The Sun
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Photograph by George Sakkestad

The bartender at Murphy's Law, nicknamed Myles, demonstrates a rare talent. She and other bar regulars can fling weighted, thumbtacked dollar bills at the ceiling and make them stick. The trick has brought hundreds of dollar bills--and other, not so valuable, items--to the owners.

Murphy's Law defies Newton's logic

Bored bar dwellers fling bills for fun

By Justin Berton

What goes up doesn't always come down inside Murphy's Law pub in downtown Sunnyvale.

For the past seven years, bartenders and customers have been flinging dollar bills at the ceiling. At last guesstimation by a bored customer, they've thrown away $400 to $500.

"People get the biggest kick out of it," said Raphael Martino, the bar manager who claims to be responsible for at least $150 worth of flung bucks.

"I've seen people do it 10 times in a night," he said in amazement.

The bills have been hanging around since a woman from San Francisco looked up and noticed the soundproof cork board in the ceiling was perfect for the tacking.

"Once she did it," said bar owner Mary Lou Austin, "it just grew from there."

There are three ways to accomplish the trick, all of which require a flat thumb tack, a dollar bill and a quick underhand toss.

The first and most common way is to stick the tack through the center of the bill (just below Washington's right eye socket) and place a quarter over the flat side of the tack. Twist the bill tightly around the quarter so the end result looks like a needle-nose dollar-bill bomber.

"That's definitely the best way," Martino said.

The weighty quarter method is superior to the ice cube substitution because "you don't find it dripping on your head later on," Martino said.

The final method employs a wallet as the weight, allowing the bill to remain untwisted so the tosser leaves a nice, flat bill pressed to the ceiling.

Martino said he knows when to dodge the dollar-bill bullets.

"I learned very early not to catch the things if they don't stick up there the first time. I've seen 'em come down and stick in people's heads, in their hands," he said, shaking his head. "That's why I won't do it on Friday nights; it's too crowded."

Some of the stories surrounding the money mosaic are the most colorful rumors in town, Austin said.

One female was coaxed by friends into believing she would get a free drink if she could stick the bill while blindfolded.

She attempted to do so but sent the bartender ducking for cover when the tack came flying back, sticking into the framing around the mirror behind the bar. The dollar still sticks there to this day.

"We gave her a free drink for that one," Austin said.

With time, customers have become more creative in what they use to decorate the ceiling. Little parachute GI Joe men hang next to business cards and photographs, including a mug shot of the workers at Stoddard's, the brewpub down the street.

Austin herself got into the ceiling spirit a while back when she commissioned an artist to paint the air conditioning unit that runs the length of the bar to resemble a heat-seeking missile.

It's coned at the front and reads "U.S. Murphy" down the side.

Each week a few of the bills that defy Newton's logic in Murphy's Law fall to the ground and are collected for a picnic Austin plans to hold in June for her customers.

Austin said the old bills that have been saturated with years of nicotine are brittle and stinky. When she takes them to the bank, she said, the teller commands, "Don't open the bag; just tell me how much is there."

Austin has about $120 saved up, and even if she's short on the funds, she said, "I'll pay for the rest myself."

Jack Ingram, a customer who's been dropping by for a few belts over the past three years, looked up at the expensive ceiling and said, "I'm not sure why you'd want to do that. I guess I've drank enough to do that, but I never have."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 15, 1998.
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