The ultimate calendar! 

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• PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER
• HELLO, MISS AUGUST! : Female patrons, among them Amber Martin above, volunteered their time and talent to model for a “Women of McCarthy’s” calendar, which is on sale at the downtown watering hole, with proceeds to be donated to the local Planned Parenthood office.

For the first time ever, the venerated watering hole has published “The Women of McCarthy’s” wall calendar, a full-color production filmed in Jameson Vision™!  It costs merely $15 and proceeds will be donated to the local chapter of Planned Parenthood.

The calendar is the brainchild of longtime bartender Ben Jordan, who by day is a real estate agent with Aurignac & Associates. He’s no stranger to fundraising, having helped organize two of United Way’s Art Jam events as well as four Mike Clemmensen Memorial charity golf tournaments.

“We called it ‘The Women of McCarthy’s’ because there are no ladies here,” quipped Jordan. “I actually came up with the idea just a few weeks ago on a Thursday night. I’d gotten off shift and was sitting in the corner with [fellow bartender] Patrick Kirby, and it was like an epiphany.”

Rather than creating a straight cheesecake calendar, Jordan wanted to ask regular patrons, young and old, all sizes and shapes, to pose, and the result is a look at real McCarthy’s locals.

“It’s exactly how I wanted it,” enthused Jordan. “First and foremost, it’s a look at the women who come here—I won’t say every day—but regular, frequent patrons. I had multiple women express interest when they heard we were doing it, but I had to turn down some because they weren’t regular customers and others because there are only 12 months in a year!”

Some months’ images have more than one model, and Jordan let the models pick their own costumes and themes.

“We told them what month they were, and they took that and went with it,” said Jordan. “For July we had an all-American girl on the hood of an El Camino in the parking lot, for May, the month with Mother’s Day, we had Pauline [Post] and Rosemary [Lewis], two of our favorite mothers. And of course DeAnn [Troutner] is on the cover because she’s the most important patron in the bar—she runs the place!”

These mature women, whose grown kids are old enough to frequent McCarthy’s themselves, share space with younger patrons, making the calendar a celebration of all women, not just twiggy, young supermodels.

Jordan also had the clever idea of letting bar patrons donate $5 to have their birthday listed in the calendar (Check out March 15! Come down and buy me a drink!).

Of course, some people just don’t “get it.” After the idea got out, a few Facebook posts popped up questioning the tact of helping such an organization as Planned Parenthood by selling calendars depicting women, some dressed provocatively, posing with alcohol.

“I came up with the idea as something fun for the bar patrons that would also benefit an organization I think does important work,” said Jordan. “It’s not meant to be disrespectful and it’s for a good cause. We shot the whole calendar in one day, and we had a great time! The women were all thrilled with the results.”

Full disclosure! New Times photographer Steve E. Miller took the photos, which is why the images are so awesome.

“The UPS Store, which setup the printing, was also a huge help,” said Jordan. “I can’t say enough good things about the owners A.G. and Monique Speake.

“Look,” continued Jordan, “I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘The women of MmcCarthy’s? Yuck!’ But we have beautiful women in the calendar, real women. The bar has always had a family feel, and we have a very loyal clientele. I couldn’t be happier with how it came out.”

Fast fact

 Get on the good foot; start the New Year right by donating to the Women’s Community Club of Oceano, which has served the south county since 1944. The club’s core objective is awarding college scholarships each year to Arroyo Grande, Nipomo, and Lopez High School seniors. Their special Rose Baughman Scholarship honors a south county woman who had to leave school because of family and/or work commitments but has returned to school for a degree or GED. For more information, call the club president, Carla Soares, at 305-5453 or the club secretary, Karen Estes, at 440-9518. Contributions can be addressed to the Women’s Community Club of Oceano, P.O. Box 591, Oceano 93475-0591 and are tax deductible.

Staff writer and McCarthy’s regular Glen Starkey can be reached at [email protected]. Cheers!