Since 1890 or so, there’s been a bar at 78 3rd Street. (Not yet a restaurant and bar!) Originally built to host meetings of the Société de Saint Jean-Baptiste of Turners Falls on the second floor, the building has welcomed patrons on its first floor for drinks and conviviality for more than 130 years. All through Prohibition it quietly kept parched folks wet.

And in 1933, when the ban on alcohol was lifted, the Saulnier brothers bought the building and dubbed us The Rendezvous, its name a nod to the French Canadian society responsible for the building’s construction. (Only one of the Saulnier brothers was on the official deed; the other had been busted for rum running and wisely kept his name off the books.)

A kitchen was added in 2007 to officially make us a restaurant and bar, and these days, we’ve got a broad menu with interesting pub fare, wines and ciders, a selection of almost 50 beers (with 12 on tap and between 6 & 12 locally crafted brews of varying types), creative cocktails and mocktails, and hundreds of alcohols including a wide selection of single malts and small batch bourbons.

A changing selection of works from local artists joins vintage art from the 1920’s cut from the bar’s original walls. Artifacts from the 1970’s when Fran Carme bought the place stand alongside pictures of ol’ man Saulnier in his bowtie behind the same bar that greets you when you walk in, and the original tin ceiling oversees it all.