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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,729 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:
Bars where Pete has had a drink
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Cowgirls Inc., Seattle
Every large city in the country now has at least one bar exactly like this, so there's no need for me to describe Seattle's version of the dancing-on-the-bar, Coyote Ugly knock off.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
The Jasmine Tree - 6/27/2004
Saturday, June 26, 2004
The Alibi, Portland - 6/26/2004
The building here is said to go back to the 1880s, when it was the "Chat-n-Nibble, a stop for horse and buggies along a dirt road called "the interstate." This would later become either Patton or Maryland Avenue (these were renamed Interstate Avenue in 1917). After prohibition it was a tiny tavern called "Max Alibi, which was owned by a Mr. Peterson and quite successful for several years. In 1947 Peterson sold it to Roy Ell, who turned it into a tiki bar, emulating the experiences he had enjoyed in Hawaii. Over the years Ell expanded the place, engulfing a private home behind the tavern and a Texaco station next door to expand parking, as well as adding a restaurant section in the 50s and additional tiki touches, including the large, blacklight, hula girl bas-relief mural and Witco-style railings in the 70s.
Ell leased the business out in the 80s with the stipulation that the decor not be altered, and eventually sold the place to Larry and Karla White in 1992. The Whites again refurbished the interior and rooftop sign in 2005, taking care to consult local tiki aficionados and preserve the vintage tiki style, despite no longer being required to do so. Larry White passed away in early 2013.
If you are a tiki fan, the Alibi is not likely to win your affections through their overly sweet drinks, the fairly standard bar food menu, nor the drunken karaoke singers. But it is exceedingly rare to see such a long-lived institution so devoted to its tiki decor, especially one that feels so unremittingly like a bar, without concessions to the restaurant area or sunlight. You enter through a thatch hut (mostly likely acquired from the old Kon Tiki) and, as your eyes adjust to the soft glowing lamps and fish tanks in the dark, you're never sure what lies around the corner. It is this stark transition from the bright, suburban America outside -- more pronounced than you were ever experience at, say, a Trader Vic's -- which makes this one of my favorite tiki bars in the country. Especially with the closing of places such as Rosemead's Bahooka, I feel an abiding debt to Roy Ell, Larry White, the Portland area folks who helped clean it up and preserve it, and even the karaoke singers.
(Exoticat photo) |
4024 N Interstate Ave, Portland, OR 97227 - (503) 287-5335
Est. 1947
Previous bars in this location: Max Alibi
Web site: alibiportland.com
Articles prioritized: critiki - roadtrippers - tikiroom - thelope - portland mercury - wweek - oregonlive - pdxbars - yelp - barfly
Friday, December 13, 2002
Saturday, May 04, 2002
The Baranof, Seattle (Greenwood) - 5/4/2002
The Baranof, Seattle, WA The bartender in the right foreground is Dotti, who also bartended at the Rendezvous and the 74th Street Tavern. "She was a legend" |
Marie's Cafe and the Greenwood Room (Photo courtesy of Gerald Nielsen) |
Today, the Baranof bartenders are diverse in gender and age, whereas several years ago they seemed to be exclusively elderly women (I once heard a patron explaining to one what goes in a Martini). Since replacing the Bill Murray style cover acts with karaoke, the Baranof is much more populated by younger people and hipsters, which may compromise the pure divey-ness, but add a different element of fun. The Baranof remains a classic old school diner in front, and one of the city's best dive bars, as well as one of its more popular karaoke destinations.
Here are a few anecdotes about the Greenwood Room and early Baranof that I've collected from folks who worked there and/or drank there:
The fellow to my right is Doug. Doug claims to have been hired and fired by the Baranof 29 times over the past 30 years (starting when it was still Marie's). |
"I worked at Greenwood Safeway across the street, graveyard shift, and we all got off work at 7am and would head over to the Greenwood Bar in Marie’s that had a line up at 7am to open the bar, and the dance floor was busy by 8am. I was only 21 then, but it was blast from the past." -- Michael Messer
It "became Baranof when Richard Newby bought it." -- Pat Simon
Wednesday, January 10, 2001
Sunday, December 17, 2000
Saturday, October 28, 2000
Wednesday, October 11, 2000
Friday, July 21, 2000
Sunday, December 05, 1999
The Rickshaw - 12/5/1999
Ground zero for Seattle karaoke and the greatest cross-section of Americana outside of a David Lynch film.
322 North 105th Street Seattle, WA 98133 - (206) 789-0120
Est. July 7, 1976 - Building constructed 1950
web site: therickshaw.net - facebook
reviews: thestranger - surlygourmand - thestranger - yelp
Est. July 7, 1976 - Building constructed 1950
web site: therickshaw.net - facebook
reviews: thestranger - surlygourmand - thestranger - yelp
Sunday, October 31, 1999
Monday, May 10, 1999
Friday, January 01, 1982
The Java Jive - Tacoma (Nalley Valley) - 1982
For the most part, the Java Jive has retained it's glorious divey greatness from the mid-50s and 60s, when Bob Radonich purchased the Coffee Pot Restaurant and turned it into a bar and jungle-themed restaurant. It's still a great ramshackle, neon-spray-painted wonderland, and a fine place to catch a punk-ish band on the weekend, or just have a beer and share stories with the regulars. But when I was first taken there in 1982, it was even more grand, with live chimpanzees "Java" and "Jive" living in the back bar, and "Maestro Bobby Floyd" manning the keyboards.
Floyd seemed to play mostly 70s television themes, mixed in with Beatles covers and local high school fight songs. He played with a sort of rocking motion, and on this night was accompanied by the drummer "Steve and his Sexy Sticks," who would sometimes sing the guitar parts of the songs. When Bobby took a break between sets, he dine on spaghetti with fried onion rings mixed in.
Mary, the friend who first took me there, was underage, but had been there many times before, and assured us she would have no problem getting in. As the waitress went around our table, getting to Mary last, Mary simply told her, "You already checked mine," and the waitress walked off satisfied.
The Jive is nestled in the "Nalley Valley" industrial area of Tacoma, approx. 50 miles from Seattle. The restaurant was built in 1927, and purchased by Bob in 1955 and converted into a music club. It is said to have been a speakeasy at some point before that. Before they made in big, The Wailers played there several times, and The Ventures played as basically the house band. Harold Lloyd, Clara Bow, and Bing Crosby are all said to have hung out there during the early years.
The Jive narrowly escaped a fire in 1998, and when inspectors found a load of code violations in 2007 and the Jive was threatened with closure, neighbors and contractors volunteered to do the work necessary to keep the doors open.
It is just an epic bar.
2102 South Tacoma Way Tacoma, WA 98409 - (253) 475-9843
Est. 1955 - Building constructed: 1927
facebook - map - Roadside America - strangebuildings - myspace - yelp - flickr
Floyd seemed to play mostly 70s television themes, mixed in with Beatles covers and local high school fight songs. He played with a sort of rocking motion, and on this night was accompanied by the drummer "Steve and his Sexy Sticks," who would sometimes sing the guitar parts of the songs. When Bobby took a break between sets, he dine on spaghetti with fried onion rings mixed in.
Mary, the friend who first took me there, was underage, but had been there many times before, and assured us she would have no problem getting in. As the waitress went around our table, getting to Mary last, Mary simply told her, "You already checked mine," and the waitress walked off satisfied.
The Jive is nestled in the "Nalley Valley" industrial area of Tacoma, approx. 50 miles from Seattle. The restaurant was built in 1927, and purchased by Bob in 1955 and converted into a music club. It is said to have been a speakeasy at some point before that. Before they made in big, The Wailers played there several times, and The Ventures played as basically the house band. Harold Lloyd, Clara Bow, and Bing Crosby are all said to have hung out there during the early years.
The Jive narrowly escaped a fire in 1998, and when inspectors found a load of code violations in 2007 and the Jive was threatened with closure, neighbors and contractors volunteered to do the work necessary to keep the doors open.
It is just an epic bar.
Est. 1955 - Building constructed: 1927
facebook - map - Roadside America - strangebuildings - myspace - yelp - flickr
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