Robert Harry Lovejoy did not suffer a long and painful death. There he was joking and laughing one day, and poof! … gone the next. His friends and family can take comfort in that. Yet his death has brought a large void into this world, especially in our Santa Barbara community.
I met Bob in the mid-’80s while I was a bartender at Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens. He had come in with a couple of gals after they’d played in a coed softball game. A few drinks later, Bob went to the restroom, and when he returned, his friends had left, sticking him with the bar tab. He had no money and promised to return the next day to pay. Next he asked if he could borrow $20 for a cab ride home.
This man, whom I had never met, wants to run a tab and borrow 20 bucks? Yet there was something about this guy that I thought to myself, “Go ahead.” Of course he was back the next day to pay and added a handsome gratuity. He became a regular at Jimmy’s and entertained us all with great stories and stale jokes.
