Beardsleys restaurant today
There were all kinds of tantalizing references in federal records to the man that ran Beardsleys, the French restaurant on Main Street that become the symbol of Northampton in the eighties. A FBI tape recording that disappeared. Subpoenas that never got served. And a great deal of Heritage commercial paper on his restaurant and other joint ventures. It was intriguing that the area’s leading bank was financing someone who was a kingpin in the Valley’s numbers racket, someone who had links to organized crime, someone who was eventually arrested for money laundering and sentenced to federal prison.Click here to read full story
2 comments:
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Mike this is a fascinating read. But you go one detail wrong - Danny didn't move Beardsley's from Button St to Main. It was the second owner, Nick ? who I worked for as a waiter. He (and his father) turned it into a beautiful oak-panneled place - I even helped sand the oak! Danny bought it after it was beatified.
Wish you'd do a similar study of the previous Beardsley's owners - that too is wild times and fascinating characters - Chuck Belea, the first owner and Tibetan monk who with 4 friends including the second owner, used the proceeds from the restaurant to support a communal household that included real Tibetan monks. He's rumored to be a Taoist monk in Taiwan. I saw him walk thru a speeding car during one of our Casteneda-inspired acid trips. James Rehm was a waiter now living in Japan. The bartender was Dennis DeLap. I was a dishwasher, then waiter. Saw alot of coke and wild times flow thru that place.
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