The Garret Coffee House

Terrea Lea was kind enough to let me post her 'witness/friendship' account of Tony. So in her own words:
We opened 'The Garret' in late '58 and were there for 12 years. During that time Tony was there almost every night. He would come in grinning and being very friendly and warm. In fact, I think he broke my mother's ribs. He had been gone for a while and when he came back he was hugging every one and my mother who ran the cash register got up to hug him and he grabbed her and swung her around. He never knew he had hurt her. It was and accident done out of love and he would have felt terrible if he knew he had been a little too exuberant.
Yes, I knew Tony Mafia and was happy to be able to enjoy his work which hung in The Garret for many years. He was indeed a fine artist as well as a great person. We were always glad to have Tony show up to just sit around and talk or have him show us his most recent work. I remember so well when he returned from a few weeks in Mexico with wonderful drawings and paintings of children. He was very much in love with their beautiful brown eyes. I wish I had some of his work to pass on because I'm sure many would enjoy it but for some reason everything I ever had seems to have disappeared. I have moved a couple of times and I guess it was misplaced or passed on to someone else. At any rate I'm sorry I can't send you any pictures. Wishing you success and hope you can bring Tony Mafia and his talent to people's attention.

Not having any picture of the bug eyed children of the time, you do find a strong colorful Mexican Madonna instead.