Bars I have entered and old commercials I remember

That was odd. It rained. It rained steadily. It rained in Griffin. It rained in Marietta. It rained a little bit in the morning, a little more during the day, and a whole bunch in the evening. It is supposed to rain some more. Now we need it to get colder.

Many people with whom I have conversed, mostly women, have complained about the cold. It hasn't been cold. Not really. Its metabolism, I think. But its not really cold. Damn global warming.

I drove to Marietta last night. It was pretty cool outside. Later it got quite cold. I was wearing a sweater. No jacket. Cindy and Cissie and I walked around the courthouse square in Marietta to Shillings, a restaurant on the corner of the square. When we entered the restaurant, the atmosphere was warm and cozy. We sat in the bar and ate sandwiches. I like the atmosphere in Shillings. It reminds me of depictions of bars when I was a child.

When I was a child, living in Indianapolis, there was an advertisement on television for Muriel's cigars. Isn't that a throwback? There was a singer in a bar, dressed like a stripper, singing a song about 'a big spender' spending some money on her. I think the singer was Edie Adams, the wife of Ernie Kovacs, the comedian. Oddly, I don't think you could broadcast that commercial on today's television. Back in those days, the tobacco and alcohol companies were regular advertisers and Edie Adams and her sisters were shills for Muriel cigars and Ernie Kovacs was a shill for Dutch Masters. I liked that commercial. It has stuck in my mind for forty five years or so.

I also remember another commercial where the patrons of a bar were singing for the barmaid to bring another round of Carling beers. "Mabel, black label, Carling black label beer."

When I was about thirteen, my parents took the family on a trip down the Atlantic coast of Florida, ending up in Key West for a couple of days. I specifically remember driving around downtown Key West and seeing Sloppy Joe's bar, where Hemingway drank before his aversion to taxes kicked him over to Bimini in the Bahamas and ultimately to Havana. The tall wooden doors to the bar were wide open and you could see men drinking on their feet, talking, enjoying the company. I formed an image that Key West would be much more fun if I had been an adult. Later, we ate at a seafood restaurant in an old wooden house on the water, painted in pastel colors, which apparently was a hangout for Tennessee Williams when he lived there. There were colorful tropical fish swimming off the end of the dock on which the restaurant was built. We enjoyed the view down below after we finished dinner.

At any rate, the image I had of bars in my early years was one of places where men and women congregated. It was a place for adults. There was dark wood and comfortable chairs and food and drink and stripper/singers. It was a good place to go at the end of the day or when you were on vacation.

When I attained adulthood, my friends and I found plenty of places like that around Atlanta. There was a bar in Dunwoody called Sadowsky's which was owned by a former relief pitcher in the majors. On the day I turned 18, which was the age upon which one could drink when I was that age, my buddies and I went to Sadowsky's to celebrate my new status. My dad followed us over there, surprised us and hoisted a few with us that evening. Reggie's English pub in the Omni was fun. It was decorated like a lot of the English pubs I had visited when I was in college. Shillings on the square in Marietta is one of my favorites. The Red Brick pub in Decatur is also good. Places that were dark and warm and inviting.

When I left home, I found even more. New Orleans is full of those places. Mandina's, the bar at the Hotel Ponchatrain, the Old Absinthe, Felix's.

Of course, I have been to my share of modern bars and restaurants. Some have been fun. Others have been obnoxious. I remember a bar over a seafood restaurant in Laguna Beach, California. The seafood restaurant was quaint and family-oriented. The bar was located in the attic of the building, with windows overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It would have been a great place, but the management had allowed a rock band to play in the room that afternoon and the sounds they made bounced up and against the rafters and dormers and back and was unbelievably obnoxious. Then there was a beach bar on Balboa Island, which would have been perfect if there had been anyone there or if the jazz they advertised had been playing.

The Frog Level bar in the Boss Oyster restaurant in Apalachicola is pretty cool. Its small and can get crowded. I would suggest you go there in the middle of the afternoon when you get tired of window-shopping and order a dozen oysters or two or three and a couple of beers. If you have scruples you can order them steamed, which is also good. Its really nice around Thanksgiving when the football games are playing on the bar television.

I enjoyed a couple of bars on the river in Darrien this past March. One was 'Mudcat Charlies' which is actually in Glynn County on the south side of the river. The other is in the town of Darrien and sits on the north side of the river, down below the town. There is a rather fancy seafood restaurant on the left and a good oyster bar on the right. Go to the right, young man. They also have decent barbecue, which is a bonus compared to most seafood restaurants. Both places are right on the river and have good seafood.

There are a couple of good places on the beach in St. Petersburg. Filthy Phil's is across from a canal in St. Petersburg Beach and a couple of places in Passagrille are fun. There are two really good places to eat breakfast in Passagrille. One is on the corner overlooking the channel; the other is right on the beach. In the mornings it is quite nice to walk over to either place and look at the water, read the newspaper and eat breakfast. People drive over to Passagrille from Tampa and beyond just to eat breakfast.

I know there are many other places I could mention, but these have been a few of my favorites.