Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-13
WIDOW PRESERVES
OLD NORMAN BAR
GiIded Sign and Rare Fixtures
Hold Memories of Pic
turesque Days.

In a quaint brick house on Fifth
street, amid the hallowed memories
OF colorful past, sits little gray
haired widow, whose veneration of the
dead has led her to preserve to this
day the old mahogany bar, brass rail,
beer mugs and other accessories of her
late husbands prohibition calling.
"Morman's" once was a name with
which to conjure Mention of the
name will quicken long dormant mem
cries of many veteran of the in
GereStlng days when horse cars passed
down the Avenue, gas lamps f1ickered
above the heads of the old corner
gang" and conviviality reigned be-
hind inviting swinging doors
Few old-timerS who once tilted mugs
and exchanged pleasantries over the
hoSpitable bar which Eddie Norman
kept on the alley corner near Fifth
and I streets know that the self-same
sign, emblaZoned with the single word,
"Mormanns." remains today-ablaze
with the new gilt of a recent over
hauling.
Painters whom Mrs. Norman en-
gagged to redecorate the old house this
Summer sought to dismantle the VEN
cradle sign, but the kindly old lady
stood her ground and today the sign
continues to spread its message of an
cient good cheer.
Remnants Carefully Stored.
There was something Mrs Mormann
did not ten the painters, and that she
has not divulged to many of her friends.
In room in the basement of her home,
behind lock and key, are stored all
remnants of the glory that once was
Mormann's
If prohibition were to be lifted TODAY
the old bar room could be promptly re-
stored to its appearance of more than a
decade ago. Not that Mrs. Norman
believes and desires that the old DAYS
might return-neither she nor her nus
band were opponents of prohibition. In
fact, 1t was not the prohibition law that
caused Eddie Norman to lock his doors
and draw his shades and store his bar
room equipment. Mormann's closed two
years before the prohibition era because
OF regulation against proximity of
saloons to churches. There were two
churches of different denominations
within few blocks of Mormanns place.
Room Eventually Shorn.
Eddie Norman left things pretty
much as they were in the old bar room
for several years, but eventually he had
the room shorn of all its familiar
furnishings with the exception of two
cut-glass pendant chandeliers, which
once shed their mellow gas light upon
the joyous scenes below. The long bar
was divided into sections, the rail was
removed, the sturdy tables and chairs
were packed up, mugs and glasses were
boxed and even the inevitable froth
SUCK was preserved. Everything was
piled high in the improvised storage
room, the door was padlocked and
Eddie Norman turned to less interest
ing pursuits in friends restaurant.
Mr.. Norman passed away in the old
mouse OF his former associations about
three years ago, at the ripe age of rs
years. Fffty-three years he had been
In the bar room business-all but is
OF those years being spent on the Fifth
street alley corner.
He bequeathed the old house, with all
its glamorouS possessions, to his beloved
and faithful companion of those happy
years. companion who, behind the
scenes, had helped him with the oysters
and the free lunches and had been his
faithful helpmeet through times Of
early stress and Of later prosperity.
NOW Mrs. Norman, who is 70 years
old, lives in the house with her only
child, a daughter, who has a grown,
married daughter of her own. Recently
the daughter went to California to visit
her daughter and the latter's husband,
and Mrs. Norman was left alone, save
for the presence of several roomers on
the floors above.
Yes" the soft-voiced old lady sighed
when visited by q reporter, "it's pretty
lonesome here without my daughter
and without Eddie. But the knowledge
tnat Eddie's most priced belongings are
nearby is a thought that consoles and
comforts me as nothing else can