How 'Bout A Beer?

Well, it's been a few days since my long weekend (does six days classify as a "long weekend"?) trip to sweet home Chicago. Much fun was had: saw the Cubs beat the Pirates, Raged Against the Machine at Lolla, and spent some great times with friends and family.

Plus, its fair to say I had a drink or two. Maybe three.

Okay, so actually visited some local establishments: Hawkeye's, Joe's Be-Bop Cafe & Jazz Emporium, Butch McGuire's, Red Ivy, Easy Bar, Carol's Pub, The Dark Horse Tap and Grille, Central, the Old Town Ale House, Hawkeye's (again), and the Berghoff Cafe O'Hare Airport, to name a few.

Actually, that list comprises (to the best of my recollection) every location in Chicago I enjoyed a refreshing beverage of an alcoholic nature. While the list is not too impressive, I think my memory is. I'm sharing that list and posted some pics above because I wanted to say a few things about beers and bars.

One of the things about movin' out here that upset me - and continues to do so to this day, and probably will continue to in the future - is the bar scene in Los Angeles, or the lack there of. It's a fact that Chicago has more bars, and more bar-heavy neighborhoods than LA if you look at this chart from 2005, which Los Angeles is not even on. (Pretty embarrassing for a major city like LA, especially when Champaign, IL made the list).

Not to say that there's nowhere to have a good time or get a drink, but it's just not the same. The sprawling, car-driven nature of this city forces one to keep your alcohol intake to a minimum and makes the in-the-middle-of-the-street-hailing-a-cab-argument about what the next destination is a distant memory.

Plus, the typical laid-back Chicago bar where you've got beer on tap, sports on TV, and a guy in a t-shirt checkin' your ID is very hard to find in LA. Most places out here are clubs or bars that act like clubs, with large men in suits checkin' IDs and you can forget about getting an Old Style.

Another painful slap in the face when it comes to LA's ambivalence or outright belligerence of drinking culture is the 2 AM closing time. Citywide. Meaning, if you want a drink after 2 am in the city of LA you best go home, open your fridge and crack open a Pacifico.

The basic play-by-play of what happens at a typical bar in LA between 1am-2am is as follows:
1:15am - The bartender loudly calls "last call"
1:16am - You look at your watch in disbelief
1:22am - You finally get to the bar, get one last Miller Lite, and close the tab
1:30am - They turn on the lights
1:40am - A guy comes by and tells you its time to head for the door. You ignore him.
1:46am - A much larger guy comes and tells you to head to the door. You try to ignore him but then make up a BS story about waiting for a friend in the bathroom.
1:50am - The large man tells you again to leave. You plead with him to let you finish your beer.
1:52am- The beer is done, the bar is empty, and the large man is still near.
1:59am- The large man follows you and your friends to the door.
2:00am - As you spill onto the street the large man LOCKS the door behind you.

It's very frustrating at that point because you just stand around, all boozed up and no place to go. I don't know why the city is the way it is. The 2am call is probably to cut down on drunk driving, which I'm sure it does. The sprawl also makes it more of a chore to go bar-hopping. In Chicago one could expect to visit two to five bars in one night. In LA, its usually just one bar, maybe two; rarely three.

Now after reading all this I'm probably coming off as some red-nosed hiccuping souse who should really dry off. But as the pics above and my own experiences suggest, having a few (or more than a few) beers at a bar are a part of life. Going to a bar is such a fun, fantastic release filled with music, sports on TV, good friends, good drinks, and maybe a cute little something at that table who, it turns out, "has a boyfriend". Oh, really? Well where is he? He must not be a fun guy, leaving his girlfriend by herself on a Saturday night!

Sorry. Off-topic.

But I really do miss the bustling bars and taverns of the City of Big Shoulders. They are relaxed and fun and you never know who you might bump into. I will say I am very happy that a few of my good friends at USC share my love of the sauce and a good old fashioned beer and whiskey bar. The "Boozers" keep the Chicago drinkin' spirit alive out here on the west coast. And, like I said earlier, this place is not entirely devoid of bars and many a good time has been had and will be had in the establishments of the City of Angles. (I'm thinking I may blog a bit 'bout a few of my favorite bars in LA in the future).

In the meantime, enjoy all the taverns, pubs, ale houses, taps, bars, saloons and beer-halls that the Windy City has to offer (especially the late-night ones). I'll be joining y'all for a cold one soon enough, after the semester most likely. I'm going to get myself to be more focused and serious about what I;m doing here, and not allow myself to get distracted. But first...

how bout a beer?