jgohlke
My other hobby
We went out to support a friend of the family who recently opened a coffee bar in a strip mall near our house. As we walked in around 8 pm on Saturday night I distinctly caught the wif of cigar smoke. No smoking at the coffee bar, so we milled around a bit, I had a glass of wine, we listened to a friend jam on the electric piano and do a few of the old Animal's songs. Pretty cool....so I do my obligatory 20 minutes and then tell my wife that I'm taking a walk.
I cruise down the sidwalk, passing storefront after storefront of mostly crap...peoples hopes and dreams...about 6 months from bankruptcy...who shops at these places? Anyway, I see one of the local bars has a tent set up out front, I figure the cigar smoke is coming from there (Florida is "no smoking inside" state). Nope...tent is empty. I follow my nose on down the sidewalk. I come to a place called something like "Liquor and Leaf"....Ah, this must be it. I walk up to the door, but stop short of going in. It's a discount booze and cigarettes store. WTF? I check the air...still smells like cigars. I count the store fronts...3 left. Next up a small neighborhood bar (smoking ban doesn't cover bars that don't sell food or not much food anyway). I look in, nice old time bar, not too crowded....glass wall with cigars line one side of the place. I walk in, it smells like cigar smoke and I see a few guys with cigars. Hey, cool! I check out the cigar selection...the usual stuff, nothing special, I see a few prices but not on anything I am familar with....then a sweet voice says "Hi I'm Bonnie". I turn and there is a cute, short, barely 18-year old girl, with a very low-cut top and a rack that probably cost somebody a pretty penny. She gives me the do-you-want-a-lap-dance smile and asks if she can help me. I say I'm just looking and she notices my Van Morrison concert t-shirt. "Van Morisson" she reads off my shirt. Then she says something about the Doors. I tell her that was "Jim Morrison", this is "Van Morrison"...."Oh" she says and walks away.
I wonder if she knows more about cigars that she knows about Rock-n-Roll. The bartender ignores me and I slide out and get back to the family.
I may wonder in again sometime, the place had possibilities.
I cruise down the sidwalk, passing storefront after storefront of mostly crap...peoples hopes and dreams...about 6 months from bankruptcy...who shops at these places? Anyway, I see one of the local bars has a tent set up out front, I figure the cigar smoke is coming from there (Florida is "no smoking inside" state). Nope...tent is empty. I follow my nose on down the sidewalk. I come to a place called something like "Liquor and Leaf"....Ah, this must be it. I walk up to the door, but stop short of going in. It's a discount booze and cigarettes store. WTF? I check the air...still smells like cigars. I count the store fronts...3 left. Next up a small neighborhood bar (smoking ban doesn't cover bars that don't sell food or not much food anyway). I look in, nice old time bar, not too crowded....glass wall with cigars line one side of the place. I walk in, it smells like cigar smoke and I see a few guys with cigars. Hey, cool! I check out the cigar selection...the usual stuff, nothing special, I see a few prices but not on anything I am familar with....then a sweet voice says "Hi I'm Bonnie". I turn and there is a cute, short, barely 18-year old girl, with a very low-cut top and a rack that probably cost somebody a pretty penny. She gives me the do-you-want-a-lap-dance smile and asks if she can help me. I say I'm just looking and she notices my Van Morrison concert t-shirt. "Van Morisson" she reads off my shirt. Then she says something about the Doors. I tell her that was "Jim Morrison", this is "Van Morrison"...."Oh" she says and walks away.
I wonder if she knows more about cigars that she knows about Rock-n-Roll. The bartender ignores me and I slide out and get back to the family.
I may wonder in again sometime, the place had possibilities.