Scooter’s 1118th bar, first visited in 2015.

Both the staff and the patrons were welcoming and friendly. We chatted with a few of the locals and admired the wicker bike.

The back room has two pool tables, video games, and what looked like a small stage area. We didn’t notice it during our visit, but my research later revealed a covered patio in the back that we somehow missed.

You have to love any bar with a wicker motorcycle.

2107 SE California Ave
Topeka, KS 66605
US
[launch map]
785-215-6676
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1117th bar, first visited in 2015.

The bar counter is a tiny, angled bar in the front corner. We were lucky to find a table nearby large enough for our group, as it was rather crowded in here tonight. I saw one pool table for sure, I couldn’t tell if there were more due to too many people standing about. Meanwhile, darts were whizzing past the back of my head.

1424 SW Lane St
Topeka, KS 66604
US
[launch map]
785-234-9294
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1116th bar, first visited in 2015.

Hot Pockets is a pretty good sized pool hall, tucked between a pizza joint and a grocery store. The L-shaped bar is in the far back.

Being from KC we aren’t used to bars that allow smoking, and this was the smokiest of the bunch today. Because of that we tried to drink quickly and move on, until one of our group members noticed the pinball machine in the corner.

1909 NE Seward Ave
Topeka, KS 66616
US
[launch map]
785-354-8128
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1115th bar, first visited in 2015.

Everything in here, including the floor and ceiling, is well-aged wood.

Granted, we were here during the late afternoon, but this seems to be a pretty laid back place. I wouldn’t quite call this a sports bar, though they are big into watching sports here. They do appear to have a small amount of food service, including tacos, chili dogs, etc. They host karaoke and bands from time to time.

Outside the west door (the main entrance if entering from the parking lot) is a great little half-covered patio with outdoor heat.

Sometimes you just have to get creative as to where you’re going to be able to mount the toilet paper.

401 NE Emmett St,
Topeka, KS 66616
US
[launch map]
785-232-3332
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1114th bar, first visited in 2015.

Back on that date, we were at a bar called Stingers (now called “The Flamingo”), and the bartender had written directions to a couple of nearby bars on post-it notes for us. One of them was Joletta’s, but were unable to find it and eventually gave up when we stumbled across Twilighter Country Club (now “Rumba Club”) — where our experience made up for getting lost.

Joletta’s is known for karaoke and also hosts life bands regularly. The L-shaped bar anchors the center of big floorspace, with a large open area at one end for bands and (presumably) dancing. There are two dart boards, we did not see any pool tables. A covered patio is nestled at the front of the building.

We enjoyed our visit quite a bit, mostly due to the really nice bartender.

600 NW Paramore St
Topeka, KS 66608
US
[launch map]
(785) 232-5511
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1113th bar, first visited in 2015.

This is a biker bar, and it’s big. Lots of places to tuck away to with your drinks. Bras hang from everything. There’s an exhibit, behind glass, of various biker related items and oddball items.

Outside there’s a complex system of patios, a stage, some bikes fixed-in-place that I’m not sure if you’re supposed to sit on but some of us did, and a beat-up old bus that’s been converted into a drinking area.

On with the pictures!

2521 N Kansas Ave
Topeka, KS 66617
US
[launch map]
758-230-7581
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1112th bar, first visited in 2015.

This was tacked on as a last second replacement after another bar was found to be closed. Tucked away at the back end of a run-down strip mall (hence the name), this place is truly a dive in every sense of the word, except one…

This place also happens to have a really grate selection of craft beer.

Now, don’t get me wrong; none of them are on-tap, and there are only a few bottles/cans available of each. But they had probably about two dozen varieties of craft beer to choose from, several of which we’d never heard of.

The bartender was very friendly, showed us around the place, and told some of the funny stories of past happenings.

There’s a game area in the back with a pool table, and out the “side” door (the true back door, there’s a patio behind a tall fence.

Years ago, an errant “firework” on the 4th of July blew this hole in the sidewalk outside the back door.

610 SW Wayne Ave
Topeka, KS 66606
US
[launch map]
(785) 296-9483
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1111th bar, first visited in 2015.

There’s a long bar along one wall, and parallel rows of booths & bar tables along the other wall. A single pool table fills the space in the back.

3203 S.W. 10th
Topeka, KS 66604
US
[launch map]
(785) 357-8474
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1110th bar, first visited in 2015.

There’s a pool table, a small L-shaped main bar, a handful of additional tables, and a separate smaller bar named “Bitches Island” that we particularly enjoyed. There’s also a patio out back.

5011 SW Topeka Blvd
Topeka, KS 66609
US
[launch map]
(785) 862-0776
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1109th bar, first visited in 2015.

Food-wise, apart from breakfast, they seem to be mainly known for their burgers.

There’s pool tables, claw machines (where we won a purple hippo/dinosaur thing that is another story for another time), and pinball machines that we spent a lot of time at. There’s also a pretty good sized beer garden.

This is a 3.2 bar, so no hard alcohol and a midnight closing time.

2842 SE 29th St.
Topeka, KS 66605
US
[launch map]
(785) 266-457
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1100th bar, first visited in 2015.

There’s a large square bar in the front, lots of restaurant seating, and a side room full of pool tables. The food here is pretty good, too!

Not the most awkward men’s room I’ve used in a bar, but it’s up there!

522 SW 6th Street
Topeka, KS 66603
US
[launch map]
(785) 233-0326
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1099th bar, first visited in 2015.

118 SW 8th Street
Topeka, KS 66603
US
[launch map]
(785) 235-2138
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1098th bar, first visited in 2015.

There’s a pool table in front and a small open area in the back that I imagine serves as a dance floor during the busy part of the evening.

921 S Kansas Avenue
Topeka, KS 66612
US
[launch map]
(785) 234-0482
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1097th bar, first visited in 2015.

1501 SW 21st Street
Topeka, KS 66604
US
[launch map]
(785) 235-3837
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1096th bar, first visited in 2015.

2202 SW Buchanan Street
Topeka, KS 66611
US
[launch map]
(785) 232-4341
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1095th bar, first visited in 2015.

417 SW 37th Street
Topeka, KS 66611
US
[launch map]
(785) 267-2739
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1094th bar, first visited in 2015.

The picture I took of the inside did not turn out.

3701 SW Plaza Drive
Topeka, KS 66609
US
[launch map]
(785) 246-6866
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 1093rd bar, first visited in 2015.

555 SW 39th Street
Topeka, KS 66609
US
[launch map]
(785) 783-2115
Visit Web Site

Scooter’s 253rd bar, first visited in 2007.

Luckily for us, this neighborhood included a strip dotted with several little watering holes-in-the-wall. Having time for only one, we picked the first place we spotted. It turned out to be the diviest dive of the day.

We parked in front of the Twilighter Country Club and were actually a little skittish about walking in. We worked up the nerve and heading on inside.

We took our seats at the double-L shaped bar. To our right, an older gentleman on oxygen was chain smoking while nursing his whiskey. Catty-corner to us, two leathered older women gossiped over bottled beer. (Except that the ladies were not older after all, we later learned from context that they were in fact in their mid 20s.)

Our bartender was a heavily pierced young woman who was watching daytime television and munching on onion rings. She glared at us for a moment when we sat down before sighing, setting down her onion ring, and coming over to see what we wanted.

After pouring us each a 12 oz draw of Bud Light ($1.25 each) she huffed, grabbed her onion rings, and sat back down to watch TV.

Now when you’ve had a few beers it’s inevitable that nature will come calling, and in our profession that means you grow accustomed to relieving yourself under a wide variety of conditions. Which is fortunate, because the men’s room here was swarming with flying insects and even featured urinal millipedes — a first for us!

As we reached about the mid-way point in our beers, the front door opened. The bartender, previously focused only on her television and onion rings, jumped to her feet.

“NO! You cannot come in here!” she barked.

“Why not?!?,” growled a gravely voice from behind us. “I have money, I want a drink!”

Slowly we turned around in our barstools to see a dirty, haggard man wearing absolutely nothing except a pair of tattered jeans. No shirt, no shoes, no socks.

“No, you have to have a shirt to be in here!” the bartender yelled. “It’s the law!”

“I come in here shirtless all the time! The owner lets me!” he insisted.

“Well number 1 I don’t believe you, and number 2 he’s not here so I’m the law. Now get out!”

“Well I’ll just go to any of these other bars down the street since you don’t want my money,” he threatened.

“Fine! Go right ahead! They’ll all tell you the same thing!” Our bartender was now shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Well I don’t give a fat f*ck!” he screamed.

“Fine! Now get the f*ck out of here!” she yelled back.

“I will! F*ck this place, you f*cking bitch!”. And with that, he surrendered and stormed out.

The bartender took a deep breath, looked at us, and said “I’m so sorry about that, guys.”

“Oh no, don’t worry about it,” we said, “that was the highlight of our day!”

We all laughed and from that point on she warmed up to us.

* * * * * *
When we left the bar we discovered that shirtlessness is apparently common attire in this particular part of town. Next to our car a beer-bellied shirtless dude was sitting in the bed of a pickup truck oggling women walking past.

816 N Kansas Ave
Topeka, KS 66608
US
[launch map]
(785) 357-7598

Scooter’s 252nd bar, first visited in 2007.

2335 NW Clay St
Topeka, KS 66618
US
[launch map]
(785) 234-4900