Jerry Feld looks forward to being at his business four days a week. The other three are devoted to keeping him alive so he can be at his establishment the four days he's there.

He goes to dialysis Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"I live for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, when people come and see me," he said.

Feld, 77, is owner of Club 404 at 404 Broadway. He has been peddling beer and beef for nearly 58 years - June 1 is the anniversary. Now, he's trying to jazz up the place, literally, with musicians performing once a month.

In 1951, Feld wasn't thinking of being a professional bartender. He was studying to be a lawyer at the University of Denver when the club came on the market. So he changed his mind and bought it.

"I was only 20. So I put it in my stepfather's name," he said. "The joke was: instead of passing the bar, he bought a bar."

Harriet Feld, his wife of 55 years, works alongside him. She was an East side girl who was visiting friends on the West side, where Feld grew up.

They dated four years.

Feld is a good frontman. He knows the regulars and makes new customers feel like old ones.

One of Feld's longtime friends walked in at lunchtime. Instead of the big hello, Feld said, "Watch the silverware."

It was a joke because everyone knows there's no real silverware in the 404, not even silver plates.

When Feld was a child, he and a brother sold "milk nickles" - ice cream bars that were five cents apiece.

"And if you pulled out the stick and it had blue writing on it, you got a free one," Feld said.

Nowadays, he pitches Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars.

He used to work the night shift, pouring beer, mixing drinks, listening to people tell him their problems.

He likes to talk and is jovial. But Feld is a good listener.

"In this business, you're everbody's psychiatrist," he said.

But you don't get the high-sci lingo from Feld, just regular language.

"He's down-to-earth people," said longtime friend Reuben D. Martinez, a liquor salesman who persuaded Sauza brand tequila to sponsor the jazz music at the 404 on Feb. 14 and March 14.

"He doesn't forget where he comes from," Martinez said.

The Felds have four children and six grandchildren. Behind the bar is a portrait of the family.

"I used to have their school pictures up," he said. "Finally, the grandkids said take them down. So I made them sit for a family portrait."

Although he didn't finish law school, Feld made sure all four of his children went to college.

And he said he has enjoyed being in the same business more than a half-century.

"I loved being behind that bar - the jokes, the conversations," he said. "The ones that aren't dead still come to see me."

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