Alfred “Butch” Quigley Sr. always joked he’d only leave his Harrisburg bar under one condition - “feet first.”
For nearly seven decades, his family ran Quigley’s Restaurant & Tavern on South Cameron Street where he greeted diners, made burgers and served draft beer.
Life doesn’t always go as planned. A year ago, Quigley, 81, retired and sold the rough-around-the-edges tavern that his parents Charlotte “Kay” and Alfred “Zip” Quigley opened in 1952.
The three-story building with the first-floor restaurant is under new ownership. Jimmy’s Barstool Bar & Restaurant is advertising it’s opening soon with food, drinks and fun.
If it hadn’t been for a knee injury, Quigley said he’d probably still be working. Maneuvering around with a crutch and serving diners became too difficult, so he took his three sons’ advice, sold the building and moved last December into a one-bedroom apartment at Essex House Retirement Community in Lemoyne.
“I guess I’m alive, still kicking and in good health,” he said.
Known for his sharp sense of humor that occasionally borders on crude, Quigley maintains his signature uniform - black pants, white t-shirt and suspenders. He brought along a “push button” call bell from the restaurant and still rings it for the ladies.
“A lot of the females in here, of all ages, know I’m joking with them,” he said.
In its glory days, Quigley’s was a working man’s bar and attracted a revolving door of customers from the nearby steel mill in Steelton. Through the years it had been magnet for neighbors and blue-collar workers who stopped in for beer, steaks, burgers and conversation.
His parents had operated a hotel on the upper floors, renting rooms to out-of-town steelworkers from Bethlehem Steel. Downstairs they ran the restaurant. Quigley was 12 when they purchased it and as a young man washed dishes, waited on tables, scrubbed floors and cooked.
Later, he worked 33 years for the state designing computer systems for the education and welfare departments. Within the span of a few months, his parents, and wife Barbara Anne, as well as his mother-in-law passed away, leaving him as sole proprietor of the tavern in 1993.
“I was a basket case,” he said, adding at that time he retired from the state to pursue full-time ownership of the bar.
Through the years, the tavern survived ups and downs. Floods from Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972 hurt several businesses along Cameron Street but Quigley’s escaped with only water in the basement.
Alfred "Butch" Quigley pictured in 2019 at Quigley's Restaurant, at 1517 S. Cameron St. in Harrisburg. Quigley's parents, Charlotte and Alfred opened the bar in 1952. File photo by Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com
Two years ago during a mugging at the bar, Quigley was sucker-punched and left on the floor unconscious with bumps, bruises and a black eye. The suspect, who was never found, took $170 from the restaurant and Quigley’s wallet, which contained only pictures.
When the pandemic hit, Daniel Boviall of Camp Hill, who helped at the bar and has remained friends with Quigley, said the tavern remained open despite state-ordered mandates to close.
“We played by all of their rules for the most part,” Boviall said. “We never closed down. It was slow but we operated through it.”
Quigley said he misses 12-hour days mingling with customers, but now he’s getting into a routine at the retirement community.
The former U.S. Marine admits it was an adjustment moving, and at the beginning he kept to himself and focused on physical therapy for his leg. He’s no longer walking with a crutch and maintains a daily exercise routine that includes a treadmill and pedal bike.
Other than exercising he spends his days watching television, socializing with other residents and driving to Karn’s Foods or Burger King for snacks. His diet flies in the face of medical advice for a person his age, although his doctor gives him a clean bill of health.
He eats some meals in the dining room but keeps a supply of snacks such as Entenmann’s doughnuts, miniature pies, Martin’s potato chips and 2-liter bottles of Pepsi and Mountain Dew in his apartment.
Otherwise, he chauffeurs residents to doctors appointments, lunch and errands.
“He has a huge heart,” said Justina Bodle, Essex House’s community sales adviser. “It’s impressive to see how well he’s doing and how much he looks out for others.”
And as for his old bar? Quigley, who celebrated his 81st birthday at the bar last December before leaving, says that long chapter in his life is behind him.
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