July 15, 1977 Nightlife: Schony's

 

A Buffalo sports hero lends his name and fame to a nightspot, but not very much of his presence.

July 15, 1977 Nightlife 

Schony’s 

          Schony’s turned two years old last week, occasion for stopping by the Evanstown Plaza premises to offer congratulations to manager Dave Forness and maybe catch a pre-training glimpse of Buffalo Sabres hockey star Jim Schonfeld.

          It turns out the odds are better for seeing Schonfeld in Memorial Auditorium than in Schony’s. Immigration officials have been strict about how much interest the Canadian athlete can have in the Williamsville establishment that bears his nickname.

          Since he lives only a few minutes away in the same subdivision as O. J. Simpson, he sometimes drops by to shake hands, but not too often. Forness explains that Schonfeld devotes a lot of time to charity events and such. This evening, he notes, he’s probably involved with work for the Tim Horton Fund.

          “He’s a real gentleman,” Forness says. “The people love him.”

          Putting Schonfeld’s nickname over the door was one of only two remodeling moves owner Dennis Brinkworth ordered when he added what used to be the Dover Castle Restaurant to his roster. The other move was knocking down a wall that enclosed a dining room. The bar and the castle décor were left unchanged.

          The décor is one of the four things Forness mentions when asked what fills Schony’s with a suburban crowd ranging from their 20s to 40s. The other things are the lighted plaza parking lot, the combination of live bands and disco music every night and, most of all, the staff.

          Friday and Saturday nights, when the crowds are biggest, there’s a 50-cent charge at the door. Since there’s little or no cover charge, mixed drinks run about $1.50. Forness, whose tie and blazer are as immaculate as his mustache, assures this coatless visitor that proper dress here means neat, but not necessarily a jacket.

          The band this particular evening is Fantasy, a dress-up quintet whose five-voice harmonies and synthesized strings make them sound as full as groups twice their size.

          Whatever current numbers haven’t been covered by the band are likely to be played by deejays Richard Garland and Tommy Rust. Garland’s on this night and he leads off two successive sets with Pablo Cruise’s omnipresent “Whatcha Gonna Do?”

          “Buffalo’s one of the few towns that have deejays alternating with live bands,” Forness observes. “I go to Toronto, Rochester, Cleveland, and you ask them what they do when the group is off and they say, ‘Oh, we got a jukebox.’ That isn’t enough. A deejay can feel the people, bring them up or down.”

          Forness books bands from several sources. The groups he speaks most highly of – Rhymes from Akron, Ohio, and Love Affair from Washington, D.C. – he’s contracted himself. For an in-demand group like United Sound, he arranges dates six months in advance. He shows a scheduling book that lists them for Thanksgiving.

          Schony’s is the first club Forness has managed and he’s overseen it since it opened. A North Buffalo native and a graduate of UB, he’s worked nights for Brinkworth for 12 years and taught sixth grade in Buffalo by day.

          When he was asked to look after Schony’s, he requested one thing in return. He wanted to staff the place with Brinkworth people he had worked with.

          He chose them from all over. Carol Von used to be at the Inn Between. Patty Bruce was at the Locker Room. Tommy Loughren came from the Saratoga.

          “It made things much easier,” Forness says, “knowing I had the crew set. When Denny asked me, I said I’ll try it for the summer and it went so well I stayed. During the school year, I’m here 4:30 to 8:30 doing inventory and scheduling and hiring the bands. I’m usually home by 9.”

          Also helping have been friends Forness has made during his dozen years. He mentions several who have pitched in during a pinch (like when the ice machine broke) or have given advice – Dale Del Bello from Arigato’s, Dave Shatzel from Cole’s and Dick Bergman and Nick Shosho from Mean Guys East.

          Schony’s serves food as well as drink, mostly sandwiches and snack items, but that’s changing next week. Coming up is a more varied noontime menu. Forness says it should attract some of the Evans-Sheridan area’s sizable luncheon trade.

          One Forness touch is the use of barmaids. On busy nights, the drinks are poured by two men and two women.

          “I’ve always liked barmaids,” he says, “and they’re really good with the people.”

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IN THE PHOTO: Dave Forness outside Schony’s.

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FOOTNOTE: In the obituary for Dave Forness in 2017, I laid out his career in a little more detail:

          “Mr. Forness taught for 17 years in the Buffalo schools while working at night as a bartender and manager at Schony’s, Mean Guys East, Court 51 and Leonardo’s, before opening his own restaurants.

          “In 1982, when he opened the Buffalo House, he took a leave of absence from his sixth-grade classroom at Southside Elementary School to devote full-time effort to his business.

          “His success with the Buffalo House, a property he and a partner acquired and remodeled on Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo, was the model for his subsequent restaurants.

          “They included Gabriel’s Gate on Allen Street, which he bought in the mid 1980s, Hemingway’s on Pearl Street, Birchfield’s on Main Street and Megan’s Irish Pub on Allen Street.”

          He sold Gabriel’s Gate in 2000 and leased Burchfield’s out to other restaurant operators. He closed the Buffalo House and Hemingway’s in 2008 and put them up for sale. In 2010, he was ordered to repay New York State $338,000 in back sales taxes.

          He was able to bounce back, though. He took a former clothing store on Allen Street near Elmwood in 2014 and turned it into a cozy pub called the Alley Cat.

           In the meantime, Schony is still with us. His online biographies mention the two albums he put out as a singer with local piano player John Valby the early 1970s (in the days before Valby became "Dr. Dirty") and lots about his hockey career as player and coach and executive, but hardly anything at all about the nightclub.