Sigall, 86, has been a customer of Paul and Eddie's, a red two-story bar at 21619 Stevens Creek Blvd., since 1955. He starts his morning there with a cup of coffee. Then he chats with other regulars over a glass of beer while closely watching the state lottery's keno numbers flash on a television screen.

For longtime customers like Sigall, Paul and Eddie's is something of a senior community center that serves alcohol.

Sunshine pours in from two wide open doors. Italian meatballs are free. Sometimes customers even bring homemade hors d'oeuvres to share. Old friends meet here every day. "This is like my second home," Sigall says.

Observing customers at Paul and Eddie's come and go for a day is like watching the Santa Clara Valley evolve from the "Valley of Heart's Delight" into "Silicon Valley." Morning finds old-timers like Sigall telling stories about a time when blossoming cherry orchards blanketed Santa Clara County. In the evening, students, teachers and computer techies talk about layoffs, high tech and raising families.

Photograph contributed by Lois Gaviglio Eddie Gaviglio met his wife Lois (center with cigarette) when the two worked at the cement plant off of Stevens Creek Boulevard. Lois still lives in the couple's home on Cupertino Road.

"This is a neighborhood bar," says owner Mike Krebs, 37, in his signature Hawaiian shirt. "We want to create a mellow, relaxed atmosphere where everybody feels welcome."

For the past 70 years, Paul and Eddie's has been a gathering spot in Cupertino. Elders come there to watch pool games on television or tell their life stories to anyone who is willing to listen. It's also where some De Anza students get their first taste of alcohol when they reach 21. Truck drivers and construction workers come in for a quick shot during lunch break. High-tech people shoot pool after work.

But for old-timers, Paul and Eddie's is more than a local bar—it's a landmark full of history and memories.

The bar's homey atmosphere started with its early owners, Palmiro "Paul" Gaviglio and his son, Edward, known as Eddie.

Photograph contributed by Lois Gaviglio Paul and Eddie Gaviglio in 1950.

"The town of Monta Vista started as a summer place for people from San Francisco," says Leigh Johnson, 62, who has frequented Paul and Eddie's for 20 years. "People took the train from San Francisco to Monta Vista to have a few drinks and be entertained."

Gaviglio bought the Monta Vista Inn in 1943, when Stevens Creek Boulevard was a two-lane road. His son joined the business in 1949 and the inn became knows as Paul and Eddie's.

"Paul was a tall, husky man who always smoked a pipe. He liked telling old news about San Francisco and always gave us advice," says David Vieira, a Monta Vista teacher who used to hunt with the Gaviglios. "Eddie was a talker and liked to have a few drinks with the customers."

The Gaviglios' Italian hospitality made Paul and Eddie's one of the most popular bars in the valley. Most of the bar's early clientele were the then 5,000 employees of Hanson Permanente Cement plant (formerly Kaiser Cement) at the end of Stevens Creek Boulevard. Workers waited outside the bar for their rides and came in the bar before or after shifts. "This has always been a working men's bar," says Sigall, a former Permanente worker himself.

Photograph contributed by Lois Gaviglio Eddie behind the bar in 1960. One year after his father died in 1987 at the age of 83, Eddie died of cancer.

"People used to say, 'See you in Church St. Paul and Eddie's' when they took their hunting trips on Sunday," Lois says.

The Gaviglios also started the bar's summer golf tournament at Deep Cliff Golf Course. "When we had the golf tournament, Eddie would drive his jeep around the golf course to distribute cold drinks," Lois says. "That was fun."

Paul and Eddie's has gone through several owners since Eddie sold the bar and retired from the business in 1984. But most of the bar's original decorations have been left intact. Faded photographs of hunters and their game as well as four stuffed deer heads hang on the walls. Bathrooms are designated for "bucks" and "does." Old customers still talk fondly about Paul and Eddie although they've been dead for more than 15 years. Paul died in 1987 at the age of 83, and Eddie died a year later of cancer at age 65.

Longtime customers like Sigall and Vieira consider the 41 years the father and son ran the bar the good old days of Paul and Eddie's. Gone are the days when Paul and Eddie's was one of the tallest buildings in the neighborhood. Gone are the days when apricots, plums and cherries were the foundation of the economy.

"Computer yuppies didn't come to the bar until 10 years ago," Johnson says.

Photograph by Erin Day Even on her day off, bartender Lisa Block likes to come to Paul and Eddie's to visit with the customers. When she comes on her days off she brings along her dog, Tahoe.

Krebs is selective in hiring bartenders. "They need to be self-reliant," he says. "They are here by themselves a lot. They need to know how to handle different clients and equipment."

To meet their customers' diverse interests, Krebs also holds various activities such as pool league games on Tuesday night and live music performances on Thursday night. He even resumed the Gaviglios' traditional summer golf tournament at Deep Cliff.

New additions to the bar are a jukebox, a golf arcade game and some souvenirs from regulars, including a customer's bra with silicon implants inside.

For Krebs, Paul and Eddie's is not merely a business. He had his first drink at the bar when he was a De Anza student and it was at the bar that he met his wife, Pam, a reading specialist at Mountain View Elementary School. The couple just had their first baby, Miles, last November.

Krebs hopes that with his hard work, Paul and Eddie's will always be as it was when four female regulars wrote for Eddie's 57th birthday: "... a special place for quite a few. Its name is not so special or elite, but it's a great place where people meet, a place where friends are found. And good-natured bartenders abound."