Strange Bars

[Busboy]

I actually don't get out to bars that much any more. Kids, you know, and a mortgage and now I have a place to live that's big enough that I can read a book without having to hear the TV and the neighbor's toilet flushing or stare at the same low ceiling and rented furniture...

But in the day, I both worked in bars and more or less lived in them, usually stuff on the dive-y end of the spectrum. And when I was travelling for politics, well, where the hell were you going to go after a 15-hour day? Not back to another grim, anonymous hotel room.

Somehow I got myself so acclamated that almost any bar, almost anywhere, feels like home to me. There's an instant sense of well-being, that I'm with my people, even if I've never been there before and even if they're giving me the old hairy eyeball for dragging my yuppie ass into a blue collar spot.

Sure, there have been a couple awkward moments. I once went into the bar around the corner from my house to get a pack of smokes, and found myself the only white guy in the room. Conversation more or less stopped for many a long minute. To make the situation more surreal, I had to ask the bartender for change. And when a bar goes quiet, those quarters can make a lot of noise clanking into the change box.

In Fort Dodge, Iowa, the bartender ignored me and my buddies so completely and aggressively that we finally got the message and pushed on.

And occasionally there's the "wait, there's only guys in this bar," moment, which actually doesn't bother me but seems to amuse the bartenders when that look of recognition crosses my face.

But more often than not I have a chance to curl up next to a cold beer, I have a chat with a bartender and maybe meet a regular or two, and it's a lot like getting a postcard from home.

Anyone else feel that way about random watering holes. Is this odd? And is it unhealthy?

[phaelon56]

No. I don't think it's odd and it's not unhealthy until it causes problems with your health. If those joints end up being where you spend all of your freee tiem outside of work and sleep perhaps it's a problem.

But if you were one of those folks you wouldn't have the time or inclination to be posting on eGullet. There was no public Internet back in the days when I was a professional lush but believe me - I wouldn't have been wasting valuable drinking time on Web surfing!).

Some very entertaining memories come from those times - to be certain.

Memories of:

- which bar had the worst bathrooms... (a tie between CBGB's on the Bowery and the Lost Horizon in Syracuse NY)

- who had the cheapest drinks ever (ten 10 oz drafts on Monday nights at Livingston's - also in Syracuse)

- where I met the weirdest creepiest characters (some bar with the word "Marlin" in the name down in St. Pete FL)

[mrbigjas]

right with ya. especially when travelling, my wife and i usually like to find a bar near our hotel, preferrably a local-type spot but occasionally a nicer one, where we can sit down at the end of most days and debrief. i get out my little book and write down what we did that day, we talk to the bartender or anyone around us, watch a little of whatever local sports are inevitably on the tv* and chill out for a little while before hitting the hay. if you're a bar sort of person, the sense of normality this gives while traveling really makes everything better.

*this is interesting in hood river, oregon, for instance, where every bar shows constant dvd reruns of windsurfing, surfing, snowboarding, skiing, etc, instead of anything live, or for that matter anything like baseball, football, hockey, etc.

[KOK]

I once went into the bar around the corner from my house to get a pack of smokes, and found myself the only white guy in the room.  Conversation more or less stopped for many a long minute.  To make the situation more surreal, I had to ask the bartender for change.  And when a bar goes quiet, those quarters can make a lot of noise clanking into the change box.

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Were you in the Dexter Lake Club?

Not at all odd or unhealthy. People like familiarity, and to feel like the belong. Sort of the like the bar in the show Cheers. "You want to go where everybody knows your name", even if some of the people are creepy.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Lan4Dawg]

right with ya.  especially when travelling, my wife and i usually like to find a bar near our hotel, preferrably a local-type spot but occasionally a nicer one, where we can sit down at the end of most days and debrief.  i get out my little book and write down what we did that day, we talk to the bartender or anyone around us, watch a little of whatever local sports are inevitably on the tv* and chill out for a little while before hitting the hay.  if you're a bar sort of person, the sense of normality this gives while traveling really makes everything better.

add to that the fact that you can get honest answers about the area and what to see/do/enjoy/avoid/&c from bar workers and patrons that the chamber of commerce, the convention and visitors' bureau, & the hotel--all who rely on your tourism dollars--are not going to tell you or might not even know b/c they are too busy promoting the high ticket items and wishes of their membership as opposed to the down home "fun" stuff.

[Sneakeater]

"You want to go where everybody knows your name", even if some of the people are creepy.

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This has to be the Line Of The Day.