Hooverville – Seattle, Washington, USA

SODO presumably stands for SOuth of DOwntown, and is a Seattle neighbourhood located south of Qwest/Safeco fields, where 19th century brick gives way to early 20th-century warehouses, late 20th century railyards and heavy machinery, plus the occasional live-music venue and BBQ house. I tried out the one bar that was open in the afternoon. Hooverville has a great name and new-old décor (old but obviously transplanted banquettes and table lamps, new wood bar, floors and walls). Unfortunatey, they don’t do happy hour, as the slightly unfriendly bartender informed me. Might as well put on a Ted Lewis shantytown song and sing my troubles away.

Visited: June 14, 2011

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SODO? Really? This current trendy neighbourhood naming convention – obviously a team effort by the Chamber of Commerce and Real Estate Board – is deadly dull and completely inorganic. At least Hooverville is showing it’s historic understanding of it’s locale, naming the bar after the shantytown that used to stand in its place in the early ’30′s.

Six/Seven Lounge – Seattle, Washington, USA

As I walked down to pier 67 along Alaskan Way, I had to wonder what the management of the Edgewater Hotel thought of their most infamous guest-related incident and how much business they still got purely because it was the spot where (allegedly) Led Zepplin (and/or crew) helped a groupie get jiggy with a mudshark. Judging from the frat-boy bon(ham)homie I overheard from one of the balconies as I made my way down the long drive, the answer would seem to be “some”.

Setting aside puerile rockstar/roadie antics, I tried out the amusingly ‘classy’ Six/Seven lounge at the Edgewater for the first time during their late-afternoon happy hour (3-6pm). The décor is a pleasant 60’s chic meets industrial woodland, and the view is incomparable. The bar is perched over Puget sound, about 10 feet above the lapping tide during my visit, giving that sense of being at sea while actually sipping a cocktail on (somewhat firm, reclaimed) land.

While not the cheapest happy hour I’ve encountered by any means, it was decent for Seattle and a great deal for the food specials. A lovely malbec was $6 (reg $12) and a ½ lb of mussels in a cream, fennel and chorizo broth was only $5 (also reg $12). Anyone hoping to catch some celebrity high-jinx would have been disappointed, however – just the regular hotel-bar business talk. Time to listen to a story about a little street corner girl…

Visited: June 14, 2011

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Davey’s Uptown Rambler’s Club – Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Let’s start with the name – who DOESN’T want to have a drink at an Uptown Rambler’s Club? Everything else about this bar is right, too – booths and decor untouched by modern design sensibility, miles-long bartop, great live showroom with indie acts, friendly patrons, friendly staff, stiff drinks, low prices. Davey’s is what old-time drinking culture is all about. The Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, can serenade you all the way there with her superlative version of the classic tune about a classic town. (DYK – Wanda’s 100 greatest hits are available for $5.99 – that’s 6 cents a song! New album produced by Jack White is none too shabby, either.)

Visited: November 2010, January, March, April 2011

The Hi-B (Hibernian), Cork, Ireland

Hi-B Bar (Hibernian), Cork, Ireland

There’s a certain charm to bars on the second floor. They’re off the beaten track, thus more likely to be populated by locals. You have to make an effort to climb up that flight of stairs, so you know the patrons are a dedicated, thirsty crew. I’ve had very few bad second-floor bar experiences and many, many excellent ones.

The Hi-B (Hibernian) in Cork followed that rule to the letter. Unassuming-yet-simultaneously-garish entrance, unassuming-yet-historic decor, fantastic conversation. On our visit, an interjection to an ongoing chat about the Wars of the Roses got us into a conversation with a nutritional scientist who later eloborated at frightening (yet, charming) lengths about GMO‘s and the evil machinations of the food industry. In other words, the kind of casual discussion with a stranger you can only have at a real pub. Most frequently, at a slight elevation.

Visited: December 30, 2006

Main Event, Baker City, OR, USA

Main Event, Baker City, OR

Baker City is trying. They have a very nice heritage downtown and is somewhat of an oasis in the wasteland of Eastern Oregon. Too bad for Baker City that no one goes to Eastern Oregon, except a few truckers and the farmers/ranchers still working the dry, scrubby hills.

Nothing special decor-wise, the Main Event is set up in the classic diner/bar style – open kitchen and eating counter on one side, long bar on the other, pool and tables at the back. The drinks were stiff, the conversation lively, and the fish sandwich the BEST I’ve ever had. Soft roll, crispy battered fish, pickley tartar…plain old delicious.

Throw on some Red Sovine, order up some dinner, and join the chat while keeping an eye on the game – no better way to spend the evening.

Visited: May 21, 2010

Pippin’s Tavern, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Pippin’s is a fabulous example of a bar that doesn’t try too hard yet succeeds on all counts:

• great side-street location, not too hard to find but tucked away from the milling throngs? Check
• friendly but not overbearing staff that know when to chat and when to leave you along? Check
• juke box that plays your selections as soon as you choose them? Check [Urge Overkill seems an appropriate choice...]
• long bar worn by passed drinks and rubbed elbows? Check
• round of 2 highballs under $10? Check

The equation is pretty simple, it’s shocking more places can’t get it as right as Pippen’s. A great neighbourhood bar in the big and windy city.

Visited: March 16, 2010

PS Lounge, Denver, Colorado, USA

As mentioned in the bar resource Old School Denver, Colfax Ave – the old Highway 40 running east-west through Denver – still boasts a number of great old watering holes and bunk houses.

Not mentioned on that site is the PS Lounge, a time warp of black Naugahyde booths and excellently dark decor. On a snowy night during the Vancouver winter Olympics, we stumbled in because the steak house across the street was closed. Our order of two bourbon and diet cokes were delivered with two complimentary alabama slammers and a complimentary rose “for the lady” (me, I guess). The men’s figure skating free program was on the TV, and the half-dozen patrons/staff joined in critiquing the skaters. Really, a neighbourhood bar doesn’t get any better. Throw on a little Vic Damone and forget the world outside.

Visited: Feb 18, 2010

Lobby Bar, Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

The picture says it all. Yes, the drinks are $15+. Yes, it’s overrun with tourists. Yes, it has that weird expensive-hotel ambiance. But one look at that “only found in Lake Louise” turquoise lake and all is forgiven. Sit back, hum a little Canadian Railroad Trilogy, and enjoy.

Visited: March 2009

The Ship Inn, Polperro, Cornwall, England

Fabulous pub in a fabulous village. Authentic half-timber buildings perched on hillsides above a small cove, friendly bar staff and access to the coastal trail which circumnavigates Cornwall. We visited on a sunny warm December afternoon, but the size of the parking lot at the top of the town indicates heavy tourist trade in the summer.

The Ship was large and empty the day we were there, but the fire, the service and the brandy were warm. Our barmaid had a Canadian connection. She had worked outside Toronto one summer, so we consoled her as we quaffed. This is the PERFECT bar to listen to Mr. Scruff’s Shanty Town. “Thars a whale, thar’s a whale, thar’s a whalefish he cried…”

Visited: Dec 2008

Side Door Lounge, Bosman Motor Inn, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The days of the downtown motel in Vancouver are long gone, but the Bosman remained into recent memory as a last bastion of the quaint-yet-rough-and-tumble place Terminal City used to be. The Side Door Lounge was simply “The Bosman” t0 the many devotees who knew it as a secret haven of cheap drinks, unparalleled hospitality, and the occasional lock-in.

The Bosman was the official unofficial bar of the Vancouver Film Festival and a great place to watch hockey downtown without wading through a sea of yahoos and black-clad robo-babe waitresses. You also didn’t have to break the bank to spend an evening there – most pints and highballs were still less than $4 even when it (sigh) closed its doors a few years ago. Many thanks to Gino (and the rest of the staff) for 1. playing my mixed cassette for the full 90 min when I dropped in for my birthday in 1998 and 2.  their service to Vancouver drinking culture in general and my good time in particular. We loved and miss you.

Visited: 1993-2006 (? I’ve blocked the closing date out of my memory)