"One Eye" Bill Dauber

Bartends At: Bellevue Bar, 538 9th Ave.

(betw. 39th & 40th Sts.), 212-760-0660

How'd you get the name "One Eye"? When I lost the eye, and I got the prosthesis, I liked to play around with it at the other bars I've worked. I worked the Holland, the Full Moon, the Savoy. So sometimes I take it out when somebody says, "Keep an eye on my drink."

What happened? I was working in a hospital, in the ceiling and I got some dust in my face that caused a bacteria [infection]. And out it came.

How long ago was that? About 20 years. I was in my 40s. I'm 64 now.

You're in good shape. I hang in there.

And were you bitter after you lost the eye? The only thing was the depth perception, trying to get that back. What I did was walk up and down the stairs. This way you learn. I got my depth perception back. I'm all right.

My generation is such a bunch of pussies. We get a bad latte and we complain for years. You guys lose limbs and eyes and you move on. Hey, I still got the other eye. As long as I can see, I'm fine.

You've bartended off and on around here for 15 years. How was it in the old days? There was a lot of shit going on then. There was drugs, and I used to be into it a little, but I haven't done nothing in a long time. And I won't allow it here.

Were there a lot of heroin dealers back then? The main thing was cocaine. Powder or rock. And I just don't want to work around that.

And obviously there used to be prostitutes. Up on 8th Ave., we had a couple that used to come in the bar. But they'd come in, buy a drink, then leave. They didn't work there.

Were they good tippers? Oh yeah. Sometimes when they'd come in, I'd lend them a few bucks for food or soup or whatever. And then they'd come back, buy a drink and leave me a tip.

And the drug dealers? Did they tip? I didn't have nothing to do with them. But the tips here [at the Bellevue] are good. I can't complain.

Do you miss the old days? I used to get into problems with throwing people out-I got my nose broke twice-I don't need it anymore.

How'd your nose get broken? Throwing somebody out, some girl would come up and try to stop me. I got sucker-punched.

By the girl? No, by the guy. Because I stopped and tried to tell her to leave me alone. She was pulling my arm and I got nailed. Another night I was walking from one bar to bring the cash to the other one. And I had this plastic bag. But all that was in the bag was paper tickets. The cash was in my pocket. But they took the bag and ran off. They didn't get shit.

But they hit you in the back of the head? Yeah. But, hey. I worked bars in Newark, I worked them in Bridgewater... The toughest was in Newark. We had some guys there, they get in fights, the next thing you know, they're throwing pool balls around.

And you drove a truck for a while. Any problems there? When I was working for Gallo Wines, you'd have people trying to rip off the Thunderbird wine. I got a little uptight. They'd try to run up and grab the case? So I'd just have a nice little stick.

What was that? A pool stick. And it had a couple of nails in it. They'd see it.

Sounds like Catholic school. Did you use it? Not really. 'Cause I got the wine back. A couple times they tried.

Let's talk about this bar. Right here you got the best crowd going on. They buy their beer. They're happy go lucky. They play their music. They're great.

Any parting advice for our readers? Live life and enjoy it as long as you can.