Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

The year was around 1980 and it was Christmas week. I was playing a solo gig with my guitar at The Original Restaurant in Cambridge. We had a pretty good crowd and I was finishing up with a couple of Christmas songs.

There was a table with my friends and they were pretty primed. I said good night and thanks for coming and all that stuff. The crowd lingered for about 15 minutes while the waitress cleared the tables. The lights went on and people started leaving. The waitress shut off the Christmas tree and the place closed.

The next day I got a frantic call from the agent who booked me into the restaurant. It seems five captain’s chairs were missing from the lounge side. The owner contacted the agent and the agent questioned me about the chairs. I had no idea that someone had managed to sneak five solid wood captain’s chairs out of the restaurant.

The owners, who were from the North End, were not happy and wanted to know who stole the chairs. I called up a few of my friends who were there and asked if they saw anything suspicious. We figured the thieves had a truck or a van. That narrowed it down.

I’m not sure what the exact timeline was, but someone came clean and the chairs were returned. The case of the stolen chairs was solved. While most of the crowd was singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, a couple of revelers were stuffing five chairs into a van.

A short time later I noticed my sterling and turquoise stud earrings were missing out of my medicine cabinet. About a year later I noticed one of the chair thieves was wearing one of my earrings. I said nothing. These were studs that my late brother brought me back from Arizona. I guess he was a forgetful criminal since he wore the earring in my house. To this day I’ve told many people this story but never had the nerve to confront the thief.

So, the chairs were returned and Christmas came and went that year long ago. The great Christmastime Chair Heist was history.