appreciates today' somewhat more sedate clientele, though he can't think back to the old softball tournament parties without some regret that softball has declined in recent years.
It was during another crowded night at the bar when Perino thought that the bar service wasn't quite fast enough and he said to his bartender, "Leo, can you move a little faster?"
Perino recalls that Leo (Leo Lynch, a long-time employee) looked his boss in the eye and said, "I have two speeds. If you don't like this one you sure as heck won't like the other one."
"I told that story at Leo' funeral," Perino said, acknowledging that, after all was said and done, he didn't like Leo' other speed.
Perino gives credit to another long-time employee, George Kelly, for helping to make his life easier. "He' my right-hand guy. I wish I had two of him. He' been here for 16 years--maybe longer."
Kelly is the bar' swamper and morning bartender. "He keeps this place in shape and he' always willing to go anywhere to pick things up."
When asked if he had any stories about George to share with the Montana Tavern Times, Perino says, "I do, but you couldn't print them."
In his private life, Perino enjoys golfing, and was on the golf tournament committee for the 2006 MTA convention in Butte. In addition, he also enjoys snowmobiling and ATVing in the nearby mountains.
He has two grown daughters, and Judy Younce, who works at the Montana Standard of Butte, and is also secretary of the East Side Athletic Club, is a "significant other."
Perino is active in the local Shriner' organization, though he' not one to blow his horn about his volunteer work, saying, "I'm not much for the limelight, so I don't think I have much to talk about."
John Perino sums things up when he says of his regular customers, "I do have a nice clientele. They're nice people; all kinds, retired, miners, and others."
He enjoys his quiet lifestyle, but says of the tavern business, "It has its moments."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Nov., 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.