THE BELMONT LUNCH
By Duncan
Tony Rogers called and asked if I was back from my extended tour of the United States. I had to plead guilty. Tony said, “How about lunch?”
Tony Rogers engraved a picture of my father (George) on a piece of tile and called him,
“The Original.” What a magnificent gift.
My personal and very close friend, Tony Rogers, is an artist, mechanic, and businessman. He is many things, but I shall leave my vulgar comments for later. Tony owns his own sign company (AAASIGN.COM) and works alone.
It’s not unusual to find Tony engaged in a daring task, like hanging from a six-story building to install a Company logo. Tony and Harry Callahan (Magnum Force) share a common belief: “A man has to know his limitations.” Tony runs with scissors and does not play well with other children.
TONY ROGERS - AAASIGN.COM - 317-297-7503
TONY ROGERS WORK SPACE BEHIND HIS HOME.
Okay, I’m not being paid for this shameless commercial, so let’s talk about lunch. Tony and I do lunch three to four times a year. I met Tony when I started riding a motorcycle in 2000. I’m unsure of the date, but I assume it’s been a 20-plus-year friendship. Tony likes Mexican food, and I’m okay with Mexican food, but I was hoping for something more iconic—something with a history, a mom-and-pop red-blooded American restaurant.
Tony suggested The Workingman’s Friend, which I thought was perfect.
Although this story has been told many times, it’s still fun to think about how Louis Stamatkin turned a lunch counter (Belmont Lunch) into what it is today—The Workingman’s Friend.
Debra, a very special woman in Tony’s life, also wanted to experience Workingman’s Friend.
World War I brought Louis Stamatkin to the United States. Louis, 20-21 years old, lived in Macedonia; he believed he had a better chance of success in the United States than in war-torn Macedonia.
At the risk of trying to tell you where Macedonia is in the world. Think Greece, then look north.
How Louis Stamatkin arrived in the United States from Macedonia could be clearer, but I found he came through Ellis Island. I assume he traveled on a ship. During the decade leading up to the war, an average of one million immigrants per year arrived in the United States, with about three-quarters of them entering through the Ellis Island immigration station in New York Harbor.
Again, it’s unclear if he knew anyone in Indianapolis. Many immigrants tend to follow countrymen who have already made the trip. But that’s only speculation on my part. How else does he end up in Indianapolis unless someone told him it was a good place to settle?
“If you come to Indianapolis, we will help you get settled.”
Now that Louis is living in Indianapolis, how does he earn a living? The average wage in the United States in 1918 was between sixteen and eighteen cents an hour. Louis rented a broken-down house a block south of the railroad yards on the west side of Indianapolis.
He began his earning career by making sandwiches, wrapping them in newspaper, riding his bicycle to the rail yards, and selling his product to the railroad workers. He encouraged the railroad workers to come to his place, a block south of the yards, which he called the Belmont Lunch. His place of business was an old home with dirt floors and a long wooden board he referred to as the lunch counter.
As the boys came for the sandwiches, Louis began selling liquor. He remodeled the place slowly so the boys in the yards could grab a sandwich and a drink. He began serving whiskey by the shot. Times were in touch, and the rail yard employees came to the Belmont Lunch to get a sandwich and a shot of whiskey. A shot was the least expensive way to consume alcohol at the Belmont Lunch.
It is now 1920, and the government passed the Volstead Act, which began prohibition. January 17, 1920, America went dry. This means the United States Government banned the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol. Yet, it was not illegal to drink.
BREAKING NEWS:
Date Line—The Indianapolis News: August 24, 1921. “Bandits entered The Belmont Lunch and held Louis Stamathin and two patrons (Lester Tools and Maurice Reese) at gunpoint. The robbers ordered the three men into the kitchen and took twenty dollars ($20.00) from the cash register.
The bandits also took Tools's watch, and Tool explained with great emotion that the watch was a gift from a loved one. The bandit returned the watch to Tool.
As the robbers were leaving, Stamathin grabbed his gun and fired five times as they left the building. Sergeant Sheehan and the emergency squad chased the automobile to the city limits, where he lost track of it.”
The boys at the railroad yard still wanted their shot of whiskey, so Louis made a homebrew (Bootleg Liquor) and sold it under the counter. It was very popular. Word traveled fast, and travelers crossing the country by the B&O railroad would get off the train while it was being refueled in Indianapolis and run down the block to get a drink.
When the circus came to Indianapolis, they would call ahead and order 200 half-pints.
The year was 1929, the stock market crashed, sending the economy into a tailspin.
The unemployment rate went from three to twenty-three percent. This also affected the railroad workers in Indianapolis. Men didn’t have the money to buy a sandwich because many lived paycheck to paycheck.
Louis would allow a tab for many of the railroad workers. Nothing was written down, nothing to sign; it was all on the honor system. They would come to Louis and settle their bill when they got paid. There was an understanding at Louis’s Belmont Lunch. The railroad workers began referring to Louis as “The Workingman’s Friend.”
Louis made it through the Depression, Prohibition, and World War II.
When Stamatkin died, he was 46 years old. His obituary was just three paragraphs long and needed to explain the circumstances. No one but a handful knew the real reason for his death. It is rumored that Louie died after staying up two nights straight playing poker.
Louis left the restaurant to his sons, Carl and Earl.
Louis has a third child, a girl named Lois. European tradition is that the first-born male child always receives the inheritance. I know the Scottish tradition is the same. The first-born male Duncan child has the same privilege. So, it’s very common for the girls in the family to receive nothing.
In the early 1950s, Carl and Earl decided to build a new building.
(The building built is “The Workingman’s Friend” that is there today, at 234 Belmont Street, Indianapolis, Indiana)
The building took them five years to finish. As a tribute to their father, they decided to rename the restaurant The Workingman’s Friend.
One afternoon, Earl found himself in a very uncomfortable position. Earl had a flair for the ladies and fell in love with a very shapely, blonde-haired twenty-seven-year-old factory worker, Clara Katherine Kendall. Earl and Clara had a child together.
On September 23, 1953, Clara Katherine Kendall, wearing a clinging yellow Jersey sun dress, smart brown high-heeled shoes, and sunglasses, pleaded guilty to bigamy. She received a suspended sentence of six months and a fine of fifty dollars. ($50.00)
(Stock Photo)
Clara Katherine Kendall had four husbands; however, she simply forgot to divorce her last husband before marrying her next husband. One of Clara’s other husbands, whom Kendall married, was physician Euclid Gaddy, Earl Stamatkin’s personal physician. Talk about close friends.
Friction between Carl and Earl continued, and they decided to part ways.
According to Becky Stamatkin, Carl's daughter, the truth is that the brothers got drunk, got into a huge fight, and went their separate ways.
Carl decided to take control of the restaurant.
Earl took possession of a vacant lot at Washington and Tibbs and lived off the rent from Burger Chef.
Carl was married twice. The first marriage was to Mary Monroe.
Children: Linda, Larry, Gary, Terry.
The second marriage to Mary Alice Gill.
Children: Becky, Louis, Steve, Chris, Earl, Danny.
You will notice that I bolded the name “Becky.” There came a point when no one in the Carl Stamatkin family wanted anything to do with the restaurant—except Becky. It came down to this, either close the restaurant or continue its legacy. Becky couldn't let it die.
Becky started helping out in the restaurant when she was 14 years old. And now Becky is the owner of the Workingman’s Friend.
The Workingman’s Freind has been in operation since 1918. So, as of this story, they have been in business for 106 years.
The Workingman’s Freind is an icon in Indianapolis. They don’t take credit cards (cash only); soft drinks come to your table in a can. It’s a bar with bar food: burgers, fries, onion rings, tenderloins, and beer. Workingman’s Friend is constantly in the top ten for their burgers. When asked how they make such a good burger, Becky will say,
“I don’t know; we buy the same meat as everyone else. The only thing I can think of is that in 1960, we purchased a used grill for the kitchen, and we have been using the same grill ever since. Perhaps the grill has magical powers. Or is it simply well-seasoned?
A shot of whisky for ten cents is a thing of the past.
I’m reminded of a 1946 movie when I think of The Workingman’s Friend.
Nick, the bartender in “It's a Wonderful Life,” says,
"Hey, look, mister. We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don't need any characters around to give the joint 'atmosphere.' Is that clear, or do I have to slip you my left for a convincer?"
DUNCAN
