Let's Talk BBQ
Spriited Discussions => SPIRITED DISCUSSIONS => Topic started by: Hub on April 15, 2015, 12:00:05 PM
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Have you ever had a favorite bar? The proverbial place "where everybody knows your name" and you maybe even had a spot that nobody but you sat in? Some of us have. If so, you might enjoy this article:
https://www.yahoo.com/food/the-most-iconic-bar-in-every-state-and-dc-116323911581.html
Maybe you've been to some of these. I have only been to one. My favorites weren't famous but they were handy and friendly. In a couple of them I had the bartender trained to start mixing my drink when he saw me walk in the door (usually a little after five, after work). I've been poured out of some and even thrown out of some, but I do love the basic bar.
Bottoms Up ::)
Hub
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The Cowboy Palace in North Hollywood. Walked in there with a buddy that rode bulls (happened to be a buddy of "color") someone said "what is that n##### doing in here"......after that guy got an attitude adjustment out back and everyone found out my buddy rode, he got free beers whenever he came in there and was treated like a celebrity . The place is now a hispanic nightclub.
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I had too many favorite bars over the years. I have not been to one in ages. I worked afternoons for about 15 years and the bars was our recreation. I suppose my favorite all time bar was the NCO club in King Salmon Alaska. Don
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Well since I don't drink anymore, I'd have to say the breakfast bar at Shoney's :D :D :D :D :D
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Took a quick look at the list - been to a few - notably Peacock Alley in ND, The Cowboy in WY, and Wolskis in WI.
However, my favorite was / is a very small bar in Racine WI. - Kelsey's. Back when I lived there it was run by a grumpy guy that would not serve you another drink until you finished the first. No fruit and according to him no fruit flies. But he did have the single best collection of scotches between the coasts.
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Never been to any and don't go to bar much anymore especially since I am married. The Philly "city wide special" is awesome, had it at a few places but not the one mentioned. In college there were 3 bars I didn't need ID for because they knew me. Most of the time if they saw me coming, hard to do at a massive 5' 3", they would get me at one place, a lager (Yuengling) and a shot of sambucca, another a car bomb and their version of a snake bite (half Harp and half Woodchuck), and the third some sort a good local seasonal depending on the time of year.
Ahh the college days of $15 being enough for drink and food for a night.
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Packies. North 1st street, Eureka, CA. '76 - '82. Shore bar. USCG Station, Kodiak, AK. '74 - '76. Only throw in the brig once. Maybe twice? ;)
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McSorley's Old Ale House...... NEW YORK CITY ....."be good or be gone" ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d502665-Reviews-McSorleys_Old_Ale_House-New_York_City_New_York.html
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Tommy's Bar in Kadena Circle on Okinawa. Spent lots of time there in 1961-62, I was young (19), invincible, and immortal. To walk in the bar, you had to walk across a wooden platform over an open benjo (sewage) ditch running along the edge of the street. It was no problem going in, but sometimes coming out you stepped off the platform (can't imagine why). My houseboy was not a happy camper the next day when he had to clean and shine my shoes. ::)
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I had a Mexican restaraunt that had a bar in it. My ex wife and I would go in every Friday and as soon as I sat down two Margeritas were brought to the table exactly how we liked them. Does that count? :P
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I've only been to two of the bars on the list....Tootsie's in Nashville and The Broken Spoke in Austin. As a matter of fact, when I was going to The University of Texas back in '66-'72, I lived in an apartment complex right behind The Broken Spoke. Spent a lot of time there and even made some money playing music there. There is a room off the dance floor which serves as the Broken Spoke Hall of Fame and Texas Tourist Trap. Not braggin' too much, but my picture hangs on the wall in there along with a few other musicians that have played there from Hank Williams to Willie Nelson. OK, I wasn't in those guys league, but I was in a group that recorded a live album there. It would have been a big hit except for the fact that we put it out on the Oral Roberts label and the hole in the center kept healing up.
A little story. All the musicians that played the Spoke loved the acoustics in the building. Best dance hall acoustics I have been in. The city of Austin condemned the roof of the building because of all the leaks and weak structure. It was just a country dance hall and beer joint. They were going to try to make James White, the owner, tear it down. He refused and there was a pretty large battle in the newspaper and on country radio. Well, since all the Texas legislators got drunk hung out there and didn't want to loose this venue, they figured out the solution. They made the City of Austin let James White build a freestanding metal roof ( a pole barn, if you will) over the entire existing building without touching a single board of the original building saving the acoustics and the ambiance inside. Problem solved. Also, they serve the best chicken fried steak in Texas.
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I have seen to get three, the Flora-Bsma, Tootsey's and Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. All good.
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I'm both proud and ashamed to say I've been overserved in 14 of those places (and one or two others sound vaguely familiar). Don't know that any of them qualified as a "favorite bar" or even the most "iconic" bar in the city in which they're located, but by and large they do have some character. Some, however, like Sloppy Joe's in Key West, have become touristy parodies of themselves and I don't think they're really worth going to any more. I'd pick the Menger Hotel in San Antonio over almost any of them (tourists notwithstanding).
McSorley's Old Ale House...... NEW YORK CITY ...
Used to go to McSorley's when I was in college (in the mid-late 60s for those of you who can remember that far back). Now that was an iconic bar. Great place, great beer, great prices (back then), and great atmosphere although they didn't allow women inside in those days (even though the owner was a woman).
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" I was in a group that recorded a live album there. It would have been a big hit except for the fact that we put it out on the Oral Roberts label and the hole in the center kept healing up."
THAT is one I have not heard in a couple of decades! :D :D :D :D
I am with the Turtle on the Menger. THE place Teddy Roosevelt hang out while gathering men to join his Rough Riders. Lot of other famous folks have graced the place. To call it "cozy" seems too large.
But - there is a really special place in Mexico City - near the Zona Rosa - that is a piece of England. Crazy - but, incredible food, atmosphere and the service is top drawer. Sir Winston Churchill's: http://winstonchurchills.com Better English food than I ever had in England ;) ;D
Of course...there was that little place in San Salvador, that I don't even think had a name...but too many bullets passed thru it. :)
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" I was in a group that recorded a live album there. It would have been a big hit except for the fact that we put it out on the Oral Roberts label and the hole in the center kept healing up."
THAT is one I have not heard in a couple of decades! :D :D :D :D
Tim, if you think that one is corny, stick around. I've got 25 minutes worth of corny country jokes and a few country comedy songs thrown in.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIoBaUdYj5M&index=15&list=PL5E3djX0Ud8VFkrnLugAyEblvGLQg2bH3
Turtle and Tim, I agree that the Menger Hotel bar is an excellent bar. Way out of my class, but an excellent bar.
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Backyard Bar in my backyard. It gets wild.
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The Flora-Bama was a cool place many years ago but it is mostly a tourist trap now, but can still be nice early in the afternoon. We had many beers at the bar with Kenny Stabler and saw Jimmy Buffet back in the days he was playing for tips.
There was a bar in Mexico Beach/Port St Joe Beach Fl for years that was the best beach bar I have ever seen. We spent several summers down there and got to know them well. They would call you by name when you walked in the door and crack open your favorite beer and put it on the bar where you always sat. Every Sunday all the locals would bring in pot luck meals and you would sit on the beach side deck and drink 50 cent draft beer and listen to good acoustic music by local musicians. Unfortunately when the real estate market was so high the owner got a ridiculous offer he could not refuse and sold it. The new owners tore it down and were going to build condos but then the market tanked and it is just an empty lot with a for sale sign on it. Serves them right for messing up my bar. Every time I hear Toby Keith sing "I love this bar", I think of the Wonder Bar.
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There was a place in San Jose, Costa Rica. I'm not sure it even had a name. It was in the back of a house - sort of a patio. Maybe 5 tables. They had a small kitchen - two people would have had a problem moving. But it had a huge brick wood fired oven on the patio where they cooked the pizza. No garbage pizzas here - each had an ingredient or two - but they were done in minutes and delicious - you just kept ordering more. They also made a killer Caipirinha - the best Brazilian cocktail ever. Might be why I don't remember if they had a name or not... 8) 8)