Monday, January 10th, 2011—Bar 365
Sunday, January 9th, 2011—Bar 365
Mike’s Tavern
Okay, this is it. To quote Bobby Zimmerman: “It’s all over now, baby blue.” I decided to wind this whole crazy journey back at the bar that I first had heard of as a little kid growing up in Peoria, Illinois, Mike’s Tavern in West Peoria. It seemed only fitting to end it here. One of my favorite relatives of all time is my Grandpa Seitz, who died back in 1980, but when he was alive, Mike’s Tavern was his hangout and he was a regular and a character in this tavern. I’ve written about this before, but when I turned legal drinking age in Peoria and stopped in at Mike’s, I wasn’t welcomed with open arms, until they found out I was Leo Seitz’ grandson. Then I was treated like a rock star in this place. Years later, when I was publishing the magazine POP, Mike Foster wrote a great feature story about Mike’s Tavern and its owner, Tony Ward and we had a great day hanging out there. This is the only bar I’m repeating on the bar crawl. I can do this because there were a few days when I went to more than one bar in the same day, so in actuality, I’ve been to over probably 370 bars in my travels. So today we make a well-deserved repeat visit to Mike’s Tavern. And here we go to the 365th bar in on the 365th day. A year of beer is soon to be over. Come along, a splendid time is guaranteed for all!
It all begins and ends here. I've got so many pictures from this great night out, that I can't possibly write captions for all of them, so I'm just going to post the photos and let every picture tell its own story. Thanks to everyone who showed up, it was one of the best nights of my life. Okay, here we go!
Review
You can read my Mike’s Tavern review and story about my Granspa Seitz here: Mike’s Tavern. TO LEO SEITZ AND TO MIKE’S TAVERN!
Thanks so much to my family who supported this crazy idea and all my others in the past. You guys are the best and I love you lots! Thanks for all you do for me, any other family would have had me committed years ago.
And now it’s all over. 365 bars in 365 days. I’d really like to thank Tony Ward for allowing the last night to happen at his fine bar, Mike’s Tavern. Thanks to 365 resident artist, “Boris,” for the great artwork and for maintaining the 365 Bar Store (the store will stay open by the way!) And thanks to Gidget for creating the 365 facebook fan page and to her and “Boris” for maintaining it (check them both out on Woody Radio.) A big thank you to the Waugh family who supplied food on the last night and are always there when I need them, thanks for being my second family. Thanks to Tim and Colleen Carey from Butch’s Pizza for supplying pizza, I ate a fair amount of Butch’s Pizza on the bar crawl and I suggest you all try it, you can order it online if you don’t live in the Peoria area (just remember to cut it into squares when you serve it.) I also want to extend a big, whopping thanks to all of you who have read and commented on the 365 blog, those of you who have written about what I did and every single person I’ve met while doing this and that is literally thousands of people. Think about it, I was able to meet thousands of people in bars this year and share conversations, stories and ideas with them. Really crazy, but that’s what I’ve always said was the purpose of this bar crawl, to go out and meet people and then report about these people and the bars that they were housed in the next day in words and pictures. I thank and appreciate all of you who played along with this kooky idea.
17 References
Reader Comments (61)
CONGRATULATIONS, MARTY!
You made it!
I was honored that the whole thing started on one of my WIND DOWN SUNDAYS at OTTO's SHRUNKEN HEAD!
Hopefully now that the tour is over you can come by on any Sunday and join us for a relaxing drink or two w/o that damn notebook!
Take care,
FRANK WOOD
@FRANK WOOD: I'll stop by Otto's soon, maybe this Sunday! Hope to see you there!
Congtaulations Marty. I enjoyed watching your journey, you did it with style,class and a dash of snideness. Thanks for the great time at Mike's ...#365. Can't wait until your adventure. Stay thirsty
my friend
@Joe W: Thanks for the food and friendship, Jim was smiling down at us, especially when you dropped the chili! Cheers to you and your family!
Congrats on a monumental year! This should be a world record. I love that you ended with some of your own family bar history.
Cheers!
@Darleya: Cheers to you!
Great job Marty. I admire your tenacity and fair mindedness. I have followed the journey everyday here in Ireland, and looked forward to reading it each day. I love NYC and do a bar crawl there myself when I have the opportunity. Thank you for a wonderful ride. Best of health and luck to you, dannyboy
@dannyboy: Thanks for following all the way from Ireland. Let me know when you get here and we'll go out for a beer or seven!
Oh MAN!! You did it!!! A belated but enthusiastic congratulations Marty. Best of luck to you and your future projects! -Handel from hither and yon and specifically Mug
@Handel: Thanks! I look forward to seeing you over at the new blog!
What's next?? 365 AA meetings in 365 days??
@IcanRememberAnything: www.martyafterdark.com.
Marty - Congrats on completing your journey! Sorry I missed the festivities when you were in town. Looks like it was lots of fun at Mike's (what a great place). I'll buy the book when it comes out. I'll even pay for it. I swear. Best of luck to you. P.S. - Who let Luciano in?
@Bill Molleck: Thanks, sorry you weren't there. Yeah, I love Mike's and it was the perfect place to have the last day. Good to hear from you. And as far as Luciano goes, I think he lives in the back room there! Check out the new blog if you want to: www.martyafterdark.com.
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