A few blocks from Newport Harbor, Billy Goode’s is as much a part of the city’s history as Astor’s Beechwood or The Breakers. And, at Billy Goode’s Tavern, the food and drink are a lot better and the tales it has to tell a lot more fun.

"West Broadway" is just down the hill from storied Bellevue Avenue and the Cliff Walk, but there was a time when it seemed a world away. Sailors off the merchant ships and men from a much bigger Naval base hung out in bars there, mixing with local residents in fun and games.

Of all the barkeeps in Newport throughout the years, Billy Goode was king, the patron saint of liquid conviviality in the City By The Sea. Billy was the first man arrested in Rhode Island for violating Prohibition back when rum runners landed in Portsmouth and Middletown every night and trucked the goods down to his speakeasy in Newport.

He turned legit the day after Prohibition ended and Billy Goode’s has been in business ever since. So legit and so respected for his generosity that another man who was a Newport institution, then-mayor-elect Humphrey J. (Harp) Donnelly, read a proclamation giving Billy his own day when he was 90. It said, “We in Newport are proud to salute such a fine gentleman who has shown true compassion for his fellow man and who is an avid sports fan, a connoisseur of good food and wine and known as a ‘Father Confessor.’”

Billy died March 15, 1977, at age 96, and, fittingly, was laid to rest on St. Patrick’s Day.

Times and the tough old West Broadway neighborhood where Billy reigned have changed. It’s a tranquil area now. But Billy Goode’s historic tavern lives on, on Marlborough Street, across from another landmark, the old Quaker Meeting House.

Women are allowed in nowadays and there is a restaurant wing that actually has tablecloths. The drinks are honest, the food is great, inexpensive and there’s live entertainment with some of the best blues in town.

But the old friendly spirit and the mix of Newporters from different neighborhoods and different backgrounds are still there. You still find a Newport, most visitors don’t see. Vets from yesterday’s military and high flying brass from today’s Navy, young bloods and old timers, city council members and off-duty cops, socialites slipping away from the higher-toned parts of town, chefs from other eating places, journalists and day laborers.