Coley Ward / Arizona Daily Star

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Ilse Insana has been tending bar at the Bambi Bar on East Speedway for more than 29 years. Her customers describe her as caring, generous and friendly — qualities that make her susceptible to pranks.

Like the time bar regulars sent her to a kosher delicatessen to buy ham sandwiches and potato salad.

Or the time a group of regulars took her to a nearby wash to go fishing for "sand bass."

"She stood at the top of the bank and threw her hook in," recalls customer Bernie Bernard. "The creek was totally dry. Somebody hid behind a bush and placed a fish on her hook."

Insana, who moved to the United States from Germany in 1959, says she doesn't take their pranks personally. She knows it's all done out of love.

And Insana loves her customers. Whenever somebody has a birthday, she buys a card that everyone in the bar signs.

Robert Salazar, another of Insana's regulars, says she brought him back a spatzle maker — a pasta maker — after one of her recent trips to Germany.

"My best hobby is shopping," Insana says. "I love to shop."

"In 1969. My husband, who did communications for the Army, was killed in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1968."

"Two daughters and one son. My youngest daughter lives in Scottsdale. The other two live in Tucson. All three graduated from the University of Arizona."

"I came in here with a friend, and the owner liked my smile and asked if I wanted to be a bartender. I said I didn't even know how, but he said he'd teach me."

"I have one called the Ilse-Marcia drink. Marcia is one of my customers. Whenever she comes in we drink it together. It's made from Seagrams Seven Crown Whiskey and Bailey's Irish Cream."