best bars in america

I went to a bar in Chicago once where you actually had to announce your arrival through a slit in the door, like a speakeasy. I believe it was called the Gaslight Club or something.

 

In the best name category, I nominate The Village Idiot in Athens, Ga.

 

I almost wrote up something for Esquire's query for public input for their favorite bars. Woulda gone something like this ... [wavinghandsgoing"doodleydoodley"alaGarthandWayne]

Legend had it that Timothy O'Sullivan's -- called TO's by everything but the sign out front -- had been a bunkhouse on Keesler Air Force Base during World War II, something that might have been seen in Biloxi Blues. That might have been the last time the bar had actually been cleaned, too. There were dust bunnies who'd fucked like the real thing, creating webs of smoke, grime and God-knows-what in every corner and hanging from the ceiling (at least in places bras or panties hadn't been randomly stapled).

TO's had a different crowd almost every night, young hipsters, fishing rodeo-ers, high school reunion crowds from the 1960s on, oldtimers, fake IDers, casino and service industry types, Wednesday night with Eddie Miller playing and the leftovers from Hump Day secretary gatherings while a former Miss Mississippi takes a whirl barefoot on the dance floor. Beer was cheap, mixed drinks usually overpoured, hot dogs were hot on NFL or NASCAR Sundays and Waffle House was right next door. Buses were chartered to go to chicken drops, a bar's family visiting another bar to visit, drink and wager on where a bird took a crap. On St. Paddy's Day, TO's parking lot looked like a fleet of beer trucks had exploded.

It looked like an explosion of another kind of Aug. 29. After Katrina left Gulfport envying the beauty of Skid Row, there were the shattered bits of four-foot cinder block pilings the old bunkhouse sat on strewn across the lot -- and not much else. Somebody eventually found a barstool and plopped it back down where Norman, who'd show up hammered from his law offices after work and growl at men but talk Faulkner with pretty women (or write them dirty notes), woulda staggered onto.

Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, but I hope nobody tries it with TO's. It can't be intentionally recreated, and for that reason, it'll always be my favorite bar.

 

I've always wanted to go to Billy Bob's in Fort Worth. Is it all hype or what?

And what about St. Elmo's Bar near Georgetown University? Anyone been there? ;D

 

Cricket's in Waco, Texas
Bull McCabe's on St. Mark's in Manhattan

 

The Dixie Chicken in College Station, Texas -- my mom's fav bar from college

 

So that's where you were conceived, huh? ;D

Sorry, you left the door wide open on that one.

 

Cricket's could be in any town in America.

George's is the bar in Waco.

 

Your mother's an Aggie?

 

Yep, as is my biological father, all of my aunts and uncles and one of my sisters. It was a family tradition until I refused to go.

 

I can vouch for the quality of this joint. It's the kind of neighbourhood bar that is all but extinct in Toronto. Great beer prices (again, all but extinct here) and sports everywhere. Wish there was a place like this in my neck of the woods.

The Brunswick House and Wheat Sheaf were pretty good Toronto joints too but it's been ages since I was in either one.

 

If I had been conceived while my parents were in college . . . :