Having visited many bars across the country from College Towns to big city bars to hotel bars to beach bars where you can sink your toes in the sand. I have always tried to quantify what it is that makes the perfect bar! I guess sometimes it can depend on your mood or if you're on business or vacation or just hanging out with friends. Maybe if it's football season or that dive bar near the stadium is it just where the bar is? I have never been one to chase drink specials (except in college drinkin' PBR) but is it really about the drinks (you gotta have but . . )?
What I do know is that when you see it you know that it's the perfect bar (atleast for that moment in time).
So as I have started to compile just the gimmee's in this quest, I have stumbled (figuratively) upon a few:
Those glowing neon lights are a beacon for the weary looking for a place to port
NOISE - could be laughing or music (live music is another topic)
People (good looking fun loving PEOPLE) seal the deal right - the coolest bar EMPTY ain't very much fun afterall
Then I thought about the show Cheers - you remember "where everybody knows your name"
No lights, Norm is always drinking a draft beer, no music but definitely the same crowd and friends so I decided that I would have to add FRIENDS to the list
Friends can simply be the bartender just remembers your name or drink and I can somehow transport in my mind that they actually like and and are my friends - whatever works right?
As this is my initial installment into "blogdom" I am hoping to gather research from lots of people everywhere on what really makes the perfect bar. If you have a favorite, then you should share.
So you may be asking, what is my favorite bar? Having visited so many it's tough to choose (plus remember), but I have 3 that come to mind:
1. Captain Tony's - Key West Florida (touted as the original Sloppy Joes). One of the coolest parts about this place is the tree that grows through the middle of the bar with a gravestone next to it. Legend has it that the owner of the bar killed his wife and buried her there so he could keep an eye on her after she'd been cheating around the island
2. The Elbo Room - Ft Lauderdale Beach (the last of the great Spring Break bars from the 80's)
Back from the days when Elbo Room was competing with the likes of Penrods, the Candy Store, the Button, The Elbo Room was always just the perfect bar to hang out, watch people cruise the strip and just get wasted
3. Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop - French Quarter New Orleans (considered to be the oldest structure used as a bar in the country (circa 1722)
What makes Lafitte's the perfect bar is that it is only lit by candle light - many tourists in the French Quarter have visited this bar on a Vampire Walking Tour. The guides explain that if Vampire do truly exist, they would only come to a bar without modern lighting - (also try some of their cool bar concoctions)
I am hoping to meet others on my journey to discover the perfect bar and I hope you'll join me and share your stories - for now out, it's 5 O'Clock somewhere
