Baristas, Bartenders and Bouncers: Rhythm Room's Mona Lisa
By Jonathan McNamara
Mona Lisa sits me down in the back at Rhythm Room amid a plethora of reserve booze and string lights and tells me about her hair. She’s a little bit self-conscious because it’s shorter than it’s ever been for her.

She proceeds to tell me how she heard about a Lochs of Love event that would give wigs to children suffering from leukemia and how it “pulled my heart strings.” She donated 11 inches and now wears a camo-patterned hat with “Mofro” stitched into the front.
“I have hair issues…short hair…long hair…and I have that luxury,” she said. “I donated my hair to someone who doesn’t have that luxury.”
And that’s the kind of bartender Mona Lisa is. Friendly, Attentive and extremely considerate of other human beings, whether they’re drinking cocktails or not.
Mona’s worked since she was 15, taking jobs based on potential enjoyment rather than pay increases or for the sake of scaling the ladder.
“I’ve never had a job that wasn’t fun, I mean why would you work somewhere that isn’t fun?”
She picked up a gig working for Rhythm Room while working at the Five and Diner. The Rhythm Room staff and band members would go their for post-gig grub and it didn’t take long for Mona to befriend them and start working as a door woman. She immediately developed a reputation for buying a T-shirt from every band to walk through the doors. That was twelve years ago.
“I live in a three bedroom townhouse and in every room, the closets are full of T-shirts.”





5 comment(s) / Post a Comment












