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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,752 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:


Bars where Pete has had a drink

Saturday, March 07, 2015

#2353 - Grand Union Hotel, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

At the moment I am writing this I have listed 2,713 different bars where I have had a drink, and I don't believe I've ever seen a more classic, more pure dive bar than this one. You walk through the sketchy neighborhood and past a couple people out front with their belongings in shopping carts, and enter a medium-sized space that is utterly uncompromised by hipsters or college students, craft beers or matching furniture. Of course it has the staples of a classic dive -- cheap, strong drinks, elderly, low-income patrons, and decades of repairs done on the cheap or not at all. Eventually we noticed, almost stunned, that with more than 40 people in the joint in the middle of the day, we could not find a single hint of a mobile phone. So you'll have to excuse the lack of interior photos, as pulling out a camera or iPhone just seemed entirely inappropriate.

The bar appears to have been established sometime in the 20s (prohibition stood in British Columbia from 1917 to 1921), and we were told it has had the current owners since 1960. While there is, unsurprisingly, little about the bar online, apparently as evening sets in some people under 70 will wander in, and here are a few selected comments from yelp contributors and bloggers to help give you a bit more of the flavor:

'The cop’s reply: “If I were you, I’d get the fuck out of here right now. With every passing second, the likelihood of you getting stabbed with a needle or a knife grows larger,”' (viren.ca)

"I asked a couple of girls to meet me there, however, and they both felt really uncomfortable and asked that we leave."

"Where the bar band goes up on a tiny stage and plays spirit of the sky with a midi-synth drummer on a cheap panasonic keyboard? Where youre GUARANTEED to get a shoulder massage by someone much older and drunker than you are, to be sold a pair of bowling shoes ..."

"The place may be filled with older native people who may or may not have teeth, but these are the friendliest people you're going to meet on a drunk adventure in Gastown."

"When you walk through the doors, you know that life is, or has been, a warzone for almost everyone inside."

"If you value ur health and safety, do not go in!"

"Check your teeth at the door, as you'll be one of the few who still has them all. Prepare to be asked for a cigarette 90 times by the same person in a 5 minute span, told you're beautiful (at least I think that's what the word was), and called by any name the regulars can remember (one guy was named Boy George all night)."

"We went in, sat down and within five minutes a woman wearing a bright pink turban staggered over, mumbling incomprehensibly as she gestured at her cell phone. I assumed she was trashed and couldn't turn it on, but we eventually figured out that she was trying to sell it to us. When that didn't work, she sat on my friend's lap and tried to steal my cider."

"6 Asians walk into a bar and what do you get?  Stares and incoherent hellos in every Asian language possible.  Apparently Asians rarely go to the Grand Union Hotel."

"Also sitting down a tranny sold me friend shoes. We danced and crowd surfed on the dance floor. Then left to watch chicks brawl outside. It was amazing."


74 Hastings St W, Vancouver, BC V6B 1G6 - (604) 681-6611
Est. 1920?
Web site: Um, no.
Reviews:yelp - viren - sleazybars

#2352 - The Lamplighter, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

Gastown's Lamplighter is said to be Vancouver's oldest bar, established in 1925 on the ground floor of the 1902 Dominion Hotel:
"In 1925, the Lamplighter, which received Vancouver’s first pub license, took over the ground floor. The pub is called the Lamplighter after John Clough, who was Vancouver’s one and only lamplighter. In 1887 John used to light the coal oil street lamps of Gastown until the same year the city introduced electric lights and John’s nightly patrols became part of history. The Lamplighter was the first establishment to serve ladies with ‘intoxicating refreshment’- although they were supposed to be escorted by men!" (gastown.org
Today the Lamplighter is a fairly typical north American Irish bar, with exposed brick, dark wood, televisions for watching sports, a broad selection of beers, and average modern pub food. Naturally, like every 100-year-old building investigated by ghost hunters as long as ghost hunting has existed, it has been found to be haunted. In terms of the more palpable form of spirits, I quite liked the "Sip of Cigar" cocktail (Winer's spiced whiskey, Glenlivet 12 year single malt, sweet vermouth, Angostura orange bitters, orange zest).

92 Water Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2K8 - (604) 687-4424
Est. 1925 - Building constructed: 1900 - 1901
Web site: donnellygroup.ca/the-lamplighter - facebook
Reviews: vancitybuzz - gastown.org - urbanspoon - yelp

#2351 - The Bottleneck, Vancouver, BC - 11/28/2013

A swanky little lounge, serving fancy small plates and cocktails, recently carved out of a space for storing furniture in the venerable Commodore Ballroom, which itself has been around since 1929 and hosted acts from Duke Ellington to Nirvana (insidevancouver).

870 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2C9 - (604) 739-4540
Est. May 2012
Web site: thebottleneck.ca - facebook
Reviews: vancouversun - insidevancouver - vancouverisawesome - yelp - urbanspoon

#2350 - The Morrissey, Vancouver, BC - 11/28/2013


An odd but pleasant combination of old hotel bar, alt music venue, shabby chic hipster hangout, and craft cocktail bar. I had a nice "Betty Monster" (Makers, Ramazzoti Amaro, Bittered Sling Moondog Bitters, Ardbeg Mist, Griottine cherry) and we enjoyed chatting with server Sashina.

1227 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1M5 - (604) 682-0909
Building constructed: 1906
Web site: themorrisseypub.com - facebook
Reviews: miss604 - yelp - tripadvisor - urbanspoon

#2349 - Two Parrots Perch & Grill, Vancouver, BC - 11/28/2013

A college bar sort of atmosphere, where the cocktails are mostly of the cloyingly sweet sorority party, but the staff is friendly and the crowd is fun, and if you are so inclined you can take the 2-pound burger challenge.


1202 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1M4 - (604) 685-9657
Web site: twoparrotsvancouver.com - facebook
Reviews: followmefoodie - yelp - dinehere

#2348 - Baselines Pub, Langley, BC - 11/28/2013

An oddly shaped but fairly typical sports bar, where multiple friendly people told us how much they love the Seahawks. Unfortunately we were not there for the monthly "lingerie lunch."

20340 Fraser Hwy, Langley, BC V3A 4E6 - (604) 534-2102
Est. Dec 2005
Web site: baselinespub.com

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

#2347 - Sazon, Bellevue, WA - 11/26/2013

The people at Sazon Mexican Kitchen seem nice, but it just seems like a slightly improved version of the utterly predictable, Azteca-style American Mexican restaurants and bars.

437 108th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004 - (425) 462-2530
Est. 2013 - Building constructed: 1943
Previous bars in this location: Las Margaritas
Web site: sazonmexicankitchen.com - facebook
Reviews: yelpurbanspoon - downtownbellevue