Tanya Johnson-Smith owns a camp in Niobe where she visits from her permanent residence in Florida for one month at a time. It was during her most recent visit that she came across a beer sign that she believes once hung in her grandfather’s bar.

Johnson-Smith’s grandfather, known as Hank, was the owner of the former Malare’s Restaurant and Bar which was located at what is now the Good Time Saloon. Within Malare’s was a sign with the words “Hank’s Special” painted on it.

Johnson-Smith was on Facebook Marketplace, a place she doesn’t frequent, when she came across the sign she believes was once part of her grandfather’s bar.

“It was really odd because I don’t frequent Marketplace,” she said. “I happened to be on it because I put something for sale on there, and all of a sudden it just popped up. I said, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It was for sale in Jamestown and it had ‘Hank’s’ and I always knew that Jenny was one of the things he sold.”

The sign, pictured here, is believed by Johnson-Smith to have been in her grandfather’s bar called Malare’s Bar and Restaurant. Her grandfather, Hank, had a best friend who worked as a beer distributor for the once popular Genesee (Jenny) beer. Submitted photo

“I don’t know how it popped up or why it popped up,” she added. “I’ve never searched for signs or anything, I just have to believe it was some kind of divine intervention there to send that sign over to me.”

After sending the photo of the sign to her parents, they reassured Johnson-Smith that it was probably from one of her grandfather’s good friends.

“His very good friend, a guy by the name of Gunny Nelson, was a Genesee (Jenny) beer distributor,” Johnson-Smith said. “Of course, Jenny was my grandfather’s special. If you got a draft beer, you got Jenny. We don’t know for sure, but we feel Gunny probably had this sign made for him.”

She said her family has a long tradition of owning bars and restaurants. Her family members have owned bars in many places such as Mayville, Bemus Point and Jamestown.

“We come from a big line of beer and restaurants and bars from that area,” Johnson-Smith said.

Johnson-Smith is excited to have the sign back in her family’s possession. Her father has plans to refurbish and hang the sign up.

“Well, it’s kind of an heirloom to us,” Johnson-Smith said. “It’s actually a lighted sign, hand painted. (My father) is going to get the electrical part of it refurbished to work and hang it out in the little workshop he has.”

Although her and her parents are almost positive that the sign was from the bar her grandfather owned, they are still not 100% sure.

“We don’t have it factual, like we can say it absolutely came from (Malare’s), but all points lead to that,” she said. “It’s too coincidental to not have been (from Malare’s). The time matches, the fact his best friend was a beer distributor for Jenny — too many things lead to it that I think it probably is, so we’re going to enjoy it like it is.

“We knew a lot of bar owners, and we didn’t know any other bar owners that were called Hank,” she added. “We don’t think it would’ve fit anybody else.”

Johnson-Smith met to purchase the sign from Lucia Guarnieri last week. Guarnieri is a fifth-grade teacher at Southwestern Central School who, when not teaching, sells “junk” online, she said.

Guarnieri said the sign had been in the basement of her childhood home on Willard Street for as long as she could remember.

“This sign hung down in our basement since my dad bought the house in the mid-60s,” she said. “Growing up, my dad told me our basement used to be a bar, so I always thought that this sign was part of the bar that was in our basement.”

Guarnieri is convinced that the bar in her basement was a speakeasy during the prohibition era of the 1920s.

She said after her family moved out of the house, her mother and sister put the sign on the curb for pick-up. Guarnieri has a knack for re-purposing and selling old trinkets, so she didn’t let it stay on the curb for long.

“I’m always one to clean things up and re-purpose things,” Guarnieri said. “I thought, ‘I think the sign is worth money,’ so I cleaned it up, put it in a tub and put it in the house next door that we own for rentals.”

After putting up that house for sale, she came across the beer sign again. She then photographed it and put it on Facebook Marketplace to see what she could get for it.

“I thought it was worth a lot of money because it’s so old,” Guarnieri said. “It sat on Facebook for about a month. I decided to put it on there for $30 and let it ride. That was my thing — let it ride.”

She got a lot of offers for $10, $15 and even $25, but she stuck to her motto of “letting it ride” until Johnson-Smith came across it and sent her a message.

“Tanya asked me where I got the sign, and I told her the sign sat in my basement my entire childhood life on Willard Street,” Guarnieri said. “I thought it was a permanent fixture in my basement that used to be a bar.”

Johnson-Smith asked Guarnieri to hold on to the sign until she got confirmation from her parents that it was from Malare’s. Guarnieri was weary that Johnson-Smith might be trying to con her out of a valuable sign, but realized it would be difficult to fabricate her story.

“In my opinion, you couldn’t just make up that story,” Guarnieri said. “She wanted it, and I had chills when she showed up. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s like a story. I have a lot of stories from selling junk, but this one has topped my list because it got back to the original owner.”

Guarnieri is glad that the sign is in original family’s possession.

“I’m just so happy because if it was my family’s bar, and my family’s sign, I’d want a piece of that bar,” she said. “It’s not the things that cost money, it’s the sentimental value of having a piece of your family, especially when they’re no longer around.”