“I came here for the summer 13 years ago,” he said. “I came to the restaurant to see if I could find some work. I ended up working that night and never left. I didn’t even have clothes.”

Engel worked at the Old Ebbitt Grill, a Washington, D.C. institution, before coming to Rehoboth Beach.

“I waited on presidents and movie stars,” he said. When asked which presidents he served, his answers go back to the Republican 1980s.

“I waited on Ronald Reagan, old papa Bush, Sting, Mick Jagger,” he said. “The restaurant depended on the White House. It is quite a beautiful restaurant. It is the one of the oldest in D.C. It was built in 1856.”

Engel’s hairstyle these days probably would not go over very well with his old bosses. He may be better known as the only guy in town with leopard spots on his head.

“I did five it years ago,” he said. “I saw some little guy with his hair done like this and I had never seen it before. So I got him to do my hair like this.”

Engel not only rocks leopard spots on his head, but he may very well be the hardest working man in Rehoboth Beach. He works nonstop from Easter to Halloween, every night of the week.

“I don’t work in the winter,” he said. “I love working here. It’s a fun job.”

Tending bar in Rehoboth over the last decade gives Engel an interesting perspective on people in various states of sobriety.

“Well, there are the people who are in town celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and that is always nice,” he said. “And then you have the people in town for other reasons. You will get the rude people from time to time, but that goes with all jobs.”

Engel has worked through the time when Rehoboth began to grow at an almost exponential rate.

“We’ve all gotten older,” he said jokingly. “The town has changed a lot. It’s really grown since when I came here. Now it seems like everyone wants to live here. All those people coming over from D.C. and all the retirees have had an effect on the city. There are a lot more places to eat in town than there used to be. The nice thing is that all the people who come here, come here for vacation. They are here to just have a good time and it’s nice to see people enjoy themselves. Especially people who return and recognize me. Not that I’m very hard to recognize.”

With summer ending, Engel’s work is nearing the Halloween deadline.

“It’s always bittersweet to see summer ending,” he said. “People start leaving and the town empties out. The kids are back in school. It’s slower. I like it. Weekends are still busy through the fall.”

After fall, La La Land regulars will not see much of Engel, because the man with the leopard spots hibernates through the winter.

“I’m looking forward to a break,” he said.