Welcome!
Some people collect autographs, some collect antiques, others collect stamps. My hobby is a little different, I collect bars. This site represents my collection, documenting each bar I visit.
This is not a review site, there's plenty of those already. Most posts in this bar diary are slice-of-life recaps of the half hour or so I spent having a beer. I hope you enjoy browsing through my collection!
--ScooterJA Few Random Favorites
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Churchill’s British Pub
13 November 2010(Buckhead, Atlanta, GA) Scooter’s 795th bar, first visited in 2010. We had already tried and failed twice at finding this bar open, but I was really curious about it so...
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Little Bar
10 April 2009(Leavenworth, KS) Scooter’s 551st bar, first visited in 2009. We weren’t sure if this was really open or not, the Google Maps Street View did not look promising. But, because...
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Bobby’s Downtown
29 November 2019(Downtown, Fairbanks, AK) Scooter’s 1419th bar, first visited in 2019. While we were at Mecca Bar we mentioned that we were looking for a place to get dinner. Bobby’s was...
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Dates of First Visit
Types of Bars

Maumee Bay Brewing Company
(Downtown, Toledo, OH) Scooter’s 1601st bar, first visited in 2022. We stopped in here for lunch before heading back to Kansas City with the car-load of beef we had just…

Checker Bar
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1600th bar, first visited in 2022. We had almost stopped in here earlier in the evening while walking back to our hotel from Grand Trunk Pub,…

Suzy’s Bar
(Hamtramck, MI) Scooter’s 1599th bar, first visited in 2022. We almost didn’t stop here because of the party bus parked out front, but we decided to give it a shot….

The Painted Lady
(Hamtramck, MI) Scooter’s 1598th bar, first visited in 2022. Our next spot made out initial short list simply based on the fact that we liked out the exterior looked. This…

Abick’s Bar
(Michigan-Martin, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1597th bar, first visited in 2022. Now THIS is what looking for good neighborhood dive bars is all about. Easily in my top 5 of all…

Applebee’s
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1596th bar, first visited in 2022. It’s always an embarrassment to list an Applebees on this site, but that’s what our hotel bar happened to be…

Grand Trunk Pub
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1595th bar, first visited in 2022. After leaving Detroiter Bar we called to check on our companion who was getting some much needed sleep back at…

Detroiter Bar
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1594th bar, first visited in 2022. We decided to make one more quick stop before checking to see if our companion back at the hotel had…

Elephant Room
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1593rd bar, first visited in 2022. We knew our companion would still be needing some more nap time at the hotel, so we headed on over…

Sweetwater Tavern
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1592nd bar, first visited in 2022. One member of our traveling group was exhausted, so the rest of us set out on foot from our hotel…

Kruse’s Paint Creek Tavern
(Rochester, MI) Scooter’s 1591st bar, first visited in 2022. Stopped in here for one final round on our way back “home” to make a late dinner. It was surprisingly busy…

Too-Ra-Loo
(Downtown, Rochester, MI) Scooter’s 1590th bar, first visited in 2022. A sports bar with pizza, Italian food, and 80 beers on tap. I had two cocktails (one was a chocolate…

Rochester Mills Beer Company
(Downtown, Rochester, MI) Scooter’s 1589th bar, first visited in 2022. Stopped into this brewery for some appetizers and a few drinks to tide us over for a late supper. They…

Ale Mary’s Beer Hall
(Downtown, Royal Oak, MI) Scooter’s 1588th bar, first visited in 2022. This was a bonus spot that a customer at Gusoline Alley told us about, and he led the way….

Gusoline Alley
(Downtown, Royal Oak, MI) Scooter’s 1587th bar, first visited in 2022. A craft beer dive bar, decorated like a service station, with a pinball machine. I’ve had a t-shirt with…

Ruckmoor Lounge
(Crosswoods, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1586th bar, first visited in 2022. We almost cut this from our itinerary because we were running an hour behind, but we are so glad we…

Callahan’s
(Downtown, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1585th bar, first visited in 2022. Because it was so cold/windy and everyplace we had tried while walking back was way too crowded, we had decided…

Char Bar
(Downtown, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1584th bar, first visited in 2022. We had been excitedly looking forward to this bar all day, but we were unaware of the hockey game that…

Lumin Sky Bar
(Downtown, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1583rd bar, first visited in 2022. This cocktail bar sits atop the AC Marriott Hotel and has studding views of the Columbus skyline. A large patio…

Brew Link Brewing – Downtown
(Downtown, Indianapolis, IN) Scooter’s 1582nd bar, first visited in 2022. Stopped here for lunch on our way to Ohio. Good location and good ambiance. Outdoor seating available along the north…

The Other Place – Shawnee
(Shawnee, KS) Scooter’s 1581st bar, first visited in 2022. This is a massive sports bar/restaurant, a relatively newer location for the Iowa chain. It was extremely crowded and noisy, so…

Knub’s Pub
(Shawnee, KS) Scooter’s 1580th bar, first visited in 2022. Given that this was a suburban strip mall bar I wasn’t expecting anything noteworthy, but this turned out to be a…

Tall Trellis Brew Co
(Olathe, KS) Scooter’s 1579th bar, first visited in 2022. The newest brewery in the KC area, took me while to get to it due to being so far out. Also…

Our House KC
(West 39th, Kansas City, MO) Scooter’s 1578th bar, first visited in 2022. Awesome restaurant/bar/coffee shop/bakery with year-round rooftop seating. Since we were here for breakfast, I had an Irish coffee….

Manor Records
(Strawberry Hill, Kansas City, KS) Scooter’s 1577th bar, first visited in 2022. Not-for-profit record label & record store that recently opened a bar/performance venue as an addition to its fundraising…

Hillsiders
(Strawberry Hill, Kansas City, KS) Scooter’s 1576th bar, first visited in 2022. Cute dive bar with quirky decor and its own original cocktails that opened in October 2022 after an…

Fly Boy Brewery & Eats
(Sylvan Grove, KS) Scooter’s 1575th bar, first visited in 2022. I’d been wanting to come to this brewery ever since it opened, but the hours and location caused me to…

Vignettes
(North Kansas City, MO) Scooter’s 1574th bar, first visited in 2022. Normally I wouldn’t list pop-up bars on this site. However, this is a permanent pop-up bar that is open…

West Bottoms Whiskey Co.
(Downtown, Kansas City, MO) Scooter’s 1573rd bar, first visited in 2022. We didn’t know this even existed until the bartender at 9th & State mentioned it was the source for…

The Campground
(Downtown, Kansas City, MO) Scooter’s 1572nd bar, first visited in 2022. We were unable to go inside because it was far too packed, so had to settle for drinks from…
Bars Most recently Added
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#1601: Maumee Bay Brewing Company
(Downtown, Toledo, OH) Scooter’s 1601st bar, first visited in 2022. We stopped in here for lunch before heading back to Kansas City with the car-load of beef we had just…
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#1600: Checker Bar
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1600th bar, first visited in 2022. We had almost stopped in here earlier in the evening while walking back to our hotel from Grand Trunk Pub,…
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#1599: Suzy’s Bar
(Hamtramck, MI) Scooter’s 1599th bar, first visited in 2022. We almost didn’t stop here because of the party bus parked out front, but we decided to give it a shot….
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#1598: The Painted Lady
(Hamtramck, MI) Scooter’s 1598th bar, first visited in 2022. Our next spot made out initial short list simply based on the fact that we liked out the exterior looked. This…
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#1597: Abick’s Bar
(Michigan-Martin, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1597th bar, first visited in 2022. Now THIS is what looking for good neighborhood dive bars is all about. Easily in my top 5 of all…
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#1596: Applebee’s
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1596th bar, first visited in 2022. It’s always an embarrassment to list an Applebees on this site, but that’s what our hotel bar happened to be…
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#1595: Grand Trunk Pub
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1595th bar, first visited in 2022. After leaving Detroiter Bar we called to check on our companion who was getting some much needed sleep back at…
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#1594: Detroiter Bar
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1594th bar, first visited in 2022. We decided to make one more quick stop before checking to see if our companion back at the hotel had…
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#1593: Elephant Room
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1593rd bar, first visited in 2022. We knew our companion would still be needing some more nap time at the hotel, so we headed on over…
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#1592: Sweetwater Tavern
(Downtown, Detroit, MI) Scooter’s 1592nd bar, first visited in 2022. One member of our traveling group was exhausted, so the rest of us set out on foot from our hotel…
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#1591: Kruse’s Paint Creek Tavern
(Rochester, MI) Scooter’s 1591st bar, first visited in 2022. Stopped in here for one final round on our way back “home” to make a late dinner. It was surprisingly busy…
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#1590: Too-Ra-Loo
(Downtown, Rochester, MI) Scooter’s 1590th bar, first visited in 2022. A sports bar with pizza, Italian food, and 80 beers on tap. I had two cocktails (one was a chocolate…
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#1589: Rochester Mills Beer Company
(Downtown, Rochester, MI) Scooter’s 1589th bar, first visited in 2022. Stopped into this brewery for some appetizers and a few drinks to tide us over for a late supper. They…
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#1588: Ale Mary’s Beer Hall
(Downtown, Royal Oak, MI) Scooter’s 1588th bar, first visited in 2022. This was a bonus spot that a customer at Gusoline Alley told us about, and he led the way….
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#1587: Gusoline Alley
(Downtown, Royal Oak, MI) Scooter’s 1587th bar, first visited in 2022. A craft beer dive bar, decorated like a service station, with a pinball machine. I’ve had a t-shirt with…
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#1586: Ruckmoor Lounge
(Crosswoods, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1586th bar, first visited in 2022. We almost cut this from our itinerary because we were running an hour behind, but we are so glad we…
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#1585: Callahan’s
(Downtown, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1585th bar, first visited in 2022. Because it was so cold/windy and everyplace we had tried while walking back was way too crowded, we had decided…
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#1584: Char Bar
(Downtown, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1584th bar, first visited in 2022. We had been excitedly looking forward to this bar all day, but we were unaware of the hockey game that…
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#1583: Lumin Sky Bar
(Downtown, Columbus, OH) Scooter’s 1583rd bar, first visited in 2022. This cocktail bar sits atop the AC Marriott Hotel and has studding views of the Columbus skyline. A large patio…
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#1582: Brew Link Brewing – Downtown
(Downtown, Indianapolis, IN) Scooter’s 1582nd bar, first visited in 2022. Stopped here for lunch on our way to Ohio. Good location and good ambiance. Outdoor seating available along the north…
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#1581: The Other Place – Shawnee
(Shawnee, KS) Scooter’s 1581st bar, first visited in 2022. This is a massive sports bar/restaurant, a relatively newer location for the Iowa chain. It was extremely crowded and noisy, so…