The now-closed Jonesy’s Tavern — on Holland Avenue in the Arlington section of Mariners Harbor — was a fixture for 20 years.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Something definitely went missing in the heart of the Arlington community in Mariners Harbor when Jonesy’s Tavern on Holland Avenue, a uniquely popular gathering place for two decades, closed its doors last month.
“It was the end of an era,” said Mariners Harbor resident and retired school teacher Elizabeth Meaders, a cousin of Carl Jones, the tavern’s long-time owner. “Anyone could drop in to Jonesy’s, with no strings attached. It was very peaceful and low-key.”
“It was a home away from home,” added Maria Browning, who tended bar there before Jones bought the place, and continued working for 15 of the 21 years that he was at the helm as the big-hearted owner.
Jones “was a father figure, a role model, a great guy. He loved to talk, and was very intelligent and sharp,” said Ms. Browning, a Mariners Harbor resident who is assistant director of the Cassidy-Coles senior-citizen center in New Brighton. “And he always went into his pocket to lend money” to people in need, she added.
Jones — a West Brighton native, born in 1935, and the oldest of four sons — closed the popular tavern when his health failed.
MIXED CROWD
Jonesy’s had something for everyone. Its atmosphere was “like ‘Cheers’” — the long-running television show — said Ms. Meaders.
“Certain guys had certain seats, and the old-timers — retirees in their 60s, 70s, and into their 80s — played cards in the back on Thursday and Saturday afternoons,” recalled Ms. Browning.
“We had birthday parties for customers — the big months were February, June, and October. Women from the neighborhood cooked and brought in food” that everyone shared, free of charge, she added.
Jones also famously hosted Christmas parties for neighborhood children during the holiday season.
Arlington resident Shanda Scott, 36, first met Jones “when I was in elementary school at PS 20,” she said on Monday. “He was a great role model, and a tough cookie. He would never let the kids get away with anything. I loved and respected him.”
Ms. Scott went on to work for Jones at the tavern for eight years, part-time. “It was cozy, comfortable, and people really enjoyed themselves,” she said.
‘LOVED ME LIKE A SON’
Carl Jones “loved me like a son. He molded me as a young man,” said Arlington resident Eddie Perez, 34. “He was like a grandfather figure in the community. I knew who he was way before I met him in person, when I was old enough to go into the bar.
“He was great in stature, and demanded respect. If you gave him respect, he gave it right back to you,” Perez added. “He was a father figure to a lot of people.”
Jones instructed Perez in the sport and skill of playing pool. The Jonesy’s Tavern team played together for 15 years, and won division championships. Finally, “in 2009, two seasons ago, we won the Staten Island Eight-Ball League Championship,” Perez said proudly.
The generous, community-minded spirit of Carl Jones made him a most notable neighbor.
“He’s a person who is concerned for others, and he has been that way since a little boy,” his aunt, Evelyn Morris King of Stapleton – an Advance Woman of Achievement — told this newspaper 11 years ago. Jones “felt everybody’s business was his own — not from the point of view of a busybody — and if he saw something or someone who needed help, he would do his best to provide it,” she said.
ROOTS
“His mother and my father were children of William A. Morris,” said his cousin, Ms. Meaders. Morris, a prominent West Brighton businessman and civic leader, was one of the founders of the Staten Island chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the intermediate school on Castleton Avenue in Brighton Heights bears his name.
“Carl took after his grandfather. He was the most entrepreneurial one in the family,” she commented.
‘DOWN-TO-EARTH’
Jones was an avid motorcyclist, and founded and was president of the Touch of Class motorcycle club. One “sweet surprise” was the motorcycle convoy that escorted Jones’ car from his Ocean Terrace home to the Staaten for the June 21 event, she added.
Jones had a favorite, frequently heard expression, Ms. Browning recalled: “What’s the point of being stupid if you can’t show it sometimes?”
The expression “was part of his disarming way of engaging people,” Ms. Meaders said. “He was a very down-to-earth guy, and that is what made him so attractive to the community.”
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