Second At Last

Finally, I made it all the way to 2nd Avenue and actually hit three bars in a single block.

398) Telephone Bar and Grill

Just look for the three, red London style telephone booths at 149 2nd Avenue and you have found the Telephone Bar and Grill. There are green marble-topped tables and chairs outside as well. Enter the doors and walk down six brick steps and you are in the bar itself. The bar is a bit of a strange concoction. It looks one end of a wooden bar had been cut off and then white marble bar with a black marble top inserted as an extender. The walls are brick, the floor is wood and the ceiling is tin. There are mirrors behind the bar and a pretty standard set-up of tiered shelves holding bottles. Coolers with sliding glass doors under the shelves hold the beer and wine. There are two nice purple and what looks like lucite lights mounted behind the bar at each end.

Behind the barstools are two tall, narrow wooden tables with white marble tops. Bar stools are parked under the tables. A plush, wine-colored settee lines two walls. Tables sit in front of it and chairs sit on the other side of the tables. There is a row of tables down the middle of the room seperated by mauve colored pillers that support a beam that looks like it has been covered in tin. A lot of white Christmas lights decorate the place. There is one large, art-deco style light hanging from the ceiling. There is a fairly large back room.

I had a draft Young's Special London Ale.

399) Ryan's Irish Pub

Just next door is this very dark Irish bar. It is dark despite having fairly large windows in front on a sunny day. The bar is black with a brass foot rail, the bar-chairs are black with black cushions, all of the stools and tables in the place are black, the bricks on the wall are painted black, and the ceiling is black. What isn't black is dark wood or a deep-rose paint. Over the bar are interesting metal and glass lamps hanging from chains that give off a dim light. A long sword, an elaborately decorated leather bellows, and a brass bed-warmer decorate the wall above the mirror behind the bar. What, exactly, the connection is between these items is a bit beyond me. Other memorabilia sits on narrow shelves high on the walls. There is a mirror on the black brick wall flanked by two brass lamps mounted on the wall.

I had a Dewar's and Soda

400) Ame Russe

And, just two doors down is this interesting place. A marble topped bar that somehow looks like it would be more at home in an ice-cream parlor. A large metal affair supporting three glass cone-like beakers that hold yellow, green, and red fluids make you start thinking more along the lines of a high-school chemistry laboratory. Glass shelves in front of a mirror with a lovely wooden frame hold glass bottles, beakers, and jugs of various sizes, colors, and shapes that contain who knows what in differently colored liquids makes you think more along the lines of a mad-scientist's laboratory. All of this is either infused or infusing vodka.

There is a brick wall behind the bar but a white-tile wall behind the bar-stools adds to the ice-cream parlor (or mad scientist's lab) look. A shelf above the front windows hold a collection of old seltzer bottles. Menus and drink specials are written in colored markers on the mirrors on the tiled wall. Plush tan-backed benches line one with with tables and chairs in front of them. A couple of interesting statues are mounted on the wall behind the bar. Nice ceramic looking molding around the top of the walls and a tan-tiled floor. The beer taps are mounted in a different looking silver affair mounted on the bar.

I had a draft Spatan Optimator and then, because it was two for one, a Spatan Premium Lager.

401) Corner Billiards and Bar

On the corner of 4th and 11th street is this cavernous place just down a few steps from street level. There is a large zinc bar with wooden bar-stools. Nice hanging lights above the bar. Standard set-up of glass shelves in front of mirrors behind the bar. One large-screened television in the bar area showing a Lakers/Sacramento game. There is also a little area with tables under rose-colored lights hanging from the ceiling. The rest of the place is pure pool hall. Think "The Hustler." Mostly college kids now and a large Asian following.

I had a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale.

Passed the 400 mark and am well positioned to hit my 500th on schedule. Dont forget to let me know your thoughts on wear that will be. The Gate is still the favorite and it looks like it will be at about 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, May 14th.