A toast to Jimmy Carter at the iconic Savannah bar he loved

Dozens of Savannahians filled the Original Pinkie Masters to capacity on Monday afternoon to remember Jimmy Carter, who famously stood on the bar and eulogized the iconic dive’s namesake on St. Patrick’s Day in 1978.

“I hope none of us ever forget the kind of warmth and friendship that Pinkie showed us,” Carter said in honor of the late bar owner, who was born Luis Christopher Masterpolis and who became a political power broker along the Georgia coast.

With afternoon sunlight streaming through the blinds, co-owner Matt Garappolo took just a few seconds to get the high-spirited crowd’s attention and raise a quick toast to Carter.

Garappolo was standing about two feet away from a plaque that marks where Carter spoke in 1978 and where he stood again in 2002 when he was in Savannah for his nephew Edgar Smith’s wedding.

Smith, a Savannah-based attorney, was among the crowd on Monday. He was born in 1979, so he doesn’t remember Carter’s time in the White House, but he reminisced about growing up down the road from Uncle Jimmy in Plains.

“To me, he was just always my uncle,” said Smith, who recalled how Carter taught him to play tennis and to fly fish. Smith said that he would wave to the Secret Service agents as he jumped the fence on his way to Carter’s house.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

On his phone, Smith keeps a 1948 photo of his father Murray Smith (Rosalynn Carter’s brother) and Carter holding more than two dozen fish, as Allie Smith (Rosalynn and Murray’s mother) looks on.

The crowd on Monday included some Pinkie’s regulars, but the bar attracted infrequent customers who were looking for a place to remember Carter.

“Today’s the day to come to Pinkie’s,” said former professor John Wright, who was making his first visit to the bar in more than two years. He recalled travelling with family members several times over the years to attend Carter’s Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.

Credit: Edgar Smith

Wright said that as a Sunday school teacher, Carter was “just inspiring and loving. With him, it was always loving.”

The walls at Pinkie’s are dotted with political memorabilia, much of it detailing Carter’s connections to Masters and his family. But the patrons on Monday were primarily focused on reconnecting with friends and acquaintances – a fitting tribute to Carter and his legacy.