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By Rome Jorge Lifestyle Editor
It’s every man’s fantasy:
owning the most happening bar, all the drinks any time you want,
right smack in the middle of the finest white sand beach on earth,
with the sunset view for an office view and the beautiful people
clad in bikinis, golden tans and not much else for customers. For
39-year-old Christopher Jude Lee, it’s all happening at Hey Jude!
Even those who decry rampant
consumerism or shun vapid high society gadflies have to admit, this
is the gig that gets their pants wet.
Lee attests, “It’s a dream
job. It’s more so in Bora. There are no movie theaters, plays or
opera shows here. [Culturati, take note.] Nightlife here revolves
around bars.”
But not everyone has got what it
takes. As Lee reveals, it took being blown away by a hurricane,
being beaten to the punch by a German and being knocked off his feet
by true love to land him in Boracay. If it weren’t for all these,
the man would be analyzing statistics for an insurance company in
his native Miami.
“I graduated a Math Major in
college. I was actually going to become an actuary, working
nine-to-five wearing a suit and tie,” he reveals.
But even in school he showed
acumen for having a good time. “Throughout high school and
college, I was always the facilitator of the party.” He adds,
“I’ve always been into this type of work. I’ve worked in
Miami’s bars and restaurants.”
Upon graduation, he dreamed of
pursuing a straight-laced life. But the tempestuous sea had other
plans: “Then Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992 and my job got lost. I
decided to just travel. I went backpacking across Europe and
Asia.”
Sure enough, he footloose
American-Filipino waded his toes in Boracay’s shore. It was love
that planted him there. “The thing that brought me to Boracay was
my wife Louise [Ravelo]. She was from San Francisco and I was from
Miami and we met here. I was on vacation. She was working as a
diving instructor,” he intimates. “We went back to the States
and tried living in San Francisco; I didn’t like it too much. We
tried living in Miami; she didn’t like it too much. So we figured
the only place we did like was where we met. We decided to start
something here.”
But it wasn’t a bar that the
couple wanted. He reveals, “Originally, we were supposed to be a
deli grill. But one month into construction [in 2000], Gasthof
[German cuisine restaurant] came along and they were doing a deli
grill. They’re the cause of all my misery, all my late night and
all my hangovers. A deli grill would have definitely been easier to
run. But hey, no complaints.”
Lee reveals that being a bar
owner can be at odds with family life: “Obviously, free drinks are
the biggest perks. But that can be the biggest minus. I probably
drank to an excess the first six months. I was wasted to the point
of almost blacking out, stumbling home and having a good time every
night. People were coming on to me and talking to me about drinking
too much.”
True enough, it took a woman to
tame the man. “My wife started to get into yoga. Her lifestyle
started to get a little more Zen. I wouldn’t call it friction, but
she stopped coming out late. And there was a phase where she stopped
drinking. Definitely, our relationship had little problems at times.
But now she drinks a little bit more, comes out a little bit more.
And I don’t go out as much also. When the kids came around, I’ve
spent more nights at home relaxing, putting my kids to sleep and
falling asleep with them.”
Today a tempered man, Lee still
enjoys his drinks: “Right now, definitely vodka is the preference.
During my early days, it was bourbon. My drink was Maker’s Mark. I
used to fly it in from the States just for my own personal
supply.”
Jude Lee attests, “The biggest
plus in owning this bar is the people I’ve met. It’s a very
social job. I’ve met a lot of other people who also own bars in
other places. So when I go traveling, inevitably there’s someone
I’ve met from this bar who shows me around and takes me out. They
had a great time in my place and they want to treat me.”
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