Club Mallard has gone through quite a transformation over the last 25 years, much like the town it resides in. Despite the changes, the first rate establishment remains one of the East Bay’s great watering hole-in-the-walls.

Albany, California was basically known for three things: being next to Berkeley, small, affordable stucco homes for blue collar workers and Golden Gate Fields, the Northern California horseracing venue. We would laugh that the best view in Albany was from the men’s urinals at GGF, which faced out toward a breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Seats at the racetrack face traffic clogged interstate 880.

As has happened in the Bay Area, those small, affordable stucco homes are, well, still small. But with the now outlandish housing prices comes a new retail culture catering to the affluent in Albany of high end shops, book stores, coffee houses and café’s. What would become of the sweet, old Club Mallard – the corner bar on San Pablo Avenue so near and dear to my heart?

While at the University of California – Berkeley, a bunch of Cal students worked at a meat warehouse in Richmond at night to have some spending money in our faded jeans. We punched out was at 12:30 a.m., meaning we had less than 1 and ½ hours to rush to a drinking establishment to wind down. Bars in the immediate area were scary, and other bars stopped serving before the 2 a. m. California cut-off, so we had to go back toward Berkeley in search of a place that could handle our young thirsts.

I don’t know who discovered it first – I’ll take credit – but we began to frequent the Club Mallard – respectfully known as the MAH–lard – because of the pool table, juke box and venerable old bartender Don Lucey. Don was one of the best bartenders ever, a consummate professional. He was a tall, thick man, and his hands swung low behind the bar causing us to nickname him “Grandfather Clock.”

He would serve until 1:59, but at 2:00 all drinks were off of the bar. He made the best Manhattan I have ever had, and maybe the only Manhattan I have ever had. A splash of cherry juice was his signature. What were guys in their early ‘20’s doing drinking Manhattans at one o’clock in the morning anyway?

Don left us for the big bar in the sky and the Mallard took on new ownership. The place has been updated with a patio that is affectionately called the “lanai,” and the upstairs apartment has been converted into a pool room with the addition of three more tables. The clientele is distinctively younger, especially at night, with body art and piercing popular on both sides of the bar.

The updating has actually made the bar better and more popular. But the spirit of Don remains, if not the want for a Manhattan. An excellent selection of beers would be the better choice now if so inclined to duck into the Mallard. – D.M.