Continued from Part 3…

Saturday, July 18, 2009. Day 4 of our July barhopping trip that would end up taking us to 101 bars.

We got an early start this morning, knowing we had a big day in store. We only had 40 miles to drive, but those 40 miles would take 11 hours to cover and we’d still have a big cab/walking evening after that. So we skipped the free waffle breakfast our motel offered and hit the road by about 9:30am.

Valley, NE

(pop 1806)
A nice little town squeezed in-between US-275 and the Platte River.

70. Willie’s Bar

327 N Spruce St
Valley, NE 68064
(402) 359-5734
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We had called ahead and knew that this place opened at 8am, though neither of us remembered this at the time and were surprised at first to find it open.

There were a handful of people here already, including a guy who from the looks of it had been there since opening. Everyone was watching the movie “Sorority Boys“.

71. Outer Limits Sports Bar

28564 W Reichmuth Rd
Valley, NE 68064-8012
(402) 359-8757
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

I honestly didn’t expect this place to be open, suburban style sports bars usually do not open this early. But this one does, at least on Saturday, in order to take advantage of the nearby golf course. And sure enough, there were already a few golfers inside.

The problem was, the linoleum part of the floor was being waxed… during business hours. We were not able to enter through the main door and were only able to enter through a side door by making a jump to the carpeted area. All the furnishings had been moved to this carpeted area so there was very little room to maneuver. The four golfers were trapped, and the room smelled of floor cleaner. We even had to reach to get to our beers, unable to completely approach the bar. Luckily we were limber and sober enough to make a leaping escape when we were ready to go.

Our next stop was in the unincorporated town of King’s Lake, across the highway from Valley.

Jerome’s Place
24535 King Lake Rd
Valley, NE 68064
(402) 359-9406
[map]
We pulled up into the bar’s gravel lot and it didn’t look open, but there were a couple of cars there and and people standing around talking. They gave us very nervous, long stares that in turn made us nervous, but we worked up the courage and asked if the bar was open. No dice, not for another half hour. We didn’t want to wait, so headed on to the last town before Omaha.

Waterloo, NE

(pop 459)
Located between two rivers, the town has flooded many times though flood control improvements in the 1960s have reduced the problems significantly. In 1873 a train derailed spilling a cargo of fish into the Elkhorn river. No word on if the fish were being shipped alive or processed, nor, if alive, how many made it safely to freedom.

72. Depot

310 3rd St
Waterloo, NE 68069-2058
(402) 779-4110
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

A railroad themed bar, though we didn’t notice the theme quite so much on the inside as we did on the outside. There were breakfast customers inside, we were the first bar customers. However it didn’t take too long before others started coming in and filled up a majority of the barstools.

We ended up eating breakfast here, a move we’d soon regret. Not that there was anything wrong with the breakfast — it was quite delicious. The problem was that we had no idea how close we were to what we were actually hungry for.

73. The Fire Barn

2601 River Road Dr
Waterloo, NE 68069
(402) 932-3600
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

Not too far from The Depot we found The Fire Barn, a firefighter-themed bar in a brand new strip mall. (Which is why the map link puts it in the middle of a field.) The bar was covered with photos of burning buildings, the walls were adorned with fire station memorabilia, and there was even a fire pole near the door. (Unfortunately, with no upper level from which to slide down, it is more forr show.)

It was unfortunate that we had just filled our stomachs with breakfast, because it turned out this place serves what looks like a very good pizza and we had to sit there smelling its deliciousness wafting over from a nearby table. We watched a rebroadcast of a celebrity softball game and nursed our beers, regretting our early breakfasty decision.

Once we finished up here, it was time to head head in to our last city of the day.

Omaha, NE

(pop 438,646)
The largest city in Nebraska, named for a word meaning “dwellers on the bluff”. Home to billionaire Warren Buffet. In 2008 Omaha and Council Bluffs opened the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, a cable-stay bridge that is the first ever pedestrian/bicycle-only bridge to link two states.

We had decided in advance that we would come into Omaha along Maple, drop south through the Benson and Dundee neighborhoods, then head east into downtown. We had identified 93 bars along this route. We had then studied web pages, reviews, photos, and any other online information. We rated each bar on a scale of 1-5, threw out 25 bars that scored too low between us, then added the remaining 68 bars to our binder with emphasis given to 24 bars that scored especially high between us. Nearly ever bar we’d go to the remainder of the day was from our list.

74. Lighthouse Bar & Grill

15676 W Maple Rd
Omaha, NE 68116-8147
(402) 498-3824
omahalighthouse.com
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

This one came very close to not making the cut, but it was saved only because the very nondescript web site suggested that it was a dive even though the location suggested to us otherwise. We were intrigued enough to check it out.

The Lighthouse was very tricky to get to from Maple. It was only barely visible — we’d never have spotted had we not plotted its location in advance. Two congested left turns, then a parking lot maze that took us around the back of a strip mall in order to get us around to the far side where the entrance was.

It was still early so we were the only customers. We watched part of the movie “Cocktail” with the bartender and learned about the heroics of a local legend, illustrated in one of the photos above.

75. Moe & Curly’s Pub

2946 N 108th St
Omaha, NE 68164
(402) 493-9808
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We picked this location on name alone, and the fact that its advertising uses the phrase “Why Soitenly!” sealed the deal as this being a “Three Stooges” themed bar.

My stomach was not doing to well, still full from breakfast plus 3 large beers in a row. I decided to change my tactics and go for a Mike’s Hard Lemonade instead, reasoning it would go down a little easier. This proved to be a good move that I continued for two more bars. It gave my stomach the reprieve it needed in order for me to get through the day.

We chatted with the bartender about the talent level of this bar’s karaoke singer (apparently quite high) and about the Omaha Zoo. She also told us a lot of information about Nebraska’s smoking ban.

All throughout the trip we had met bartender after bartender who complained to us about Nebraska’s smoking ban and how badly it was hurting business. And it was, we saw this clearly the previous night in Fremont. We saw the same thing here in Kansas City, bar business suffered badly. But, eventually, people did get bored with staying at home and returned to the bars. Here in KC, every bar I know of that legitimately closed due to the smoking ban has since reopened, and bars that saw huge declines in business now seem to be busy as ever. Nebraska, however, clearly hasn’t reached this stage yet. And now we were finding out just how recent the ban is.

Evidently, Nebraska banned smoking in bars a couple of years ago. However the ban that was enacted made an exemption for bars that has a Keno license. This is apparently why virtually every bar in Nebraska has Keno. But then some goody-two-shoes sued over the exemption, and this past Spring the exemption was overturned in the courts. Almost overnight, every bar in the state had to go nonsmoking with virtually no time to prepare. Which also explained why so many of the patios and beer gardens we had seen had only just very recently opened.

After here we took a break across the street at a Dollar General so B could get some Chapstick and I could get some beef jerky. Oddly, spicy beef jerky has always seemed to help settle my stomach.

76. Delta House

3121 N 108th St
Omaha, NE 68164-2952
(402) 934-4042
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

An “Animal House” themed bar! The walls were covered with props, publicity photos, and posters from the movie. We were the only customers at this time of day but this place looks like it could be a pretty fun hangout in the evenings.

My notes that I took while inside this bar include the words “Pier Trial” which are then scratched out. I have absolutely no idea what this notation has to do with anything that happened at this bar or why it is there.

77. I Don’t Care

3346 N 108th St
Omaha, NE 68164-2905
(402) 763-2800
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

This was a place we had selected simply because of its name. If we had pulled up and found it was named anything else, we were going to move on. Thankfully we found that we could indeed go on inside for a drink.

We sat at the large rectangular bar. It was now lunchtime and a few tables were occupied with families sitting down for a meal. We watched an episode of “The World’s Most Amazing Videos” and drank the raspberry version of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. This would be the last of the girly drinks of the day, our stomachs were now ready for a return to beer.

78. Dave’s Pub/Keno

8805 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68134-6125
(402) 391-2589
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

This was one that barely made our list, primarily because we couldn’t find any information about it whatsoever. Instead it turned out to be one of our favorite stops.

At first it looked like a basic boring cookie-cutter joint in a run-down strip mall. But that was from the outside. Inside we found an honest-to-goodness neighborhood dive bar, the kind that people make their home away from home. This was a nice place and we enjoyed our visit.

(I forgot to take an exterior photo so had to rely on a blurry Street View screenshot.)

79. Wayside Tavern

8503 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68134-6228
(402) 391-7162
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

Why did we have to eat breakfast????? This place was serving up a pizza that looked even better than the one we saw earlier in the day at The Fire Barn. Actually we were starting to get hungry, but we had plans of another sort for food coming up soon.

80. Swig’s Bar & Grill

6913 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68104-3838
(402) 505-5448
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

This was probably the dive-iest dive we went to today.

Our bartender had an extreme case of some sort of spinal curvature disorder that cased her to be bent forward to the extent that she could walk only by slowly sidestepping. I didn’t feel comfortable taking many pictures in here because I didn’t want her to think I was taking pictures of her.

81. Full House

6135 Military Ave
Omaha, NE 68104-3365
(402) 558-3133
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We found a place to park the car and began a short walking adventure in the Benson neighborhood. We started out with this place, a little removed from the main strip.

After nearly four full days of taking pictures in bars, it took until #81 for someone to ask us what we were doing. They were cool about it though, the people here were friendly.

82. Burke’s Pub

6117 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68104-4043
(402) 558-1365
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

The bartender offered us up some free hot dogs and popcorn. I declined, but B went ahead and dug into the corn. I enjoyed the barber chair inside the front door.

83. The Waiting Room

6212 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68104-4004
(402) 884-5353
waitingroomlounge.com
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

This place looked like it’s probably a music venue or dance club by night. B and I had a discussion about Tourette Syndrome, Tourette camps, and some of the things that each of us are constantly thinking in various situations that we might accidently blurt out if our internal filters were impaired.

Barley Street Tavern
2735 N 62nd St
Omaha, NE 68104-4024
(402) 408-0028
barleystreet.com
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We were attracted by the giant OPEN sign and the fact that, at least from the outside, this place looked great. Unfortunately we got closer and saw the smaller “Open at 6″ sign. It was nowhere close to 6 yet. Sigh.

84. Musette Bar

6020 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68104-4104
(402) 554-5830
musettebar.com
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

There was a cute little dog running around in here that loved to chase the ball and play fetch.

We noticed that this bar had more shuffleboard tables than most places. Turns out the owner is Shane Hagen, a champion shuffleboard player.

We asked the bartender about the name of the bar. He didn’t know the origin, just that it had had that name for nearly a hundred years and the current owner saw no reason to change it when he bought the place.

85. Nifty Bar & Grill

4721 NW Radial Hwy
Omaha, NE 68104-4503
(402) 933-9300
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We picked this place because the online reviews we read talked about the rowdy crowd and that customers are constantly getting their cars towed.

Admittedly we did have trouble figuring out how to get to their parking lot, but once we did it wasn’t too hard at all to park legally. The crowd inside seemed pretty mellow, thought it was still early. We played Silver Strike. Starting at the 9th frame a little kid repeatedly asked us when we’d be done because he wanted to “play”.

86. Lynx Lounge

1604 N 47th St
Omaha, NE 68104-5188
(402) 553-8787
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We would end up going to 101 bars on this trip, yet this was the only one we went to where we were the only white people inside. Usually that should be the case at about at least 4 or 5 places. Oh well. It was still daytime so the handful of people in here were older.

It should be noted that of the 650+ bars I had been to as of this visit, this is absolutely the nicest smelling bar I have ever been in.

87. Homy Inn

1510 N Saddle Creek Rd
Omaha, NE 68104-5065
(402) 554-5815
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)

We have a winner! Normally it would be hard for me to pick a favorite bar of each day, but this was it. From the beeer trays on the ceiling, to the wall of cans, to our awesome bartender named Nikki, this place was perfect!

Oh, and did I mention that it serves champagne on tap?

That’s right! See for yourself in the photos. Naturally we passed on beer here in favor of a couple of glasses of the bubbly goodness.

We told Nikki about our trip and she gave us some great suggestions for places to hit up later when we reached downtown. (T Henery’s, Billy Frog’s if they hadn’t lost their license, The Dubliner, and The Maxx)

We decided that now would be a good time to take a liver break and go enjoy a meal that we had been planning for several weeks.

We have three traditions when it comes to food on these bar trips we take:

1. Eat lightly, just enough to slow the alcohol asorbtion. We don’t want to get full. This is something that we learned early on.
2. Eat pizza from a local, non-chain pizza place each day. If we fail to find any qualifying pizza, substitute a meal from a local bar or of a food type unique to the area. This is a tradition we have maintained since August 9, 2006 when we began this tradition at The Pizza Shack in Lamoni, IA.
3. At least one time during the course of the trip, eat a local signature dish or something that has received national fame. This has been a tradition since August 13, 2006 when we had the Jucy Lucy at Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis, MN.

This was to be the meal that would meet tradition #3. For this meal, we selected a place featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

California Tacos & More
3235 California St
Omaha, NE 68131-2036
(402) 342-0212
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)










I can tell you that the taco is like a giant Mexican Hot Pocket, only better. I can tell you that you only need to order 1 in order to be full. But I can’t tell you anything that Guy Fieri hasn’t already said better…

We decided not to drink any beer here, giving our livers a chance to get caught up on the workload.

Once we were finished, we were off to the Dundee neighborhood.




88. Underwood Bar

4918 Underwood Ave
Omaha, NE 68132-2422
(402) 556-7727
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)








The parking lot was very small and very full. I had to parallel park inside the lot, and the lot had only one entrance — behind me. We ended up leaving the car here for the next couple of bars.

As I took the picture of the outside, a woman ducked away saying “Oh, I can’t be in your photo!” B jokingly informed her we were with the FBI.

Underwood was one of our top picks and we soon found out why, this bar bills itself as The Hub of the Universe.

The bar was pretty full, and as we started taking he indoor pictures, the women who had been outside asked what we were doing. B explained to her the trip we were on and how we had been out since Wednesday morning on a quest to have a drink at 100 bars.

She thought that sounded awesome, and immediately turned to her friends and told them what we were doing. “Wow! That’s like one of those things people people talk about doing but never actually go and do,” said one of them.

“Are you guys talking about anal sex?” asked another woman sitting catty-corner to the first group.

That end of the bar erupted in laughter and word about what we were doing spread throughout the bar.

These ladies are all featured in the last picture above: Mary Beth, Erin, Sara, Amy, and Maggie. One of them has a note next to her name: “The ‘Anal Sex’ Girl”. I won’t say which one. :)




89. Beer and Loathing in Dundee

4949 Underwood Ave
Omaha, NE 68132-2421
(402) 614-4999
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)





Right across the street from Underwood. We had a very nice waitress who gave us 1/2 price, 1/2 pint draws so that we could continue on our mission quickly.

We walked around the neighborhood a bit looking for other bars, but the places we spotted looked more like nice restaurants. We did, however, find the plaque marking the site of the Japanese balloon bombing of Omaha during World War 2:
(Click thumbnails to view photos)





[map]

We returned to the car, which now was not only pointed the wrong direction for easy lot exit, but was now wedged in tightly. Fortunately I am a parallel parking god and was out of there in a jiff. :)




90. Old Dundee Bar & Grill

4964 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68132-2918
(402) 558-0801
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)









At long last! B had been searching for the new PowerPutt Golf game for a few months, and now he finally found one. So we took a break to enjoy a game of virtual mini golf.

By the time we left it was dark, so we decided to go ahead and check in to our motel and begin the walking portion of the day.

Econo Lodge Downtown Omaha
2211 Douglas Street
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 345-9565
[map]
The reviews were mixed, but for a $74 room in the downtown area of a large city, it was perfectly fine. I’d say there’s too many nitpicky people out there. One review complained that it’s not really downtown but 20 blocks away, uphill all the way. Sure, 20 blocks if you start from the Missouri River, but only about 10 blocks from the parts of downtown visitors would most likely be at and the uphill slope was slight. (We’d later tonight end up making the walk back from the Old Market area in about 15 minutes.) Some people are so picky and whiney.

Before calling a cab, we decided to start off by walking to some of the nearby bars.

(Click thumbnails to view photos)








91. Rose & Crown Pub

515 S 20th St
Omaha, NE 68102-2507
(402) 346-8242
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)




This place is rated as one of Omaha’s top dives. The bar area itself is nice, and it has a beautiful deck in the back. We had also read a review that told us we needed to check out the basement bathrooms that would remind one of Buffalo Bill’s basement in “Silence of the Lambs”, but since neither of us had to go, we both forgot about doing so.

There were two bartenders on duty, one who was laid back and mellow and one who was exuberant and hyper. We had already planned on going to the Old Market area, but decided to ask them their opinions of where we should actually go. We got two different answers from each. One advised us to go to Old Market, the other advised us to walk west several blocks to an area where “if [we] don’t mind the occasional hookers and crackheads, [we'd] find a bar every block.” (I believe he was talking about the Leavenworth neighborhood.)

We debated for a few minutes, and then finally asked which neighborhood would get us to the most bars before 1:00am. “Old Market,” both said.

So that’s what we chose. And it would not be long before we’d be kicking ourselves for that decision.




92. Bishop’s Bar & Grill

1901 Harney St
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 934-7808
bishopsbar.com
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)









We walked over here to grab one last been before in this area before calling a cab. Our cab showed up just as we finished, so that was good timing.

I forgot to get an exterior photo so we drove by the next day to get one.

It turned out we really didn’t need a cab after all, as we were a lot closer to the Old Market than we thought.

Barry O’s
420 S 10th St
Omaha, NE 68102-2802
(402) 341-8032
[map]
We chose this place because nearly every review we read trashed it. We were eager to grab a beer when we got here, but the place was so packed that we couldn’t get anywhere close to the bar. B had better luck than me, making it to within a few feet, but after ten minutes he had been unable to get the attention of a bartender so we gave up and left.

Almost every bar we would go to in the Old Market would be packed like this. Now, don’t get me wrong — it wasn’t a fratty crowd or a d-bag crowd. It was all just regular people — everyone was never nice and very friendly. But it’s just hard to enjoy a bar when it’s so packed that every part of your body is jammed up against your neighbors. We’d end up spending the rest of the night wishing we’d gone west, to the Leavenworth neighborhood dives, instead.




93. Old Market Tavern

514 S 10th St
Omaha, NE 68102-2804
(402) 341-0191
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)



Since Barry O’s blew, we were on a mission to find a nearby bar that didn’t blow. This was the least-blowy one we found on this street. We were able to get our drinks quickly, though there was no place to sit. B went outside and chatted with the bouncer, who was a nice guy, to get some advice from him as to where to find some less busy/upscale bars. We advises us to head further west and south.




94. Bullpen

1125 Jackson St
Omaha, NE 68102-2824
(402) 502-5150
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)










This was more like it. It wasn’t super crowded like the other places had been. The front end of the bar was open air with a garage door style entrance. The bartenders were fun, as were the customers.

The restrooms were down a long corridor and were pretty disgusting — obviously a public restroom not associated with the bar.




95. T Henery’s Pub

1102 Harney St
Omaha, NE 68102-1830
(402) 345-3651
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)





We were making circles throughout the neighborhood and sort of stumbled across this place when we saw people disappearing under the sidewalk. The allure of a basement bar drew us in so we headed on down. We later realized this was one of the bars the bartender back at Homy Inn had recommended to us.

We found a basement sports bar that looked like a frathouse rec room, but I actually mean that in a good way. There was a DEA dog present, as far as I could tell it was here only because its handler was in for a visit, it didn’t seem anyone was getting busted for anything.

We realized we had gone as far north as we could and we needed to go more west and south. As we headed west we found another basement bar, and it was also on the list of places the Homy Inn bartender had recommended.

Dubliner Pub
1205 Harney St
Omaha, NE 68102-1831
(402) 342-5887
dublinerpubomaha.com
[map]
We only managed to make it about ten feet in the front door, the crowd was simply too thick to get any futher. We turned around, very carefully, and left.

We knew there were some dive bars further south, across the railroad tracks. But on the way there we came across another Irish pub. It wasn’t super busy, so we decided to pop in.




96. O’Connor’s Irish Pub

1217 Howard St
Omaha, NE 68102-2818
(402) 934-9790
oconnorsomaha.com
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)




I can’t remember exactly what it was that B asked the bartender for when we sat down. But when the bartender said he didn’t have it, B jokingly replied “You don’t have that? This is a pussy bar.”

“You’re the pussy who chose this place,” replied the bartender.

As we drank our beers, a girl came by whose shoe had broken and asked for advice. The bartender didn’t have anything to help out, so we tried to rig something using toothpicks, a stir stick, and matches. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get the strap back through the sole in order to fasten it in place.

It was now 12:40, with bar closing time only 20 minutes away. We knew there was no way we were going to make it to the dives south of the railroad tracks. We decided to head in the direction of our motel with the hopes of finding another place or two along the way.




97. Downtown Blues

1512 Howard St
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 345-0180
[map]
(Click thumbnails to view photos)




Just as we were giving up, the light of this place appeared. We only had 10 minutes left until closing time but we managed to get served.

A band that I think was called “Over The River” was playing “Night Moves” when we arrived. The bar wasn’t very busy and only a few people were dancing. The band had time for a couple more songs. They did covers of other southern rock hits, and when the final song played, everyone in the bar was dancing.

We got back to the motel around 1:15am, and we were starving. Luckily in Omaha, unlike here in Kansas City, you can order pizza delivery all the way until 3:00 in the morning.

We didn’t quite make our goal for today, but we did make it to 28 bars today. Not a record, we had made it to 30 in 1 day 2 years, 1 month, and 3 days earlier. But our second-best day ever!

As we waited for the pizza to arrive, we remembered for the first time that we had brought a breathalyzer with us. We broke it out and put it to use, taking 3 readings from each of us to ensure accuracy.

This is where you can truly see where body mass comes into play. I’m a much bigger guy than B. We had both had 28 alcoholic drinks throughout the day, both drinking pretty much the same thing and eating pretty much the same think. I blew a .07. I won’t reveal what B blew, I’ll just say his was substantially higher.

So if you have ever wondered how we do it, this is how. By pacing ourselves smartly and taking the occassional liver break, combined with the benefit of my size, I was still under the legal limit after 28 drinks. :)

Our pizza was okay for late night pizza, nothing too spectacular. The driver didn’t bring cheese or peppers or napkins, we had no plates or knifes, and the pizza wasn’t completely cut. We sat on one of the beds to eat, using washcloths for napkins and tearing the slices apart with our hands. We made quite a mess.

I passed out with the TV tuned to a channel showing documentaries about prison life. I awoke around 3:30 to find B passed out with his laptop still open and on his stomach, so I grabbed it and put it away before he rolled over and destroyed it, shut off the prison documentary, and turned off the lights on the last night of this trip.

However we still needed a few more bars to reach our goal, and Sunday morning was just a few hours away…

Concluded in Part 5…