While I have previous talked about common and correct behavior at bars, I have not yet delved into the different types of bars. So let’s get going. To start with, these are meant to be descriptive, not prescriptive, and broadly general. Those marked with an asterisk exist as national chains as well.
Sports Bar*
The sports bar… here there will be lots of televisions, all showing sports or sports related content. In general, you’ll want to stick with simple drinks and shots here. While there may be a cocktail list, they’re more likely to be simple ones made with prepackaged mixes. There will be food, most of which will be deep fried or carb heavy. The closest thing to a dress code will be to not wear gear for the rivals of the local teams there, unless you want some trash talk (or worse in some areas).
Dive Bar
There have been a large number of bars popping up trying to be dive bars, but a proper dive bar evolves and is not created. Expect it to be run down/shabby in appearance, limited selection, regulars, sticky floors, and questionable bathrooms. Don’t look for anything more complicated than a two part drink in such places, and expecting a working blender is questionable at best. Some will have food, which will generally be cheap and filling, if not great.
Neighborhood Bar
These will be bars that have become a community fixture, most people who live in the area will have at least one that they refer to as “their local”. Almost always food with daily specials, drink options will vary based on the general neighborhood, but expect a small curated cocktail list and some local beers. These can cross over with other bar types as well (as in a neighborhood sports bar).
Wine Bar*
If you’re a wine geek or oenophile, you’ll know more about these than me. These will generally have a very large selection of wine, generally limited food menus (charcuterie and small plates), curated flights of wine, and a quieter atmosphere. Depending on the legality in your area, they may sell bottles to go. Most will usually have a small selection of quality beer (locally, it was nearly all Belgians) for those who don’t want wine.
Beer Bar*
As a beer geek, here I feel more comfortable. Expect a wide selection of beers on tap, with more in bottles. 30+ tap handles are not uncommon. In general, expect a food menu focused on greasy and salty foods, as well as beer flights. There may be a small cocktail program, but going for wine will leave you with the question of “Red or white?”
Brewery/Winery/Distillery/Meadary*
These are the places that make the beverages. They will be focused on their own products, and may (or may not) have other producers’ products on hand. They will nearly all have to go sales available. Outside of that, there’s not much in common.
Ethnic Bar*
These would be your Irish bars, Italian bars, Polish bars, German bars, and the like. Food and drink will be focused on the ethnic culture they’re honoring. In general, these are around the neighborhood bar level, and as mentioned above, can cross over.
Tiki Bar
There is a small resurgence happening in the Tiki scene at the time. These will have Polynesian inspired food, Tiki drinks, and a very deep rum list. Drinks will be both pricy and strong, colors will be bright, and there is a certain decor that is expected and appreciated. Think tropical, fronds, beads, masks, mugs, flowers, and the like.
Pool Bar
Not to be confused with a gaming pool hall, but these would be the bars operating at pools. They can either be swim up or on dry land. Prices at these bars are generally higher than average, as you’re a captive audience. Always be worried about the guy who’s been drinking at the pool bar for several hours without getting out to go to the bathroom.
Raw Bar
These focus more on the food than the drinks, serving raw oysters of various provenances. These would be one that I do not frequent often, as growing up in Ohio means that raw oysters are not something I’m a big fan of. As these are aiming for a higher end clientele, there will usually be a decent cocktail menu.
Cocktail Bar/Speakeasy
These will generally be higher class establishments. Expect a minimal dress code at the least, strict dress code and reservation requirements at worst. Drinks will be on the expensive side, but should be expertly made. If they’re not, you should not return. Expect a deep menu with both classics, modern classics, and original creations. Some will have hidden doors or entrances to get into the establishment to lean into the 1920s prohibition mystique.
Night Club
These will generally have a dress code depending on the local culture. Expect loud music, dance floors, and expensive drinks. These are places for conspicuous consumption, so the cocktail menu will be split between some classics and insta-ready drinks of some nature or another. Most don’t get busy until well after 2200 local, and will be open until last call (some will stay open beyond that).
Barcade*
These are a nostalgia play towards Gen X, and I’m here for it. Kitschy themed drink menu, beer, and wine, minimal food (or potentially food trucks). The draw here is the games. Classic arcade cabinets, skeeball, pinball tables, foosball tables, air hockey tables, and other games will be available. Some of these will be free to play, while others will have a cost per game/hour.
Concert Hall/Music Bar*
These are the places to go to catch a show. Usually a ticket will be needed, or there will be a cover charge. Expect the band to be the focus, with a dance floor there in front of it. At least here in Cleveland, most usually have a deep beer selection for the venue. At larger venues, expect higher drink prices, while the smaller, local venues will generally have competitive drink prices.
Private Club*
These can range from your old Eagles clubs, VFW halls, Elks all the way to high end cocktail bars or country clubs. What sets these apart is that you need to be a member or a guest of one in order to enter.
Casino Bar
These are the bars inside casinos. Expect a classic cocktail menu, with a handful of unique or specialty cocktails either tied to the casino or the theme of the bar. Depending on the area, these bars will be more expensive (such as Vegas) or less expensive than the bars around. Most will usually have some sort of video slot/poker built into the bars themselves.
Lobby/Hotel Bar
These can range from outstanding to garbage. It depends on the hotel and the area. Expect lots of travelers and overnight guests to sit and converse with. If the hotel has food, you can generally order it at the bar as well.
Sober Bar
This is a relatively new phenomenon, but they have existed for a very, very long time. I would say that the upscale coffee shops are essentially sober bars, and served the same purpose since their inception. As a place for people to gather, drink, have a bite or two, and talk. Unfortunately, most of the ones that have popped up don’t last long, with no staying power that I’ve seen.
Art Bar
This is the art galleries that decided to sell drinks as well showcasing art. The closest that I’ve generally seen for these are bars showcasing local art for sale on the walls (same as coffee shops).
Gay/Lesbian Bar
This is a style of bar that appears to be in decline as the general populace has grown more accepting of the LGB lifestyles. These catered to their specific groups, were usually hassled by cops to the point they had to stay cleaner than other bars, and became focusing points for the members of the community. As a straight guy, these would be another bar type that others would know better than myself.
Cigar Bar
This style has also been in decline, linked with the indoor smoking bans. They will lean towards whiskey and cognac as the base spirits for drinks, and focus on cigars. Some will offer private humidors for rent for regulars.
Strip Club/”Adult Entertainment” Bar
Another bar type that has been in decline for a while, which can be traced back to the easy availability of nudes on the internet. Expect a cover charge, overpriced drinks, sketchy areas, and questionable morals.
That’s what I was able to come up with, , I’m sure I’ve missed a couple of types, and several are places where I’m not able to comment too much on as I don’t frequent them. So let me know what I missed or got wrong in the comments, and thanks for reading.
I’m not terribly surprised, to be honest. A sober bar sounds like a doomed prospect – you have all of the downsides of a bar but you don’t get to cover them by havving your mental faculties dimmed by drink.
Move to Rwanda!
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/27/g-s1-139914/milk-rwanda-milk-bar
No mention of droogs.
I’m good. Rwanda’s too close to the Congo for my tastes.
My circle went here a few times. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be gone.
I had completely forgotten about this web site – I am really bad at remembering nite spots and it shows a whole bunch we used to party at.
I knew the author, he was a ridiculously pretentious sort. Unusual for that crowd, I know.
OFFS. Fuck off.
Other than craft brew shops where the brew club meets, I do not frequent bars unless I am with other people for reasons/places they choose.
This was fun. I think you nailed the “Dive Bar”. My FIL used to tend bar at one long ago. It was just as you described. My FIL was good friends with the owner, who would give out shots at his house for the adults at Halloween. The bar wasn’t the same after he died, probably because his ex-wife took over and put the kibosh on the steady stream of free drinks that was bankrupting the business.
I have a ton of really crazy stories from that bar. Thankfully everyone knew me through my FIL and I was always perfectly safe.
“Dive”, “Night Club”, and “Gay” represent probably 95% of my experience with these things. To this day I still don’t expect “food” to be offered anywhere I might go to drink.
There’s a lot of overlap in those categories. 🙂
They had really good tacos once a week, and in March they’d have corned beef and cabbage which was amazing. Every once in a while a guy would walk in with a cooler full of hot fresh tamales his mom made. Also amazing.
So, My new Pew paperwork arrived today. In it they have a copy of my filing, dated 8/10. They have the form the judge singed, dated 8/17. they have the “Please be advised… your form has been approved” letter dated 8/20. And it is postmarked 8/24.
😑
Of course, I have to sit here until the end of the workday before I can go pick it up.
😣
Congratulations?
Just a 4473 between me any my property now.
🙄
You know, I’m oddly psyched to be able to put 275 on the 4473 instead of 300.
For that, you get a real congratulations.
It’s really interesting, to me anyway, how cocktail bars and neo-speaks seem to be converging in style, having come from such utterly different upbringings.
Barcades, casino bars, and hotel bars (Embassy Suites) are my usual and preferred.
Speaking of Tiki bars, I discovered that San Jose airport has a Trader Vic’s, of all things.
https://www.flysanjose.com/eats/trader-vics-restaurant
I sent the California lurkers to check it out.
Hotel bars really can have a swagger all their own. My pop still talks about hanging out at the bar in the Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel back in the 80’s. For myself, I fondly remember Proof on Main in the 21c Hotel and Musuem in Louisville – but then again I built the sound system in that place.
The lobby bar at the Liberty Hotel here is worth a visit.
The old Charles Street Jail.
I’ve been there!
I had two amazingly bad cocktails at the Hyatt hotel bar last week. Of course the “bartender” was also the front desk guy, but still.
“It couldn’t have been that bad, he ordered a second one”
The bartender/clerk
One of the weirdly charming things about the rust belt, is how many of the chain hotels have little bars attached. It’s certainly convenient, but I’d say that at most of these bars, you shouldn’t be ordering anything that doesn’t have the ingredients in it’s name…
Never order a drink made with seldom used liqueurs in a bar. Fruit flies absolutely thrive in the bar environment and get into the bottles
I picked a Manhattan, up (which arrived with two ice cubes and made me recall the mobster’s lament from The Simpsons) and a Martini which arrived…green.
No dress code, but your hair has to be perfect.
Darn. Rules me out then.
Depends on how you define ‘hair’.
Local to me is a place which combines sports bar with beer bar. It’s a decent place even though I’m not interested in most of the sports on the TV.
A local dive bar has been closed for several years. It had a deli which made fantastic sandwiches. Sometimes, before they closed, I’d drop in for a beer and a sandwich. I’d usually get strange looks from the clientele, but not the staff, because I’m much older than them. I didn’t give a shit.
Two of the local dive bars in the last decade, located across the parking lot from eachother became the Gen Z millennial hangout. It was weird. The one went from honkytonk where long time regulars hung out to popular overnight. Ownership of either did not change.
The Honkytonk dive bar paved part of their parking lot and it caused friction between the two bars over patrons supposedly parking in the small paved part of the lot and walking to the smaller of the two dive bars.
A fit truck showed up at the honkytonk, and three years ago the conflict ended up in the smaller bar up for sale and changing locations. Which mostly killed the vibe of both and crashed the profits for them.
All over some asphalt that was probably forced on them by the city.
The Black Rose was pretty good.
That is a good place.
Yeah, I remember you guys met up there (I saw the e-mail too late).
I’ll strongly recommend Mr. Dooley’s around the corner
https://www.mrdooleys.com/
Fewer tourists.
This post got me thinking that we haven’t been to the best cocktail bar in town for a while. A few months ago we walked by and it was too full. A bar where you literally needed reservations on
And… Now it’s closed.
https://www.swordfishcocktails.com/
That’s some seriously bad management, if it was that busy and still closed.
Or something else happened, I guess.
Bars getting closed down for tax problems is a tale as old as bars themselves…
I was thinking that’s the most likely explanation.
I still file that under “seriously bad management”.
Reminds me of a bar in the college town where I went. Basically had a license to print money. The Feds closed it down. Something about money laundering enterprise.
It was in a kind of strange location. Which is what made it a hidden gem. Maybe they are moving.
Where Team Red proves that can’t even do futile things.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/republican-efforts-to-prosecute-fauci-for-contempt-are-hitting-a-wall-7cc5475a?st=7fuY7K&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Their uselessness cannot be understated. 2 years of both houses of Congress and the Presidency and nothing to show for it.
We annexed Greenland didn’t we?
2 years of both houses of Congress and the Presidency and nothing to show for it.
Of permanence? Perhaps not, because apparently Congress doesn’t do anything they have legitimate Constitutional authority to do anymore.
That said; the rolling back of DEI, the push back on fake-women/men, oops, I mean trans to the level of DOJ settlements with hospitals that pushed and profited from that vile abuse, inversion of the food pyramid, curtailing of the green agenda, largely closing the border, unrolling of the COVID narrative to a degree, are, too me, worth the price of admission. That wouldn’t have happened without the last two years. They all would have been expanded and we would have gotten just as bad on other fronts that the executive has been bad on.
Even just at the level of it now being OK to talk about these things, nevermind that some concrete steps have been taken as well. It’s not “nothing”.
It’s unfortunate that it all comes from the executive, at least at the national level. Which argues in favor of your ‘uselessness’ categorization (again, at least nationally). But it’s not “nothing”.
I’m not sure how you unroll the corruption (or, if you prefer, deep state) successfully, when nearly everyone in Washington benefits from it. Maybe the above “nothing” is all we can expect without much more drastic events.
Yes, all of that gets rolled back the moment Team Blue gets back in power.
They’ve got a decades-long head start on this game. Team Red can’t possibly fight back right now.
Crap ton of border wall has been and is being built.
The Dems will tear it down.
Yes, all of that gets rolled back the moment Team Blue gets back in power.
Yes, maybe. But I have some hope that the ‘permission’, or normalization, of being able to question these will stick. People have been ‘allowed’ (for lack of a better term) to question, say what they actually think. It may – hopefully – not be a simple switch that they can just flip back.
You should have warned us to have our shocked faces ready.
The knob slobbers in the comment section are all vaccinated and boosted.
Brennan et. al. still have not been prosecuted for their perjury.
Republicans are extremely good at finding an excuse to “be civil” while publicly being extremely uncivil, thereby getting all of the negatives and none of the positives.
Meanwhile, team D may be terrible about everything else, but they know how to have a propaganda machine stay on message while they gin up some fake charges
Add Biker bar to the list
So a ballet teacher and guitarist walk into a barre….
A guy walks into a bar. The second guy ducks.
Swiss’s gaze is so sharp and narrow now you could shave with it.
*MASS NARROWED GAZE*
How much mass does it take for the gravity to narrow the gaze?
I guess this is a bad time to mention the time two peanuts found themselves in a bad neighborhood. One was a salted.
So a guy walked into a bar…
“Ow!”
Did the judge laugh?
I like the Brewery and Barcades.
One of two local (three really but the thirds beer is not to my liking) breweries is pretty cool in that they allow and encourage outside food. They did get bought out since the last time I was there (clot shot stroke on the owner brewer) so I’m not sure haw it’s changed.
There was a pretty cool barcade down in Hoyt, FL, that I hung out at during the GOAT 2-Gun match this past April. That may or may not have been a factor in my mediocre performance at said match…
https://www.facebook.com/RetroReplayBarcade/
Hopefully I’ll be back next year…
Are there still places like those nightclubs seen in 1940 movies, or like Ricky Ricardo’s place on “Lucy”, where guys wore tuxes and dolls sat around little round tables and listened to soft jazz?
“Still” assumes such places ever existed.
I am doubtful and suspect they are creations of hollywood.
They absolutely did, but they kinda died out when Big Band music did.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-12878389/The-glamour-grit-Golden-Age-America-dark-Inside-Manhattans-1940s-1950s-nightlife-scene.html
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/jazz-scene-old-photos/
Da fuq? Yes, they existed. The Cotton Club, for instance.
It is like watching Saturday Night Fever and saying discos never existed. Those were the nightclubs of their day. Before that, people had barn dances.
You gotta have somewhere to go and hook up, regardless of the era.
Discos? Now you’re just pulling my leg.
I keep telling my wife I want to have a Christmas cocktail party, where someone makes Neph-worthy drinks and we all dress up.
Put the drinks in little outfits.
If you want a smaller cocktail party.
https://www.amazon.com/2-Hour-Cocktail-Party-Relationships-Gatherings/dp/B0B679PZ89/ref=sr_1_1?crid=IJ24C2OSJJB8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sbMeFORrSc-sHgwGTvbBpchcnrJqSFL74C1j87C1QdhVxddiVFchUE1oR0QtJkba8_XySTdsu-5RnzJzbLhsQgxFjQGaElOJQTxUEvTOZiD8D1K5uGa3hUkwTjCXO1SKIwgwt0lYG2tDlno2SmlG3NCWCyRr6SRx3Mxmt1-ODs_YUXdEq9vRGn0dxCLe3udywWS1Y0vf8Kqdr5dCYpa90CZ9X3hXH7iJU2Hwr7BabO0.24F5pi8CA46dcnwH3wB6kDqrcvzrW1AA-l_XHbspQx0&dib_tag=se&keywords=2+hour+cocktail+party&qid=1787858439&sprefix=2+hour+co%2Caps%2C227&sr=8-1
Lake America it is.
No.
Wait until he renames the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean.
We don’t need a war with Atlantis.
We’ve always been at war with Atlantis.
East American Ocean to differentiate it from the West American Ocean.
North American Ocean, South American Ocean, and American Indian Ocean
Just name it little big lake
Next to medium big lake?
Little Big Lake
Almost Big Lake
Bigger Big Lake
Medium Big Lake
Biggest Big Lake
In order from east to west
The Ethnic Bar, subtype ‘Irish’, I expect music.
e.g., https://www.burren.com/
How about a Somali bar?
How about just bar Somalis?
The Burren is a great word, but the Burren itself is one of the most barren and desolate places on earth. It was awesome to see, but as an inspiration for a meeting place…. questionable. Just barren, weathered rock with deep crags.everywhere. nearly impassable.
Oddly, land owners there fenced their property in with livestock fencing. Not much growing on that barren rock.
This morning there was discussion of immigration enforcement against employers. The last amnesty bill was designed with *exactly* this in mind. They made a promise to the American people that they would eliminate the illegal immigration magnet by employer enforcement.
This is why you have to provide all those documents to your employer.
Yet somehow the industries that rely on illegal immigrants never got audited.
The law already requires them to do this. But the politicians learned very quickly that agriculture, construction, etc. depend on illegals. So they don’t go there.
Like gun laws that never seem to actually get criminals, but make it onerous to legally purchase one.
Exactly. They don’t want any part of hitting a crack den for guns unless they have a big DEA teamup. But they would love to pay you a visit to check for barrel length of grip violations.
You can count on the Dems to go after big businesses just like they did with the pharma companies.
Why is everyone laughing?
Apologies for the lengthy copypasta, but the feds used to do what you’re asking for:
On May 12, 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out a massive workplace raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.
Key Details of the Raid
Scale: Around 900 to 1,000 federal agents participated, making it the largest single-site workplace immigration raid in U.S. history at the time.Arrests: Officers arrested 389 undocumented workers, mostly from Guatemala and Mexico.
Charges: Detainees faced criminal charges including aggravated identity theft, social security fraud, and illegal reentry. Hundreds received short prison sentences before being deported.
Labor Violations: Investigations following the action revealed severe child labor violations at the plant, with underage workers as young as 13 on the kill floor.
The legal aftermath for the owners and executives of Agriprocessors Inc. was highly complex. While management initially faced a massive wave of state and federal charges directly related to the raid—including labor violations and harboring undocumented immigrants—the actual convictions that stuck were overwhelmingly centered on financial fraud uncovered by the post-raid investigation.
As the top manager of the Postville plant, Sholom Rubashkin faced the most severe legal consequences.
The Financial Conviction: While investigators dug into the plant’s operations following the raid, they uncovered a massive scheme to defraud the company’s primary lender, First Bank Business Capital. Rubashkin had directed employees to fabricate fake invoices to inflate company sales and falsely secure millions in loans.
The Sentence: In 2009, a federal jury found Rubashkin guilty of 86 counts of financial fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud. In 2010, he was sentenced to an exceptionally harsh 27 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $27 million in restitution.
Dismissed Immigration Charges: Following his heavy financial conviction, the federal judge dismissed the remaining immigration-harboring charges against Rubashkin to save judicial resources.
So, why don’t we do his anymore?
Perhaps because of secondar effects.
Economic Collapse: The sudden loss of nearly three-quarters of the plant’s workforce devastated Postville’s local economy. Rental properties emptied, local businesses lost customers, and the company eventually filed for bankruptcy.
Humanitarian Refuge: St. Bridget Catholic Church in Postville acted as a sanctuary for days, housing affected families and children left stranded by the sudden arrests.
There are social consequences to prosecuting employers.
I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be done, but there are consequences to be dealt with somehow if you want to be successful and keep doing it.
More unique to my neck of the woods is the country bar. Just out on it’s own on some county highway always the same 4 trucks parked there. Wood walls, deer trophies on the wall. Ant den we got dem dare Supper Clubs, dontchaknow.
The wife is from Wisconsin, up toward Superior. They seem to have a zoning requirement that little country bars be no more than 15 minutes apart. The idea seems to be that you stop on the way home from wherever for a beer and a bump. If it is a 30 minute drive, you have to stop twice.
Oh, and you gotta have one next to the supermarket. You shop, put your stuff in the car, and stop in for a quick one.
DUI might be the regional sport.
Same on the Iron Range of Minnesoda.
My girlfriend’s ex-husband has 3 DUIs. She had to drive him to work for a year.
One of her kids’ friends got one the day he got his license.
One of their other friends just got new teeth after driving drunk into a telephone pole.
I don’t get it.
My county rarely allows any restaurant or bar or any business with foot traffic outside of city limits unless it existed before they created zoning in the late 60s. Possibly earlier.
That’s what tar and feathers are for.
Lots of talk by the old R party precinct members but zero action.
Rednecks, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer
DIffers from a Roadhouse how?
No mention of prostitutes at the hotel bar? Or did I just spend too much time in Budapest?
obligatory.
How many drachma for the women?
It was forints at the time. I think it’s euros now.
I used to be a regular at a little dive bar in Florida.
When my buddy and I walked in the bartender would open us 2 Budweiser’s as soon as he saw us.
Once I got married, I didn’t go out like that anymore, but there was a nice music bar that played mellow classic rock with cold Orion on tap in Okinawa City, my wife and I would go there every other Sunday until a younger person became the bartender and it switched to grunge.
I miss that place, it had a giant set of wooden speakers that took up the end wall.
We got cowboys, we got truckers
Broken-hearted fools and suckers
And we got hustlers, we got fighters
Early-birds and all-nighters
And the veterans talk about their battle scars
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, I love this bar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fulz4ytZ54
I guess this falls under Private Bars, but I tried out curling once at the Chicago Curling Club. The bar looks right out of the 60’s. Lots of wood paneling, retro furniture, tons of trophies. There’s even a tiny little “curling hall of fame” that my wheelchair wouldn’t fit into. Oh, there are also big windows so you can watch the curling rink. I guess sometimes people do curling there.
Should have sued ’em.
To be fair, it was a miniature diarama and you weren’t supposed to enter it…
I wasn’t suing anyone. My coach gave me credit for a full day of volunteering and all I did was play curling.
That was a joke, suing for stuff like that is asinine, but there are people that make a living doing it.
It’s interesting that I know tons of disabled people and I don’t know anyone who sued for something like that.
I’m sure it is a small minority that does it.
I read about one guy that was a professional litigant.
He would measure doorways and such to find any violation of the ADA.
Him and his lawyer were quite wealthy it seemed.
Did you try curling up? Or sweeping the doorway?
As Ron noted there are serial plaintiffs in NYC.
https://nypost.com/2025/04/17/opinion/end-the-ada-lawsuit-madness-in-nyc-stop-the-marks-brothers-jocelyn-pierre/
https://nypost.com/2026/07/09/real-estate/nyc-man-demands-ada-access-to-restaurants-in-multiple-suits/
The ADA is such a shit law.
All public accommodation laws are.
Jeff Healey – Roadhouse Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjaI7lxTIi8
“You play pretty good for a blind white boy”
So let me know what I missed or got wrong in the comments, and thanks for reading.
What about airport bars?
One of my favorite dive-slash-local-color bars of all time was the Big Bamboo Lounge in Kissimmee. Every time we raced or tested at the Disney track that’s where I’d go.
Younger me loved drinking in airport bars.
Once, we missed our flight out of Hawaii because my buddy misread the departure time as the boarding time.
There is no feeling like walking to your gate and seeing it empty.
Because we were active duty Marines they were able to get us on a flight in 6 hours.
We had had a few beers before this, so my buddy decided to take a nap, I went back to the bar.
Drank the rest of the night with a very nice couple from Seattle, Kona Fire Rock Ale on tap is tasty.
Got back to the gate and my buddy kept telling me to be quiet, apparently I was loud?
Sat down on the plane and 5 minutes later he wakes me up, so I’m a little grumpy. “What!”
He says we have landed in San Fransisco.
I say “Great, I’m starving.”
He says, “Of course you’re hungry, you were snoring the whole flight, so I couldn’t sleep.”
Good Times
Oooh, I’ve got one more:
Bar car.
Which leads me to this sad news.
Those were a highlight of my co-op job in Manhattan.
That was a LIRR only. I believe when I first came to NYC they still had the smoking car. I know when I rode Amtrak in the early 90s they still had a smoking car.
The cart would be wheeled off the platform and onto the train at some point – ISTR it was the train that was only 30 minutes later than the one I could make.
The designated bar car had a whole crew of regulars – one of the dudes worked on Fashion Ave and always had a fist full of cash – he’d pick up the beers if I’d wait in line.
On my final trip home after my co-op ended, he told me to get in touch if we wanted to buy weed in weight (like, pounds of weed). So maybe it wasn’t just the clothing sales.
Good times for a 19 year old.
The country you grew up in is gone.
I got trashed on an Amtrak ride once. It made the experience about a thousand times better.
“These are the last of the bar carts on any part of the MTA system,” agency board member Mitchell Pally told The Post on Saturday.
“I do not think we should be serving alcohol,” Pally said. “I’ve been saying this for 12 years, ever since I got on the board.”
Five minutes ago I had no idea that guy even existed. Now I want t6o beat him with a sock full of nickels.
So say we all.
Now, of course, it’s just buy the 24 oz can of beer at one of the many places on Penn before getting on the train. Free brown paper bag.
But having fresh ones was nice.
You only need the bag for the station. It’s explicitly permitted to be open inside the train on NJTransit.
Huh – LIRR too? TBF, “Liar’s Poker” was the hot new book when I was commuting to the city, to it’s been a minute.
I don’t know non LIRR/MTA.
One of the guys I used to work with was on the fixed income desk at Lehman and knew everybody in that book.
My co-op was at the long departed Bankers Trust on Albany street (I think the building is gone, post 9/11).
Half the train was reading that book and when you’d laugh out loud someone would ask “which part are you on?”.
+1 Equities in Dallas
Which I find hysterical because my Wall St career was in equities.
That was so long ago the word had an entirely different meaning.
In central TX, dive bars catering to Mexicans usually had “club” in their name. I never went to this one:
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Halloween-night-machete-fight-ends-in-man-having-6605897.php
https://y.yarn.co/33bef90a-5c60-4c34-89ff-f822bae3fe8b_text.gif
Sounds like a fair fight with a clear winner.
I still remember what our hand to hand combat instructor taught us about knife fighting:
Rule #1: Don’t get in a knife fight. You will get cut and severely injured.
Rule #2 – don’t fuck with the guys with cauliflower ears
Good advice.
Although an instructor of mine told us that knife fights, meaning two vatos squaring up with switchblades West Side Story-style, almost never happen. More often, a knife fight is either:
– One guy jumps another dude from behind and sewing-machines him, or
– Two guys are in a fistfight or a wrestling match, one of them starts to lose, and pulls a knife to even things up.
lol Sketchy parts of Brooklyn and Queens are loaded with that, all “_____ Club”. Gun play and other violence is frequently mentioned in the news.
Drink whiskey and shut up
“You know when your mouth is gettin’ dry….you’re pretty high.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YwKcDlb6o8
What heading would you call a bar that is ostensibly a public establishment but entrance is enforced by the locals. You need someone to vouch for you before you can enter.
A social club? Mafia front?
A bar in Utah.
The Zion Curtain.
The pool and cabana some now refer to as “R.J.’s Lake” is now done in the back yard. City inspection is complete, construction is done. I am putting the TV up tonight and I will watch tonight’s GlibFlick, “Space Truckers” while sitting in the hot tub.
As it should be.
Dang, that looks great!
Mazel tov!
That is a sweet looking setup.
Sweet!
That is sick.
When is the Glibs christening party?
Labor Day weekend.
That’s awesome.
I… what? What the hell?
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-chevrolet-corvette-coupe-52
I’m sure everything is fixed.
That’s fun! I love those 70s customs. It probably needs about a year of work, and then a custom paint job involving Frazetta scenery.
Hopefully I’m not stepping on an afternoon link:
https://nypost.com/2026/08/24/world-news/nudist-german-politician-wants-orgies-at-city-hall-ultimate-in-closeness-with-the-citizens/
Um Gottes willen…. Nein, danke.
Speaking of booze, I was delighted to refresh my memory that here in NJ you can often obtain it at the supermarket.
Strictly verboten in NY.
I miss being able to buy hard liquor at Walmart at 2 in the morning. Nevada has its good points.
Ex-pat bars in Korea+ leaned mostly on the dive side, but only visually. Always a scene. Meet a stranger and ya could easily make a good friend or have a great conversation. Every foreigner in that community being a foreigner? Uh. Instant camaraderie. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Until then, I really didn’t understand what ‘community’ felt like.
Many/most had a stage set up so bands could perform. Great and shitty thing about being a drummer there? Well, ya didn’t have to transport anything other than your sticks. But you played whatever kit they had. Usually no worries, but took a bit to try and get spacing right, and you rarely had the same size set you’d practiced on.
I know most of them had nice alcohol on sale, but I (and I’m sure most) went for house staples, Long Islands and the like. Most expensive drink for me? Shot of Jager for 5,000 won, maybe $4, then just cheap Korean beer. Cass or Hi-Life, whatever was on tap. Also fun: Usually when you performed, ya got free drinks. A couple times, we traveled and the bar owner’d get us a cheap hotel room. (I don’t remember how that worked out, thinking back on it.)
Other than, IU-Bloomington, I never really explored the bar scene, Stateside. Even then, only a bit. Didn’t see the point. (Well. I was underage for 3/4ths of college.) Now, I live in Expensive Land. I’m not drinking, and even to just awkwardly chill with awkward, American strangers, which you see why I’m not diving into it, would be far too cost-prohibitive per hour. *shrug*
I miss that scene in Korea+ more than anything. Always a group of people to talk to, play pool with, etc.
I’ve only been to probably a half dozen bars in my life, most of which would fall under the neighborhood category I guess. Couple casino bars in Vegas.
If you are ever in Dublin, skip The overloaded and touristy-trap Temple Bar spots (well at least go and see them) and hit up John Mulligans on Poolbeg street. A real gentleman’s pub if you know what I mean.
At least tangentially on topic, when I was working towards a business degree, I considered one day putting it towards opening a bar, even though it’s not my scene. Interesting business opportunities with some of those more niche markets. There’s a beautiful, historic, abandoned/decrepit old art deco theater in downtown Sweetwater right across from the courthouse that I’d buy, restore, and turn into a bar/vintage movie house if I had fuck you money.
It probably needs about a year of work, and then a custom paint job involving Frazetta scenery.
Put a blower on that dump truck motor, and voluptuous MezoAmerican girls riding jaguars down the side.
We really enjoyed going to a local place that more a social club than a bar (hours were 4-10-ish) that was also a nanobrewery. Great staff, great beer.
Even did some fun lofi work for them.
Then they sold 2/3 share of it. Now it’s a Cleveland Browns/KC Chiefs bar with obnoxious drinks, higher prices, less fun staff, and greasy smashburgers. Sigh.
Are piano bars still in vogue? Many, many years ago, a young onescore and associates would hang out at a place in Asbury Park, aptly named the Piano Bar. Yep, you guessed it, some faux Billy Joel would play, and after a few we’d all be singing along.
Wow, that brings back a deep recall, 1958-9. A year or two earlier it was the airport piano bar in San Francisco, met a bunch of SF Seals minor league players, fine bunch of guys
We have 2 dueling piano bars still kicking here.
Not that I remember.
I did see John Valby live however.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFnv4gedbwE&t=1s
I hit one a couple times on Christopher Street in NYC but I don’t think that would be your scene.
Obligatory music
It appears we’re not getting a links bar this afternoon.
WordPress is drunk again.
So, I just put an optic on my new Pew. I have to get to the range and zero it.
What is a good distance to zero for on a carry piece?
It’s my understanding most gunfights happen pretty close. Something like 20-30’
Would college bars count as their own thing? Not that grown-ass adults would have any desire to patronize one (or any business doing so. ::narrows gaze at single guys over 30::)
Hey! If I want to keep getting ignored by college girls to relive my university experience… I probably wouldn’t bother with the bar, I can get ignored anywhere.
You start off irresistible
And, then you become resistible
And then you become transparent
Not exactly invisible, but as if you are seen
Through old plastic
And then you actually do become invisible
And then, and this is the most amazing transformation
You become repulsive
But that’s not, that’s not the end of the story
After repulsive, you become cute
I think so.
There was a popular one near my campus full of underaged kids like me. I would not set foot in there these days.
There were (and I’m sure still are) many in uptown Oxford, OH, and likewise in/near the U of Dayton “ghetto.” Beware of the latter after a big basketball win.
*shifts nervously* She was half my age plus seven, and an “adult learner,” and to be fair, I didn’t meet her at a college bar…
Also at BaT
Obligatory prissy douchebag in the comments whining because it isn’t an original untouched never fixed never modified never driven museum piece.
It’s 70 fucking years old. It should have been modified a lot more than it has been.
Dude – you’re lucky it still exists. Cars exist to be driven, so don’t be shocked when the person who first bought it drove it.
You don’t need a dual master cylinder.
Hydraulic brakes are for wusses anyway.
Sexy. Looks like a nice project for somebody else.
You could pretend you’re Bergerac*
*-deep cut but available on BritBox. If you like Midsomer Murders, this is what John Nettles did for 9 years before becoming DCI Tom Barnaby. He drove a burgundy Triumph but it looked an awful lot like that.
MG bid to $4100, reserve not met.
Can’t help wondering what the reserve is. If you could be in that car for twenty as a knockaround driver you’d probably have a pretty good deal. *You, not me.
And now I’m wondering how many assholes get into these auctions and try to scare everybody off so they can make a back door deal.
I have no idea what it’s worth but I’ve been seeing low prices on cars into the 50s across the board in the last couple of years.
I still don’t get why people restore the body before the mechanicals. Can I get it to run? Can I get it to stop? Can I get it turn?
The worst part of going to bars is all the peoples. The second worst part is all the loud peoples.
I do love a wide beer selection and good grub, so I’m always torn.
Wow, the hits keep coming with this guy.
Career violent criminal “dies in custody” (cause not released) and because the communist mayor is a pro-crime piece of shit who wants to close prisons, he mourns the loss of the violent criminal with a disgusting piece of political spin pushing those plans.
If you close the prisons the remaining option is to execute all the criminals and their political allies.
What are you going to do? throw us in prison?
I still don’t get why people restore the body before the mechanicals. Can I get it to run? Can I get it to stop? Can I get it turn?
I like it when people rush out and spend a few thousand bucks on wheels and tires for a car which is literally! years away from moving under its own power.
Dystopia, baby
Regardless of how you feel about the impact that Gary’s demographics may have had on NIPSCO’s disaster response, or whether or not you think data centers are, “essential to keep America in the driver’s seat of the global economy,” as my father-in-law claims, the fact remains that a powerful storm came through and knocked out power, and it was the people, not the data centers, who got their power back last.
The lesson here (as I wrote a few weeks ago) is that weather-related grid outages – whether they’re caused by wildfires, mudslides, derechos, tornadoes, ice storms, hurricanes, heat waves, or some other disaster I’m lucky enough to have forgotten about – read like statistics when they’re happening over there, but get personal real quick when they’re happening to you. And policies that roll back clean energy investment and make it both easier and more profitable for big companies to pollute the air, land, and water around us with harmful carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses are making the problem objectively worse.
Big Carbon is murdering us.
I don’t see what clean energy has to do with it. Data centers probably have diesel generators as backup. The only data center I could find in Gary is a so-called micro data center called GaryNaps, so this seems like the author is just complaining about the things we are supposed to hate.