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It will be a time of swinging emotions as well as music and dance when the curtain comes down on an Auckland institution tomorrow.
New Year's Eve will mark the end of the line for the Alhambra bar and restaurant in Ponsonby, a favourite haunt of musicians, writers,
artists and ordinary blokes.
Owners Jan and Russell Hughes are winding up the business at Three Lamps after nearly a quarter of a century because their lease has expired and the property is to be redeveloped.
In 1982 the couple fitted out the new mezzanine floor of the Ponsonby Rd building which was originally built as a skating rink about 100 years ago and later adapted into a Moorish-style picture theatre. The Hughes picked up on the theme, naming the premises after the Alhambra fortress in southern Spain.
Like its Spanish namesake, the bar sits on a ridge, its large twin windows serving up a sweeping view of the city skyline from Mt Eden to North Head.
The Alhambra attracted customers not just from around Auckland but from the rest of New Zealand and overseas.
It is regarded as an institution, especially for jazz lovers with its popular Friday and Sunday sessions.
Johnny Watson, vice-president of the Auckland Jazz and Blues Club, said the Alhambra was one of the few venues left with no cover charge where musicians could play regularly, offering live music five nights a week.
"No place in town does that ... they really pushed it for music and should be congratulated on that."
Watson has been going there for 20 years to sing or support other musicians
"You'd never know who was going to be there and every night was a memory."
Jazz players from overseas would also check out the venue. "Musicians know where to turn up for a blow."
Many were invited to join in with the band, even the Alhambra kitchen hand "Junior from Brazil", who plays the harmonica.
Pianist Rufus Rehu has been playing mainstream swing there for about 18 years with his mate Jimmy Gibb on the drums.
"It's a melting pot of people from different walks of life, you name it they're there."
Jazz singer Truda Chadwick learned a lot from Rehu, who was always encouraging her while "cackling away like an old rooster in the corner".
She is already mourning the loss of the Alhambra.
"It had a pulse, it had a beat, it had life and good vibes and it made people happy."
Music writer John Dix said the Alhambra had always been a musicians' hangout.
Many personalities passed through although "most of the characters got barred".
Ponsonby resident Dennis O'Neill has been going from the day it opened.
A greengrocer, he supplied the Alhambra with fresh produce from his shop Fruitique on Ponsonby Rd.
"The punters, an interesting bunch, have come and gone but the essence remained."
It was not just an arty scene, he said. "Jacks and Jackesses of all trades were there."
Some regulars are aged in their 80s and a mat donated by "Samoan friends of the Alhambra" hangs in pride of place above the bar alongside a taiaha donated by other loyal locals.
Customers over the years have included politicians, the late Sir Hugh Kawharu, actors Bruno Lawrence and Tom Selleck, and Rock Star host Dave Navarro.
They have all enjoyed the discretion of their host, who claims he doesn't even recognise half of them.
"I try to treat everyone the same."
Decked out in a sharp white shirt, bow tie and until recent law changes a smoking pipe, Hughes has at times felt like a social worker behind the bar with the "minor and major" dramas that have unfolded.
"Jan and I probably don't even understand what this place means to some people."
The Alhambra has been a venue for weddings, wakes and all manner of anniversaries.
Jan Hughes says they will miss all the familiar faces and people who have been coming back over the years.
"Some married here, some found relationships here. A second generation has been coming through."
Needless to say, tickets to the final New Year's Eve function have sold out.
