Frank Kimball

Blyth and Burrows

By Sara Hogan and Jessie Banhazl

Age: 86

Hometown: Peaks Island, Maine

Bar of Choice: Blyth and Burrows

Drink of Choice: Bacardi and Diet

When 86-year-old Frank Kimball goes “honky tonkin,’” this gregarious and fascinating bar regular stops into some of the Old Port’s classiest watering holes like Papi, Via Vecchia, The Henry, and Blyth and Burrows. Operated by the Miranda Group, these establishments are known for their stunning interior designs and thoughtful food and cocktails. Frank’s favorite of the group is Blyth and Burrows, and that’s where The Regulars met up with him.

“Frank is probably one of our longest standing and most loyal regulars. He’s got quite the circuit here in Portland, and we are very happy to be a part of his weekly tour,” says Anna Day, a Blyth bartender. “Never a dull moment with Frank. We even have his drink order programmed into our computer as ‘Frank Drank’ since he’s the only one who ever orders it.”

We sat down with Frank for his signature Bacardi and Diet Coke one afternoon to hear about why he’s so dedicated to frequenting the cocktail bar, along with his many other stops throughout the Old Port neighborhood.

When did you start coming to Blyth and Burrows?

This is one of my favorite places. I’ve watched the Old Port develop and I’ve seen a few places go away, that bothered me. I used to go to Solo Italiano when Caleb and Chopper were both bartenders down there. When they started working here at Blyth and Burrows, I started coming in so I’ve been coming here since they opened. Josh, the owner, is an old drinking buddy of mine. I used to see him up at the old Legion on Atlantic Street. It’s closed now, but I’ve known him for 25 years. He started buying places, so I frequent them! (The bartenders) are my social life, they’re why I keep coming back.

Where are you from?

I grew up on Peaks Island. I was a letter carrier there for 31 years. I was a lobbyist for eight years for the letter carrier’s union. It was fun, but I learned to dislike a lot of people who work in politics, especially in the southern states. Do you know who Linda Tripp (of Bill Clinton impeachment fame) was? I met her and nobody in her department liked her at all. They said she was a witch, and it turned out she was! Haha!

In 1992, when I was 55, I retired from the post office. The day I turned 55, that “swish” they heard was me going out the door. I loved being a letter carrier but I was tired of working. I’m known all the way from Kittery to Caribou and everywhere in between because I had to visit all the post offices when I was state president of the letter carriers. Eight years ago, my oldest son took a job as a letter carrier down in Biddeford. He can keep it going.

A lot of people associate rum with the Navy. Is that how you landed on Bacardi and Diet as your drink of choice?

I was a Naval Reserve for 32 years. Of course, with the Navy I was always on ships. We went up and down the east coast from Key West all the way to Halifax and back to the Caribbean. I was only on destroyers and minesweepers and they could go into small places, like if you’re on a big ship you could only go into major ports, but we went everywhere. I was in the first invasion of Lebanon way back in 1956. I was active during the Berlin missile crisis and in Vietnam. I took my first drink when I was 26-years-old in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it happened to be Bacardi. I stuck with it.

In addition to being a letter carrier, lobbyist, and a sailor, we heard you were an announcer on the drag racing circuit. Tell us about that.

I was the voice of “Sunday! New England Dragway.” I love drag racing. I got into drag racing because I was a hot rodder when I was in high school. I had a ’56 Ford and I always loved cars. I learned to drive a 1931 Model A Ford two-door down on Peak’s Island when I was thirteen years old. If I could drive that Model A, I could drive anything.

Tell us about your weekly bar crawl.

For the past 25 years I’ve been making a regular round down here. On my route, I hit up Henry’s, Dewey’s, King’s Head, DiMillo’s, J’s Oyster, Tomasso’s, and everywhere in between. I go out two or three times a week, but once it gets warmer, it’ll be four. I don’t normally come out on weekends. There’s two nights I don’t go out — New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day. There’s too many amateurs, and the bars are too busy. I go about a mile and a half to two miles just walking around here because I go everywhere. I don’t hit them all every time I come out. Usually, I do about four or five places. I try to have one drink an hour, but I occasionally violate that rule. I didn’t live to be 86 by being stupid!

Being a widower, I’ve got more time than I know what to do with, and I have three pensions. The reason I come down here is the people that work here. I got rid of my car five years ago because of the buses. When I’m going out honky tonkin’ — some people call it a “pub crawl,” I call it honky tonkin’ — I get off the bus, and my stop first at Shay’s (in Monument Square), and they tease me when I leave there to head to Old Port. They say, “It’s all downhill from here!”

Know an interesting bar regular? Recommend them to us by e-mailing theregularsmaine@gmail.com.