>I went to Brentwood Bowl last night and I noticed the bar, JB's, was hopping so I walked by and looked in the window and a bunch of 60 and 70 year olds were getting down with each other and drinking heavily. lol

 

I know the guys who own that place. To say that place is "all-ages" would be an understatement.

 

 

 

 

I've been to that bowling alley before (on a fieldtrip in middle school lol). What an absolute dead part of town!

 

I was at JB's again two Fridays ago.  It was completely dead, only about 10 people there.  They claim they lost their weekend bar business because of the smoking ban, but it's probably because the place is just plain ridiculous and the owner & the core crew aren't trying to drum up business.  Their Wedesday night is supposedly really big. 

 

In other local news, according to my source the cops have forced the Sub Galley to close at 10pm after someone was shanked about a month ago.  The same source says the Sub Galley crowd has moved to Daniel's Pub.  So in other words, avoid Daniel's Pub if you are uncomfortable hanging out around people smoking crack out in the open. 

The Pit Stop had been closed for about a year but I noticed it reopened a few months ago.  I still haven't been there.

 

 

Man Shot to Death in Clifton

 

It happened at a hotel lounge on Central Parkway.

By 700WLW News

Thursday, December 23, 2010

(Clifton) Cincinnati police continue to investigate a fatal shooting. It happened overnight in Clifton at the Pit Stop Lounge inside the Budget Host Inn on Central Parkway.

28-year-old Rickey Lummus was pronounced dead on the scene.  Another victim showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital.

So far, police have not released any information on a possible suspect.

What's stopping you? That's funny, we have one too. I wonder why there are no reviews.

It looks like they attract a similar clientele. 

Hey, if there's no chance of bullets flying by last call, what's the point?

Question ya'll....what bars should I hit up in Lakewood.  Obviously, there are a TON of them, but I don't want anything uber trendy or "hipster".  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I heard that IHOP on Detroit is THE SPOT!

The Pit Stop had been closed for about a year but I noticed it reopened a few months ago. I still haven't been there.

 

 

Man Shot to Death in Clifton

 

It happened at a hotel lounge on Central Parkway.

By 700WLW News

Thursday, December 23, 2010

(Clifton) Cincinnati police continue to investigate a fatal shooting. It happened overnight in Clifton at the Pit Stop Lounge inside the Budget Host Inn on Central Parkway.

28-year-old Rickey Lummus was pronounced dead on the scene. Another victim showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital.

So far, police have not released any information on a possible suspect.

Been there. Did a bar hop from Central Parkway & Findlay to north Northside after work one night.

Amazingly, the place was hoppin'. Waitress was kind of hot in a weird middle aged 16 tons o make up & support everything kind of way. Crowd wasn't entirely gross.

Hotel mgmt used to seek out young ladies to hang out by the hotel pool in the summer. Friend of mine tried it a couple times - got creeped out.

You're not missing anything.

Question ya'll....what bars should I hit up in Lakewood. Obviously, there are a TON of them, but I don't want anything uber trendy or "hipster". Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

my faves include: Sullivans, mars bar and deagans....but it really depends on what u r looking for

>Did a bar hop from Central Parkway & Findlay to north Northside after work one night.

 

Were there once any other bars along that stretch?  I believe the Pit Stop is the only bar on all of Central Parkway. 

I heard that IHOP on Detroit is THE SPOT!

pretty sure it closed and became a mexican restaurant :)

 

Besides that IHOP closed at 10 pm, which makes absolutely no sense in bartopia.

I ended up in the CLASSIEST joint in Lakewood: Madison's. :lol:  Which I must say, boosted my self-esteem because I was by far the best looking woman in the joint.  Then again, I do have all my teeth!  :-D

Ah, part of the "32 Club".

Ah, part of the "32 Club".

 

what does that mean?  just curious!

There are about 8,000,000,000 bars in Lakewood so it's hard to say what to recommend. What type of place are you looking for?

Well, I don't like "trendy" kind of places.  I'm more of a dive kinda girl....and there seems to be PLENTY in my neighborhood!

I've been to an awful lot of bars, but I don't think I could remember the names or exact location of a quarter of them- almost none of the bars I hit while traveling.  Do you write these things down? 

 

What's the rattiest dive bar anyone's ever been in?

 

That would have to be Lisska Bar in East Columbus (in the hood): pea green walls, cheap beers, no drafts, over the counter pills, broken pool tables, no matching stools, $2 meatloaf, a pristine griddle that looked as though it was never used, an old timer regular chatting with the bartender about when he first went there decades ago after he got his ID, and an awesome huge old picture of a turn of the century East Columbus football team. The only reason I went in was because of the landmark sign out front, but the historic picture inside alone is worth the price of admission. I'm guessing few, if any on UO, have ever set foot inside of a bar located in a blighted, out-of-the-way industrial-residential neighborhood like this.

 

 

Aside from that I've passed by several divey-ass bars on Sullivant and Parsons which have the next largest concentration of bars in the inner city aside from High, but aside from a select few on Parsons I'm all but certain I'd bear witness to a fight or some other uncomfortable experience, especially since it would be immediately obvious that I'm out of my element. Doesn't help that there's no word on any of these places on the internet to give you an idea of whether you'd want to consider stepping inside just out of curiosity. Actually, I don't know how I forgot about Bow Wow in Merion Village.

 

 

Yes, I went there. I'm sure I win the rattiest dive bar challenge with that alone.

 

If anyone ever wanted to checkout a couple of these places I'd be down, but I'd also be ready to bolt in case it seems like trouble's  abrewin'.

Ah, part of the "32 Club".

 

what does that mean? just curious!

 

32 teeth in a healthy, normal adult mouth.

Rattiest dive bar?  Pick any of the bars along East 28th Street in Lorain across from the steel mill - some of them are out of business now or demolished, but I've been in some sh!tholes there: Czech Grill, Mary's, Pappy's, Andy's Brew and Cue, and the Crystal Rock to name a few.

 

Czech Grill comes with the added ambience of DJ Joey across the street, dancing and jammin to his boombox while holding a sign that says "Eminem is my Daddy"

 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72736318168

 

He's even on the Google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=east+28th+street+and+elyria+avenue&layer=c&sll=41.445092,-82.161836&cbp=13,237.81,,0,5.05&cbll=41.445094,-82.161704&hl=en&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=E+28th+St+%26+Elyria+Ave,+Lorain,+Ohio+44055&ll=41.445091,-82.161813&spn=0.005517,0.013078&t=h&z=17&panoid=bk2GVj5FIG8gwVXkMr2aYQ

Those cameras are the only indication that that Bow Wow picture was taken in the second half of the 20th century.

 

I think this place in Cincinnati actually tops that:

 

This place, first of all, doesn't even have a name. Second, I'm probably one of five white people who have been in this place in the last 10 years. The layout inside has no pillars and is oriented around an old pool table.  They have 1950's-era paintings on the wall of black entertainers with conks. It's actually really friendly. 

 

Then there's this private club, a black Shriner's hall:

 

I would have never known this place existed if not for having delivered a pizza to the basement club and I didn't know previously that there were such things as black Shriners.  Honestly, if Quentin Tarrentino or any of these indie movie hipsters ever saw the decor, they would buy the place and reassemble it in a sound stage.  It's all wood panel with dozens of portraits of decades of Grand Master Shriners or whatever the technical name is.  The bar room is Shriner maroon with maroon lighting. 

 

 

Rattiest dive bar? Pick any of the bars along East 28th Street in Lorain across from the steel mill - some of them are out of business now or demolished, but I've been in some sh!tholes there: Czech Grill, Mary's, Pappy's, Andy's Brew and Cue, and the Crystal Rock to name a few.

 

Czech Grill comes with the added ambience of DJ Joey across the street, dancing and jammin to his boombox while holding a sign that says "Eminem is my Daddy"

 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72736318168

 

He's even on the Google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=east+28th+street+and+elyria+avenue&layer=c&sll=41.445092,-82.161836&cbp=13,237.81,,0,5.05&cbll=41.445094,-82.161704&hl=en&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=E+28th+St+%26+Elyria+Ave,+Lorain,+Ohio+44055&ll=41.445091,-82.161813&spn=0.005517,0.013078&t=h&z=17&panoid=bk2GVj5FIG8gwVXkMr2aYQ

 

There were times when I had to deliver pizzas to those bars after midnight.  Not fun hanging around that area with a big glowing sign on your roof announcing to everyone that you have money and pizza on you.

Rattiest dive bar? Pick any of the bars along East 28th Street in Lorain across from the steel mill - some of them are out of business now or demolished, but I've been in some sh!tholes there: Czech Grill, Mary's, Pappy's, Andy's Brew and Cue, and the Crystal Rock to name a few.

 

Czech Grill comes with the added ambience of DJ Joey across the street, dancing and jammin to his boombox while holding a sign that says "Eminem is my Daddy"

 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72736318168

 

He's even on the Google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=east+28th+street+and+elyria+avenue&layer=c&sll=41.445092,-82.161836&cbp=13,237.81,,0,5.05&cbll=41.445094,-82.161704&hl=en&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=E+28th+St+%26+Elyria+Ave,+Lorain,+Ohio+44055&ll=41.445091,-82.161813&spn=0.005517,0.013078&t=h&z=17&panoid=bk2GVj5FIG8gwVXkMr2aYQ

 

There were times when I had to deliver pizzas to those bars after midnight. Not fun hanging around that area with a big glowing sign on your roof announcing to everyone that you have money and pizza on you.

 

those bars are scuzzy, but actually they were pretty crowded and hopping around shift changes and were generally alright. there were others too, but are torn down for empty lots now. no doubt whats left have definately gone much further downhill as employment at the steel plant fell off. heres another one, the brickhouse:

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/10/10/gun-goes-off-during-tussle-in-lorain-bar/

 

actually the worst bars i have ever been to in lorain were some dirt-n-grime biker club dive bar around downtown and also mangines by the old shipyard now spitzer marina. not sure but i think both are still there -- you are definately going to find trouble in places like that!

 

^ I've been to Mangine's too, with a cousin that lives in HarborWalk who claims it as his neighborhood hangout.  What's with dive bars having Facebook pages, though?  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mangines-Cafe/121851201179276?v=info

 

My Avon dive bar has a facebook, too.  ZZ's Big Top has the best wings in town, but I don't want to be the one who inspects their kitchen.  Nothing has changed in this place in at least 20 years - still got a Stroh's sign and a Blatz sign somewhere on the walls.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122363105314

 

The dart board is on the inside of the front door, which is why you'll want to remember to use the side entrance:

Here's a quick "Divey but good" listing:

 

Madison Ave I recommend Trio's, Iggy's (air hockey!), Winchester, Flying Rib (ping pong!) Mahalls Bowling and bela dubby (coffee AND beer).

 

Detroit Ave try 5-O'clock Lounge (great atmosphere) and Merry Arts (sporty vibe, lots of atheletic types). 

 

Good luck!

 

p.s. the bars IN bird town where I live, well, I've never set foot inside there....they look absolutely terrible!

 

 

Question ya'll....what bars should I hit up in Lakewood.  Obviously, there are a TON of them, but I don't want anything uber trendy or "hipster".  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

^ I've been to Mangine's too, with a cousin that lives in HarborWalk who claims it as his neighborhood hangout.  What's with dive bars having Facebook pages, though?  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mangines-Cafe/121851201179276?v=info

 

 

ha mangines is hipsterizing?! well i meant mangines back in the working shipyard days -- although i do get the feeling that overall lorain bars are even rougher today than they were back when everyone was working and half the houses weren't boarded up. not to mention there is less alternative since the ethnic clubs are steadily closing (ie., i heard russo-slav?).  :|

Russo-Slav, Polish American Citizens (PACC), and United Polish Club (UPC) all closed recently.  I have a few PACC wooden nickels that I guess I'll never get to redeem.  :(  My greataunt bartended there into her 80's, and grandma worked the kitchen on fish fry nights.  Now I mostly hang out at St. Lad's Club for Buckeye's games, and occasionally hit the Elks downtown or Knights on Oberlin Ave.

Ohio's loudest bar, The Union, burnt down this morning.  I spent at least 300 nights of my life in this bar so I'm pretty upset!

 

 

A real cool group of people were regulars here and in fact their social lives revolved around it.  Live rock & roll 300+ nights a year, tons of famous bands came through there before they were famous. 

 

The Union was the home bar of now world-famous thrash metal band Skeletonwitch...I'm in this video from 2004 about a year before they started getting famous:

I haven't yet seen this fascinating web site mentioned. It's by a guy who blogs about the bars of SE Pennsylvania, around Lancaster and Berks county. I lived there for a year. His site and the photos have the local vibe there nailed.

 

http://americantom.com/

This is a collage of real photos (before Facebook!) of people who hung out at The Union when I did in the early 2000s...it's really really sad to have a place that's so central to so many people's lives gone in an instant.

I saw this thread resurrect, and thought it would be about the Papa Don's shooting Saturday night in Akron. 

 

I wish it surprised me more  that someone would get kicked out and come back in with a gun, firing away.  Hope he gets the needle.  He killed a police officer, so he probably will.  APD is calling it law enforcement duties, even though he wasn't on duty.

Such a shame...look at the energy in all of these posters.  The Union was a truly fantastic place and it's really hard to believe that it's gone.  I went to about half of these events pictured and I'm almost in this picture:

 

The Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments were a great punk/hardcore band from Columbus:

 

 

 

Of course Dayton's Kelly Deal:

 

 

 

The Makebelives were awesome...of course Mike Watt has been playing with Iggy Pop since the early 2000s:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Birds of Avalon were "Hipster Primative"

 

 

This event was outrageous...

 

I temped with a girl in this band, but I thought the band sucked:

 

 

 

Yes, PRIMUS as an opening act back around 1989!

 

 

I was kicked out of this show!

 

These guys were fantastic!

 

 

I was at this...saw The Black Keys the first year they existed with an audience of about 20:

 

This was either Halloween '04 or '05...This Moment in Black History was so good that night.

 

 

Afghan Whigs in the early 90s:

 

 

What a great poster!

 

 

 

That was worth reading for the band names alone. 

is rough when a piece of your youth bites the dust.

i think i found a shot of the fire from the dispatch:

 

That was worth reading for the band names alone. 

 

Well this definitely isn't pretty, here's what was left of the roof and the second floor:

The Boston Globe bemoans the disappearance of the city's dive bars.  Again, the term "dive bar" simply means a bar to anyone who grew up in a real neighborhood where the dads went to these places and sometimes brought you along.  We had our end-of-year parties for our little league teams in bars that would now be called "dive bars". 

 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2016/02/17/what-killing-boston-dive-bars/ooEgqyF3LqnPQpCIadnKRL/story.html?s_campaign=email_BG_TodaysHeadline&s_campaign=

 

Meanwhile in Ohio, we're keeping it real.  Cincinnati is lucky to still have some real bars in the downtown and Clifton areas. 

 

Opposed to all those "fake" bars where they serve "fake" drinks and only "fake" people go.

 

This is such a pretentious post which is quite ironic given the topic. It's like those teenage girls who call other girls "fake" as if that actually means something.

It's basically the gentrification of bars. A neighborhood joint is turned into a gastropub (god, I hate that term) with expensive foodie food, and the longtime regulars are no longer welcome.

Opposed to all those "fake" bars where they serve "fake" drinks and only "fake" people go.

 

This is such a pretentious post which is quite ironic given the topic. It's like those teenage girls who call other girls "fake" as if that actually means something.

 

You are taking it too personally. If you prefer a freshened-up bar with a large craft selection to one where Budweiser sells the best and a six-foot banner of a NASCAR car is on the wall it doesn't mean you suck.

Not taking it personally since I like pretty much all kinds of bars, whether trendy new bars or local bars where I'm taken by a regular. It's honestly just more of who the comment was coming from. It's pretty exhausting when posts about how terrible and "fake" and spoiled young urban minded people are come from Jake's profile on the daily but I'll leave it at that since I'm not trying to start anything.

since gentrification is virtually unheard of in Painesville there's no danger of a dive bar becoming gentrified. However one old dive bar from the 40's--Nemeth's Lounge-- has become sort of the closest thing they have to a hipster bar. A good bar for live music...er, if you like what they have to offer. Although I think I would avoid the "Sushi Nights" :-P

 

 

My qualification for a "real" neighborhood bar is one where every third beer is on the house. I don't know if any place in Cincinnati still has this practice for their regulars. The last time I had this arrangement was when I lived in Woodside Queens. I don’t think that area is anywhere close to being on the gentrification radar so the bar probably still do this.

My qualification for a "real" neighborhood bar is one where every third beer is on the house. I don't know if any place in Cincinnati still has this practice for their regulars. The last time I had this arrangement was when I lived in Woodside Queens. I don’t think that area is anywhere close to being on the gentrification radar so the bar probably still do this.

 

Never heard of that one, at least not officially.  It's probably illegal in this day and age.

 

My definition would be if you have always lived more than five miles away and aren't going to see someone specific, there's no real reason to go there.

This practice is called a "buyback".  It was very common in New York City back when I spent lots of time in bars there.  Happily, I got my share of buybacks.  Typically, a regular customer get 1 free drink after purchasing two.  I have never seen this practice anywhere else, although I am not a bar regular anywhere but in Boston now, and Boston is the kid of place where this practice would be forbidden.  :-(

This practice is called a "buyback".  It was very common in New York City back when I spent lots of time in bars there.  Happily, I got my share of buybacks.  Typically, a regular customer get 1 free drink after purchasing two.  I have never seen this practice anywhere else, although I am not a bar regular anywhere but in Boston now, and Boston is the kid of place where this practice would be forbidden.  :-(

 

Isn't happy hour illegal in Boston?

 

And there is no official or semi-official policy of giving regulars free drinks, but there are a couple of bars I would consider myself a regular at and I frequently don't get charged for all of my drinks.

This practice is called a "buyback".  It was very common in New York City back when I spent lots of time in bars there.  Happily, I got my share of buybacks.  Typically, a regular customer get 1 free drink after purchasing two.  I have never seen this practice anywhere else, although I am not a bar regular anywhere but in Boston now, and Boston is the kid of place where this practice would be forbidden.  :-(

 

That's happened to me in NYC on several occasions as well. The bartender says "this one's on me" and you still tip them for it.

This practice is called a "buyback".  It was very common in New York City back when I spent lots of time in bars there.  Happily, I got my share of buybacks.  Typically, a regular customer get 1 free drink after purchasing two.  I have never seen this practice anywhere else, although I am not a bar regular anywhere but in Boston now, and Boston is the kid of place where this practice would be forbidden.  :-(

 

That's happened to me in NYC on several occasions as well. The bartender says "this one's on me" and you still tip them for it.

 

This is probably more common practice in the neighborhood bars in the outer boroughs.  I've probably been to close to 50 bars in New York City since I was first able to order a beer there back when Clinton was still in office, and I've never seen this. 

Jon Taffer would have a heart attack if that happened. :)

Anyone else hear that Japps is closing the annex space in a few weeks? I heard they are renovating the upstairs to offices and the only way to do it is by utilizing that room.

 

Don't know if it's true or not.

^ I hadn't heard that but it seems likely. When I toured the upper floors of that building in 2011, there was no physical way to get into the upper floors internally, so we had to put up a ladder against the fire escape and climb up. I'm not sure if the interior staircase was illegally removed or something like that.