Wow.
There was a trend in Southern California and Orange County where land started to get pricey and the somehow the old bars started to get torn down and replaced with fancy new buildings and stores. There is now a parking lot where my favorite old man's bar was.
The Flame
You had two groups in there. The hardcore oldies would show up about 1:00pm and the mixed drinks were cheep. There was another group which would roll in just to play a couple games of pool and put money in the jukebox. I loved the vibe. Everyone was just super cool. They had a jazz band where one guy would play a single string bass. A cheesy Casio would be used even to somehow replicate swing music and everybody who wanted to would dance like everything was still ok in their life. All the time it just seemed like a special place. If you met a new girl at work and you wanted to test her out, it was the place to take her. If she was cool she would enjoy herself. The drinks were half no name booze and if the band was not playing they had a great jukebox with lots of working class classic rock which would play 5 songs for 25 cents.
This was also the place where sadly to say I met up and was able to visit with the hardcore drunks. These guys would stroll in and get their first tremble handed drink of the day. It was a quiet place at 1:00pm and I still remember how peaceful the place felt. I was home. At 5:00pm the sunset would shine in and the green and brown would glow gold for awhile. On Saturday nights a group of middle aged gals would come in with outdated hair and big blue eyeliner straight out of a movie. They would sometimes get the old boys heated up and it was fun to see.
The whole place looked like it was straight out of 1972. The outside was mid-century as well as the high-back red leather seats. The place smelled like smoke (before the smoking law) and seemed to get better looking as the night rolled along. There was never any fights and everybody was just friendly. This was not a place to score a chick but a place to listen and learn. Just like Head-Fi it had it's people with smarts and it's people with humor.
One time I brought my brother there and all he could say is "This is a barfly bar!" He totally loved it too! There is just a nice piece of my life that was spent in the place. It takes a little luck and work to find such a place to go to and to connect with. Some bars just do not have the vibe. Who knows how you even find a second seedy home away from home? These places are rare and deserve a level of respect for what they represent. A place where men can go to share the good and the bad times in life. A place where people understand when your wife kicks you out for a while. A place to enjoy music, talk and supermarket wisk and lemonade for less than it cost to make it at home. A place where you can get super drunk and they don't kick you out but take care of you.
The Flame was torn down 13 years ago but still lives in my memories forever.
Edited by Redcarmoose - 7/7/11 at 6:53am
