Hogan's Run

I feel like there is a lot of mystery surrounding Hogan's Run, and as someone who has been there once, seven years ago, who better to clear the air than myself, Matheus. Below are a number of myths that I shall either confirm or dispell about the fabled watering hole.

-Former USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev destroyed an arcade version of NBA Jam in the fall of 1999. FALSE. While Gorbachev did visit H.R. once after a speaking engagement at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in 2002, it was actually former teen heartthrob Lee Norris (better known as Minkus from Boy Meets World) who battered the console for two hours with a billy club lent to him earlier in the night by a group of Chinese nationals in town to work on the later abandoned Purple Line.

-Hogan's run witnessed a record 11 weekends in a row with at least one homicide committed on the premise. TRUE. December 1989-February 1990 saw 19 murders occur at H.R. due to its location between warring Japanese Yakuza and The Naplese Gomorrah gangs.

-The line chef at Hogan's is a legally blind Korean War vet named Paul James Lupo. Lupo taught himself how to cook gourmet cusines after going blind from having bleach thrown in his eyes by a neighbor in an act of retribution for installing a smoke pit within three feet of their property line. The smoke pit did indeed violate state regulations, but the structure was well within the parameters set out by town ordinance. His neighbor's petition was therefore thrown out at a township hearing, and backlogged at the state level. The bleach attack occured on Christmas Eve, 1971. Lupo spent the better part of the next ten years battling alcoholism, losing his wife, home, and smoke pit in the process. He was arrested in 1980 for smashing a lobster-trap over the head of a stunning Golden Retriever after mistaking it for Yellow Labrador. The dog would make a full recovery, but Lupo was sentenced to two years in prison, of which he only served nine months. It was during his time at a Saugus halfway house, located next to a Little Ceasar's, that Lupo taught himself to cook. The detail about Little Ceasar's is irrelevant to Lupo's story, but notable in that Felix P. Alvarez, who's significance I will mention when I review Pawtucket Tire Ltd., was an assistant manager there. It's a small world.... In any event, Lupo eventually developed a relationship with fellow inhabitant Donna Seager. The couple eventually moved out of the halfway house and into Seager's sister's basement in Brookline. Four years later the couple wed in a small ceremony at Saint Joeseph's at Manchester By The Sea, which guests would later recall as modest, yet endearing. In the autumn of his life, Lupo made it a point to stay as active as he possibly could. He used to routinely walk 4.3 miles per day along the same route which incidentally passed Hogan's run. During one of these walks, Lupo apprehended a man fleeing the bar on foot who had just shot and killed a patron inside. Hank Hogan, then owner, overflushed with gratitude demanded that Lupo accept some sort of compensation. After two weeks of hemming and hawing, the two finally agreed that Lupo come on full time as a line chef. The rest, as they say, is history. FALSE. This story is not true. None of it. Except the part where the golden retreiver was smashed over the head with a lobster trap. But that happened in Nashua, NH in 2004. Tragic story with a plot twist that'll leave you stunned. PM me for details.

Hogan's Run is entirely insulated with dead bears. TRUE. You'll notice that this place is extra warm in the winter and keeps the AC air in during the warmer months. And that it smells like dead bears sometimes. When Hogan built this place, dead bear was cheaper than pink insulation.

To sum, Hogan's Run is the best. I love Hogan's Run. I will have my wedding here. I love it forever. All other bars are worst forever.

A diamond in the rough! Buck Hunter,the aroma of bleach, wood paneling, darts, pool, and a Rolling Stones pinball machine...what's not to love?

Hogans Run is my own personal Cheers. Everyone knows my name and I wouldn't have it any other way. Some of the clientele is a little rough around the edges at first glance but when you get to know them, it makes all the difference. I have better conversation in there than I do with some of my closest friends. Can't beat the cheap beers and drinks and the company. My favorite vote goes for the bartender Billy. He's been there since I've been coming for the past four years. He makes great drinks and loves to chat music. The others are nice but hes the only one that when I come in for just one beer, I stay for more more. He makes the place a little warmer. I highly recommend. Good juke box too. Though I do prefer the old Sopranos pinball machine to the current Rolling Stones one.