Illuminati-R-Us

REgulars - the people who go to a certain restaurant or bar all the time. BAck in the 1960s, I was footloose and hung around a variety of places. Then I ran afoul of the law, and became a guest of the county for a time. After that, I drifted some. Basically lived on the street. I was a regular at a large dance bar called Grandmothers. Tuesdays was hot dog night - all you could eat hot dogs for 25 cents. I could "spare change" 25 cents somewhere and eat as many as I could cram down and consider it food for a couple days. Thursdays was 50 cents for all you can eat, but it was pizza. SAme deal - spare change 50 cents and eat for a couple days. Then all I needed was to find meals on the weekend.

I crashed in various friends homes, and found a girl friend, which got me off the street. Then I joined one of the rock bands I hung out with and lived in the band house. Toured with them a few years. At the end of that, I moved into a hippie commune, and eventually found a real job. Wait, the band WAS a real job, so I guess I found a REGULAR job. Now with income, I could afford to be a regular at the local tavern(s).

My main home was Paul Revere's Tavern. No darts, but as close to a pub as it gets over here. I'd go there after work, drink beer, shoot pool, and play pinball all evening. revere's was a blue collar sort of bar, but we did also have MSU execs and professors. We had a few gay regulars there, And I used to play pinball with a couple of them. We didn't care about it, but word was around town "Revere's is a GAY BAR". Frankly we did nothing to quell that rumor, since it kept the college students away. Few things are less interesting than drunk college students. Well maybe drunk high schoolers.

But I was also a regular at a local tiki bar, THE BOOM BOOM ROOM. All bamboo and kitsch. EIleen was the manager and bar maid, And I was OK with her. They served tropical drinks, and made MaiTai by the 5 gallon bucket. I recall one day her telling me, "Hey Enzo, come on over, we're making MaiTais, and we need to test them." 'Nuff said...

I have worn a full beard for the last 50 some years. Except 1980. That year I managed a concession in a large theme park in Virginia. No facial hair allowed. I understood, many park employees were 15 year old kids. If they allowed anyone to wear facial hair, they had to let them all. And when 15 year old try to grow beards... 'Nuff said... SO I shaved that summer. And mid summer, I flew back to Lansing for a golf tournament - in fact, the Paul Revere's Open. I suck at golf, but this was a party. (My best round ever was a 74, but then I had to play the back nine...) SO I walked into the Boom Boom Room while there. The entrance was all shrubbery and bamboo, no one has a good view, but as I walked in the door, I heard "ENZO!!!" I sat at the bar and asked how they knew it was me? I was shaven and no one knew I was coming, plus the entry foliage blocked the view of my face anyway. She said "Oh I'd know that walk anywhere." Oh?

The BBR has a long bar, which was actually a long island canoe. It had a glass top as the bar, and the canoe itself had a layer of sand in it, with dried starfish and shells and other nautical crap. The black ceiling had small holes with lights behind them, the "stars in the sky". They blinked. And the signature drink was the Orgy. It served six. It was a ceramic bowl with a volcano in the middle. They filed it with a tropical drink, some kind of pineapple juice with a headache in it. And the crater of the volcano was a shot of 151 rum lit afire. They supplied the table with two-foot long straws for everyone. Novices watched the volcano burn. The more experienced realized that was a perfectly good shot of 151, so they put it out and sucked it up.

When the bar finally closed down, they auctioned off the assets. The place was packed, a hundred people all wanting to bid on a orgy bowl. SOme fellow bought them all in a lot. Disappointed many folks.

I looked up the Boom Boom Room this evening, hoping to find a photo. OMG, they have a facebook page.

Cool. Like a Tiki bar

That looks like an excellent place.

I like the looks of that one. The bar & stools are critical, and a see-through bar like that with something in there would be pretty cool.
I was a regular at a bar in a bowling alley near my workplace. The others would like to say of me 'he's like our Norm, from Cheers' but I would always argue that I was more like Cliff.

I’ve never really lived anywhere close enough to a bar that put it within walking distance, and there’s no point in driving to a bar.....

But that place does indeed look cool.

'Admiral, there be whales here!'.