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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,608 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:


Bars where Pete has had a drink

Thursday, January 31, 2013

#1941 - Office Bar, Las Vegas - 10/21/2012

From the outside it looks like a Staples.  Inside it is a pretty standard, friendly, neighborhood dive.

4608 Paradise Rd Las Vegas, NV 89169 - (702) 737-7756
Web site: facebook
Reviews: yelp

#1940 #S1080 - The Angry Beaver, Seattle - 19/14/2012

Beaver with some kind of red marijuana leaf tattoo
First of all, the Angry Beaver is not a bar for militant lesbians. It is a Canadian/hockey bar. So there, I saved you the embarrassment of having to ask. Why the beaver is angry, I do not know, perhaps due to the cold and/or the annual NHL work stoppages.  At any rate, if you live near the northern U.S. border, I do not have to tell you that our neighbors across the border are getting pretty cocky these days -- with their banks that don't blow up their economy, their crazy colored dollars being worth more than ours for a while, and their crazy poutine showing up everywhere.

Like every patriotic American, I have Heinz ketchup on my fries, and save the gravy for the mashed potatoes. But the Angry Beaver does not even stop at the gravy-on-fries depravity, they actually serve a "flight" of three different gravies -- mushroom, beef and curry -- on three little igloos of fries.

Painting illustrating how Canadians dress and travel
Further, the A.B. boasts that they are "the only Canadian themed bar in Seattle," which is a bit like the Montana bar expressing surprise that they are the only Montana-themed bar on Capitol Hill. But all is not lost at the Beaver, as they adopted some American conventions, such as electricity, and they do have whiskey, so at least you are not forced to drink Kohakee. And since NHL hockey is virtually always in some kind of lockout, there's an excellent chance you'll find football on the TVs instead. Also, if you don't already have the munchies, it looks like the Beaver got a jump on Washington state's pot legalization, as they big red images of marijuana leaves on banners and throughout the establishment.

We were given an eager introduction to the place by friendly bartender Adam, who did a remarkable job of hiding his anger. In fact all the staff seemed to be quite adept at disguising their anger from customers, and they also spoke fluent English, as opposed to the baffling tongue you often hear up north (e.g. "Do you have two loonies for a toonie?" WTF is that?). In fact they were so personable, that I plan to go back every now and then, to enjoy a drink and to witness their bizarre characteristics -- such as the belief that it is exciting to watch a game that that is 1-1 after two and a half hours of just going back and forth every couple seconds.

History of the building now housing the Angry Beaver
 Historical notes: This space, built in 1927, has hosted a variety of bars since the 1930s. City guides list a bar owned by Harvey Mashinter here in 1939, and if this was not already the "Central Tavern" (not to be confused with Pioneer Square's Central Saloon), it was so-named by the early 1940s, and remained under that name into the 70s. It became "Yo Babes" sometime shortly after that, and then "The First Edition" by 1980. By 1983 it was the Greenhouse Tavern; by 1985 it was "The Fillmore", by 1990 it was "The Winner's Circle" and then in 1995 became the "Pig and Whistle."

Some kind of weird hockey anthem

French cuisine - Dip and Fries

8412 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103 - (206) 782-6044
Est. Oct 13, 2012 - Building constructed: 1927
Previous bars in this location: Central Tavern, Yo' Babes, The First Edition, The Fillmore, The Winner's Circle, Pig & Whistle
Web site: facebook  
Reviews: thestranger - seattletimes - seattlemet - eater

#1939 - The Drink (Plaza), Las Vegas - 10/13/2012

Update: The Drink closed in November 2012 and owner Cools announced that he is out of the bar business. The Drink is being replaced by Z Bar.


The Plaza, and its bar The Drink, are weird.

The Plaza hotel and casino might be seem as perfectly representing the downtown Las Vegas area, as it seems to teeter between glorious rehabilitation and collapsing into squalor. It is on the site of the old Union Pacific railroad station, and part of the current structure houses a Greyhound Bus station. The bar, called "The Drink," is owned by Anthony Cools, a "comedic hypnotist" and the "King of Sociability."


The Drink recently replaced a miniature golf / dueling pianos / Elvis-themed bar which tourists mistook for a sex club. "It seems owner and hypnotist Anthony Cools got tired of people standing in the windows to look in without coming in to the bar. See, people thought the place was a real live swingers club despite massive windows looking in on the golf-themed bar, a miniature golf course and Caddyshack images on the walls." (Eater) The new place features hourly 25-cent "sociables," shots that everyone in the bar downs when the bell rings and after you shout out together "sociable!"

I am not making this up.

1 S Main St, Las Vegas, NV 89101 - (877) 687-5875
Est. Aug 2012 - Closed Nov 26, 2012
Previous bars in this location: Swingers Club
Web site: plazahotelcasino.com
Reviews: vegaschatter - eater - fremontstreetbars  

#1938 - PBR Rock Bar & Grill, Las Vegas - 10/13/2012

Big sports bar with a sizable patio in the Planet Hollywood

3663 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109 - (702) 750-1685
Est. Aug 22, 2010
Previous bars in this location: Hawaiian Tropic Zone
Web site: pbrrockbar.com - facebook
Reviews: lasvegasweekly - vegas.com - lasvegashappyhour - yelp

#1937 - Bar Moderno (Aria), Las Vegas - 10/13/2012



3730 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89158
Web site: arialasvegas.com - facebook
Reviews: lasvegasrestaurants - yelp 

#1936 - Heart Attack Grill, Las Vegas - 10/12/2012

God bless America.





450 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101                      
Est. Oct 21, 2011

Web site: heartattackgrill.com - facebook  
Reviews: wikipedia - lvrj - yelp
Calories in Quadruple Bypass Burger: 9,982

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

#1935 - Mermaid's Casino, Las Vegas - 10/12/2012

When what is now Mermaid's Casino opened in the summer of 1956 it was the first two level club in Las Vegas and the "motor stairs" were the first in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Sun)  Mermaids is now a small, kitschy casino with a snack bar and no web page except Facebook.

32 East Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada 89101-5602 - (702) 382-5777
Web site: facebook
Reviews: link - fremontstreetbars - yelp 

#1934 - Vanguard Lounge, Las Vegas - 10/12/2012




516 Fremont St Las Vegas, NV 89101 - (702) 868-7800              
Web site: vanguardlv.com - facebook  
Reviews: lasvegasweekly - vegasseven - vegas.com

#1933 - Mickie Finnz Fish House & Bar, Las Vegas - 10/12/2012






425 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101 - (702) 382-4204
Est. March 2006

Web site: mickiefinnzlasvegas.com - facebook  
Reviews: celebratelv - vegas.com - yelp - tripadvisor

#1932 - View Bar (Aria), Las Vegas - 10/11/2012



3730 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109 - (702) 590-7111
Web site: arialasvegas.com - facebook
Reviews: vegaschatter - yelp

#1931 - HAZE Nightclub (Aria), Las Vegas - 10/11/2012



3730 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 - (702) 693-8300
Web site: hazelasvegas.com - facebook  
Reviews: vegas.com - yelp

#1930 - The Griffin, Las Vegas - 10/10/2012

The Griffin, Las Vegas, NV

Vegas is not known for it's charm or nuance, but for people who love bars with a distinctive personality, the East Fremont area offers three quite nice alternatives: The Downtown Cocktail Room, the Beauty Bar, and the Griffin. The Griffin is dark and old school. It hosts bands and serves Hamms to hipsters, but it is also fairly ornate, romantic, and traditional. I stayed a longer than I expected on my bar hopping, enjoying the music in the back room from Rusty Maples.

Rusty Maples, The Griffin, Las Vegas, NV






































511 Fremont St Las Vegas, NV 89101 - (702) 382-0577













Web site: facebook
Best articles: uptake - vegaschatter - esquire - fremontstreetbars - spyonvegas- yelp - lasvegassun

#1929 - Beauty Bar, Las Vegas - 10/10/2012

On Fremont Street, just across Las Vegas Boulevard from the lights and zip-lines of the "Fremont Street Experience," downtown Las Vegas begins in earnest. It's a shabby area, working on upgrading itself, and at this point most the tourist traffic ends and local hipsters gather at the Beauty Bar and The Griffin. The Beauty Bar is a chain with joints in New York, San Francisco, Austin and a few other towns, all modeled like 1950s beauty salons. This one is said to be a bit more divey than the others. They have DJs 7 nights a week and sometimes live music or burlesque shows.

517 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101 - (702) 598-1965
Est. May 2004

Web site: thebeautybar.com - facebook - twitter  
Reviews: vegas.com - lasvegasweekly - yelp

Sunday, January 27, 2013

#1928 - Downtown Cocktail Room, Las Vegas - 10/10/2012

Try the: Pumpkin Spice

The Downtown Cocktail Room is a swanky, mellow alternative to the Fremont Street Experience right around the corner. One of the most highly regarded craft cocktail stops in the city, you can barely spot it from outside, particularly by Vegas standards. The sign is small and the door is virtually impossible to identify.




Inside they serve a range of inventive, original cocktails, from a menu that provides a numbered scale to denote complexity. The decor is romantic and lounge-y, the music ambient, and the crowd mellow (the web site includes an enumerated list of rules of decorum). You don't see much of the blaring seen outside -- except for through the one-way glass in the restroom.

For cocktail lovers and swank lounge lovers, DCR is definitely one of the top stops in the city.

111 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89101 - (702) 880-3696
Web site: thedowntownlv.com
Reviews: vegaschatter - fremontstreetbars - vegas.com - theminty - drinkspirits - bestclubsin - yelp

#1927 - Dino's Lounge, Las Vegas - 10/10/2012

This is one of my favorite Vegas bars. It's lively, it's divey, it's old, and it has a classic Vegas pedigree. It has been Dino's since 1962, when Rinaldo Dean ("Dino") Bartolomucci bought the place, then named Ringside Liquors. The owner of Ringside was mobster Eddie Trascher, "who used the back room for big-money pool hustling, kept the beer refrigerator stocked with stolen jewels and furs, and once pistol-whipped a patron so viciously that he incurred the wrath of the entire plumber’s union." (lasvegascitylife)  It has been run by Dino's family ever since, continuing with his two sons and now run by his granddaughter.

Dino's bartender Josette, "like in Dark Shadows"
Dino's today has the "Last neighborhood bar in Las Vegas" painted across the side of the building, and in neon over the door, just to make sure you get the message. It gets a nice cross-section of patrons, several of whom compete for Dino's "Drunk of the Month" title (the winner gets their picture on the wall and use of a special parking space). If a patron impresses the management enough, they get an invitation to play in the weekly card game of 99, which has been going for 50 years by invitation only (now hosted by current owner Kristin).

One of the painted ceiling tiles at Dino's, Las Vegas
Dino's is a great, gritty alternative to the bars on the strip.





1516 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89104 - (702) 382-3894
Est. 1962
Previous bars in this location: Ringside Liquors
Web site: dinoslv.com (great old photos of Dino here) - facebook
Best articles: lasvegascitylife - lasvegasweekly - vegas.com - yelp

#1926 - Air Bar, Las Vegas - 10/10/2012



Stratosphere Las Vegas Hotel Casino, Level 108 2000 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104
Est. 2009 
Web site: stratospherehotel.com
Reviews: vegas.com - yelp

#1925 - Level 107 Lounge, Las Vegas - 10/10/2012



Stratosphere Hotel, 107th Floor, 2000 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104 - (702) 380-7777
Web site: topoftheworldlv.com - stratospherehotel.com
Reviews: vegas.com - yelp

#1924 - Skybox Sports Bar & Grill (Aria), Las Vegas - 10/9/2012

Update: Skybox Sports Bar closed Jan 2, 2012

3738 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109 - (877) 230-2742

Reviews: yelp

#1923 - Marquee Nightclub (Cosmopolitan), Las Vegas - 10/9/2012

Said to be the highest grossing nightclub in America.


3708 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89109 - (702) 333-9000
Web site: marqueelasvegas.com (warning: sound) - facebook
Reviews: vegas.com - yelp

#1922 - Javier's Authentic Foods De Mexico (Aria), Las Vegas - 10/9/2012



3730 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109 - (866) 590-3637
Est. Oct 3, 2012 
Web site: arialasvegas.com 
Reviews: lasvegasweekly - eater - eater - yelp