This is Fredrick Raymond Dagnino. Freddie. For more than 40 years he was a bartender at the famous Buena Vista Cafe, corner of Beach/Hyde across from the cable car turnaround. When I worked across the street, I would occasionally watch him prepare a never-ending procession of Irish Coffee drinks. He would line up 10-12 glasses in a row, assembly-line style. When it came to adding the sugar cubes, he would loft them Steph Curry-like one after another, nothing but glass. He was full of life and humor. He died doing what he loved, fishing on Russian River near Healdsburg. He collapsed after landing a steelhead trout, and was pronounced dead soon after. He was 75-years-old. A painting of him making Irish Coffees hangs behind the bar of the Buena Vista. (Per the "Santa Rosa Press Democrat," 12/31/15 -- photo by Darrio Bracamonte)
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