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BARKEEP: George Rich (left, inset) was the proprietor of the Caravan for many years; Rich also ran Lenny's Cocktails on Santa Clara Street.

LAST SATURDAY, a faithful congregation showed up at the Caravan Lounge at Almaden Avenue and San Fernando Street in San Jose to pay tribute to deceased owner George Rich, who passed away recently at the age of 79. A preacher named Eddie performed the memorial service in the bar. Local barflies from decades past rolled in for the occasion.

Rich was one of the few remaining downtown San Jose bar proprietors from the "old days," whichever decade one identifies as the "old" one. The Caravan has always been one of San Jose's most storied and celebrated dive bars, that little ol' faded lady right down the block from the Greyhound Station, in which it used to be located.

Before he bought the Caravan from Tommy Thatcher, George operated Lenny's Cocktails on Santa Clara Street between Fourth and Fifth streets—an even seedier joint across from where City Hall now sits. That entire side of the block was leveled 10 years ago in order to sanitize the street for the eventual return of City Hall to downtown. According to one source at the city, many a classical musician would regularly show up at Lenny's after performing at the nearby Mother Olson's Inn. They were shattered when the place closed.

But the Caravan was George's recent lifeblood, as were its regulars—in the daytime and the nighttime. It's funny. Locals or old-timers who've driven by the Caravan for decades without venturing in probably wouldn't even realize that, for 20 years now, the bar has rocked at nighttime. A "younger" crowd of twenty- and thirtysomethings fill the place to see punk and metal bands or, essentially, just for somewhere to escape the jocks, the fashionistas, the amateur drinkers and the cologne-soaked frauds that infest most of downtown's other bars. It's a pleasantly seedy joint where folks are allowed to be themselves and listen to music, even if the bathrooms exude aromas unknown to mankind.

The Caravan's history, since the late '50s, is curiously intertwined with a few other institutions. The San Jose Greyhound Station moved to its current location in 1957. According to a May 1955 San Jose Mercury News article, Santa Clara University owned the particular parcel of land. It was bequeathed to the university by the late Isabel de Saisset, a member of a local pioneer French-American family, who requested that the university establish and maintain an art museum on campus in her family's name. SCU sold the land to Greyhound, upheld her request and built the de Saisset museum, which still exists to this day.

Originally operated by Leo Chargin, the Caravan Lounge was originally located inside the bus station, with an address of 58 S. Almaden. It was one of a large chain of Caravan Lounges doing business inside Greyhound depots throughout California. When Greyhound later booted the bar out of the station, Chargin relocated the business down the street to its current location, which was then a used car lot. Since the mid-'60s, the Caravan has been located at 98 S. Almaden.

Since SCU is a Jesuit institution, another San Jose newspaper clipping from 1955 added a humorous note to the land transaction, referencing cannon law from Bouscaren-Ellis: "The church ... sets forth very precise steps for disposition of property. An early step is an appraisal by at least two experts and a determination by high ecclesiastical officials that the sale is to be for the best interest of the church. All church property valued in excess of 30,000 gold francs ... must pass the review of several high church dignitaries before it can be sold. Therefore, the sale of the de Saisset-inherited property by the University of Santa Clara had to have the approval of the Province of the Jesuit Society Order in San Francisco and the Jesuit General of the Society of Jesus in Rome and the permission of the Pope himself."

So think about it. If that sequence of events actually happened, then it means Pope Pius XII approved the Greyhound Station in San Jose, Calif. The pope approved the Caravan Lounge. George Rich has been blessed and that bar will never go away. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam!