Endless Nameless, Benny’s Pit Stop Lounge? 2800 Indiana Ave

(By clicking magnify you can get a close up look at the door to the bar.)

So, after we did our Fish Fryday, our wives were attending a wedding shower and we still had a goodly amount of time to kill.  During this time we started driving around the city.  The Fish Fry was in extreme south St. Louis, and we live a bit north of there.  So, we just drove around.  For some reason we ended up driving through Benton Park, where my mother lives and then we crossed over into Fox Park, and as we were driving down Lynch Avenue, I saw a Falstaff beer sign on a corner bar.

Now, I need to preface this entry.  This is not my usual dive bar post.  I didn’t have my camera as it was in use at the aforementioned wedding shower.  I did have my BlackBerry, which is where the Immaculate Heart of Mary photos came from.  So, I did have the ability to take pictures, but this place, I didn’t feel comfortable taking photos here.  I think you’ll understand as I tell the story.

I asked, if we were headed anywhere in particular, and I was told no.  So, I decided we were heading in.  As we got to the door, I saw that one side of the sign was broken.  At this point, I was thinking that I had really found a great dive bar.  As we walked in, I started looking for the ATM.  The bartender told me that they didn’t have one, and that they only accept cash.

So far this really isn’t all that different from any other dive bar right?  Here’s where it starts to get a little bit different.  There’s a large refrigerator in the main bar floor where they’ve got cold beer, milk, mixers, and other such things.  This whole bar was about the size of my dining room and living room.  It was pretty damned tiny.

So, there are long tables all down the place.  It was like it was set up for a wedding or something.  At the first table, right by the door to the outside, there was an old man breathing through an oxygen mask.  I began looking around and I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be anywhere for us to even sit down.  There was a pretty good crowd for the space.  I saw a couple spots at the end of the bar where I could survey the whole goings on there.

We ordered our drinks. For me a Bourbon and Coke, and for Bob a Gin and Tonic.  While she was pouring my drink, the elder gentleman with the oxygen mask began calling her name.  He then stated that he needed her to change his oxygen mask for him.  So she stops making our drinks to take care of this, and then comes back and pours our drinks, both very strong and only two bucks a piece. I guess I should mention that at the table next to him was a group of ladies all smoking.  I don’t really have any experience with oxygen masks, but this seems dangerous to me….

As we’re sitting there, we notice that underneath the bar, there was a large selection of pints of liquor.  So, combine that with the fridge in the front, and we’re looking a lot of package sales.  I’ve not seen a bar in a long time that sells that much package liquor, so this is now pretty unusual.  Another interesting thing about the bar, was the 1950’s era cash register.  There were also several bottles of liquor that seemed to have been there since Nixon’s second inauguration…

So, I continued surveying the place.  They have a slot machine in the bar.  I mean…a slot machine?!  There was a sign on the top of it that stated it’s for entertainment only.  I’m not completely sold that this sign was telling the truth.  I mean, we’ve all played slots and I can’t imagine them being any fun if you’re not going to win any damned money.  Wooh 3 7’s! I win nothing! See?

The walls of the place were half coming down.  I could see the supports of the walls.  Now, I don’t have a whole lot of experience building houses, or inspecting them, even with the lax inspection laws we have in Missouri, but it seems to me that this would be against some sort of code.

The TV was playing game shows, with the sound on.  I can count on one hand how many bars I’ve been to where they play the sound.  If the information I’ve been given over the years is accurate, this is actually illegal due to licensing, but they’ve also got a damned slot machine, and walls falling down, so I’m not too sure they’re concerned with Federal Copyright laws…

On the right side of the bar, there was a pool table and the bathrooms.  On the wall over the pool table there was a velvet picture of dogs playing poker.  Then the bathrooms actually scared me a little bit.  I wouldn’t go in them.  Of course from where I was sitting I could see lovely graffiti detailing issues of modern society that are better left unsaid.

Now, in a really good dive bar, anybody who walks in is your brother from another mother.  This place was very much unlike that.  I felt like an interloper there.  This is without taking my pictures even.  Bob said that he thought we’d get punched in the nose if I pulled out a camera.  I felt very, very unwelcome there.

This bar doesn’t fit the bill of a dive bar.  If there’s a level of bar underneath, it’s this one.  Bob called it a down and out bar.  You go here to just drink your problems away.  There seemed to be no real conversation in the place, just depressed drinking.  We felt so unwelcome because it was as if the regular patrons were embarrassed to be seen by others.

I could really write a novel about the thirty minutes I spent in this bar, but I’m going to head towards the door on this post.  I did my due diligence to find the name of the establishment, but even after questioning some friends about it, and looking at the google photo of the place, I have no idea what it’s called.

I can only say this about the place, enter at your own risk.

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