A devotion to R blues and Motown

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Canada Goose sale The dive bar’s obituary canada goose outlet uk sale has been written a thousand times, and yet: The ratio of dive bar listicles canada goose uk site to dive bar obits must be about 10 to 1. Either the dive bar’s demise has been greatly exaggerated or the definition of such watering holes has become so unmanageable that it encompasses just about any place that doesn’t serve a $20 Manhattan. Canada Goose sale

canada goose black friday sale So how can canada goose outlet store uk we characterize the American dive bar so that everyone agrees? In short, we can’t. But we needed some guidelines as we searched for the country’s most authentic dives over the past months. True dives possess a handful of basic attributes: They must have history; they must have canada goose outlet vip regulars; they cannot be expensive; they cannot have craft cocktails. canada goose black friday sale

canada goose store Beer and ticket in hand, the faithful gathered around the chicken coop at Little Longhorn Saloon to cheer on the contestants, a pair of colorfully plumed hens by the names of Loretta Lynn and Little Ginny. canada goose outlet phone number The birds were pecking away at the seeds scattered inside their pen, oblivious to the exhortations of the patrons all around them. canada goose store

cheap Canada Goose “C’mon, baby girl!” yelled one dude, urging the birds to strut over to square No. 38 on the bingo board, which serves as the floor of the coop. cheap Canada Goose

buy canada goose jacket “Drop the deuce! Drop the deuce!” shouted another as a band cranked out boot scootin’ honky tonk music in the background. buy canada goose jacket

Rarely had so much been riding canada goose outlet on a fowl moment. Every Sunday at Little Longhorn, patrons lay down their own deuce $2, that is to purchase a ticket for what the bar dubs, without a drop of euphemism, chicken s bingo. Winners take home $114 each, which isn’t exactly chicken scratch.

In 2015, Watson sold his share of the saloon to the Gaonas, preferring to spend his time on the road, not inside a dive bar. But Watson left behind his legacy of chicken s bingo. (Though he later launched a similar poop based contest at C Boy’s Heart Soul, causing a minor controversy in Austin.) “Dale brought up the idea,” Terry Gaona said. “Ginny said, ‘Oh, it’s never going to last,’ and here it is, 23 years later and still kicking.”

buy canada goose jacket cheap Ronna Geisler, a first time visitor to the saloon, was thrilled at her luck one Sunday. She was there to salute a friend moving to Ireland but became the toast of the Little Longhorn herself when Loretta Lynn dropped a load canada goose outlet store calgary right on the line, between two numbers. A pair of patrons argued that the bird poop covered more of square No. 21 than No. 51. They had a point. They both also had ticket canada goose factory outlet toronto location No. 21. But what they didn’t know is that Terry Gaona sells bingo tickets to cover such controversial dumps: Geisler had one of the winning “line” tickets in her possession. buy canada goose jacket cheap

Canada Goose online “I might have to spend [the money] on myself,” the surprise winner said. Canada Goose online

Year founded: The stand alone building that houses Little Longhorn Saloon dates back about 100 plus years, says co owner Terry Gaona. Before becoming a bar circa 1940, the building was a farmhouse, a gas station and, briefly, a restaurant.

Canada Goose Outlet Interior: Family roadhouse. Portraits of Ginny Kalmbach and Dale Watson hang behind the bar, reminders of the people who have left their mark on the saloon. Likewise, framed photos of musicians cover the wall behind the bandstand. The chicken coop is located in the back, under a Lone Star Beer light that would typically hang over a pool table. Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose Parka Music: A busted Wurlitzer jukebox sits by the door, right across from the stage where bands assemble canada goose outlet online six nights a week. Canada Goose Parka

canada goose Signature drink: Wine a rita, a line of wine based cocktails, such as a combination of wine, margarita mix and “a couple of other things in it to give it that extra yumminess,” says Gaona. The drinks launched in November. canada goose

Draft beers: Six canada goose outlet jackets taps, including ones dedicated to such Texas classics as Lone Star and Shiner; the bar also offers 50 to 60 other brands, including craft beers.

Worst day: Gaona doesn’t like to focus on the negative, but she does choke up if you ask if any chickens have died under her nurturing gaze. “I’ve had two chickens die. Those are sad days,” she says. “But we know they go to chicken heaven.”

Nancy Whiskey’s history is a microcosm of Detroit in the 20th century. The Irish bar, a converted general store tucked away on a side street of the historic Corktown neighborhood, got its liquor license in 1902. It survived Prohibition, allegedly as a speakeasy. When the city’s economy roared, it became a hangout for Teamsters, including former union president Jimmy Hoffa, who used a phone booth near the front door to conduct private business. Members of the Detroit Tigers baseball team used to come in after games to drink until the wee hours, since the bar was only a 10 minute walk from Tiger Stadium.

canada goose coats on sale When Detroit began its well documented decline, Nancy’s did, too. canada goose coats on sale

canada goose clearance sale “When I first started here, around 1992, this was a really bad neighborhood,” says bartender canada goose outlet website legit Sheryl Grogan, who grew up in the neighborhood with her brother, Gerald Stevens, the bar’s current owner. Things got worse in 2000, when the Tigers moved to a new stadium across the city and a neighborhood full of large, vacant parking lots began to languish. “But this is a big city cop and fireman bar, so this bar would canada goose parka outlet be full all the time, with the shift changes,” Grogan says. “Through the rough times, I think that’s what kept the bar.” canada goose clearance sale

Boarded up windows and caved in roofs appeared on houses on surrounding streets. A devotion to R blues and Motown, with jam sessions and live bands on Fridays and Saturdays, continued to bring crowds to the bar, propping up the canada goose outlet online store review slow nights. And during the past few years, as Detroit has begun to rise, Grogan says, she has begun to see a change.

“All the young people are moving back, buying up all the houses, redoing them,” she says. “Our night business has changed. It’s young professionals, hipsters just a big canada goose outlet online reviews difference. We sell more craft beer now.”

canadian goose jacket Year founded: Nancy Whiskey’s liquor license is from 1902, and the https://www.getcanadagooseoutlet.com bar canada goose outlet washington dc boasts that it’s the oldest continually operating liquor license in Detroit. The building is actually a few years older, having opened as a general store in 1898 before canada goose outlet london uk turning into a saloon. canadian goose jacket

canada goose coats Interior: Standard unpretentious Irish bar, with walls covered with signs advertising beer and whiskey including an award for selling the most Tullamore Dew in America canada goose outlet store quebec and old photos. Look for the shot of former owner Nancy McNiven Glenn posing with a Tommy gun during the filming of “Hoffa.” canada goose coats

Music: An Internet jukebox plays a lot of Irish music and classic rock, but R blues and Motown bands take over on weekends.

Signature drink: Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey. First time visitors to the bar are given a free shot as a welcome gift.

Draft beers: Guinness. (Well, it is an Irish bar.)

canada goose clearance Worst day: An electrical fire in October 2009 destroyed much of the first floor, and kept the bar closed for almost a year. Restoration became a community effort: A regular who teaches wood shop class at a high school built the bar counter; the daughter of another regular painted the pressed tin ceiling. canada goose clearance

Canada Goose Jackets Squatting on the corner of Travis Street and St. Joseph Parkway, the Lone Star Saloon, you could argue, is a barnacle on the gleaming ocean liner of downtown Houston. The bar is a small brick structure, the color of Texas ruby red grapefruit. A pair of wooden signs, each cut in the shape of Texas, are affixed to the facade. The signs look like they were made in shop class, circa 1980. Canada Goose Jackets

The Lone Star is a rare fossil from mid 20th century Houston, a town not exactly known for preserving its history. The bar’s drab rusticity is easily overshadowed, not only by the modern Metro transit center across the street but also by the tall field of striking, sun dappled skyscrapers on the canada goose premium outlet north canada goose outlet official side of downtown. How the Lone Star has avoided the wrecking ball all these years is a mystery until you meet the owner, Joe Lee Thomas, a man with three first names.

If you had to develop a prototype of the classic Texas male, he’d look a lot like Thomas. He’s lean. He speaks with a drawl. He’s indefatigable. He sports a gray beard that reaches to the middle of his chest, ZZ Top style. He’s canada goose outlet belgium also 83 years old and not above installing a new door on his old saloon.