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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Finn’s Food & Spirits
(Downtown, Hannibal, MO) Scooter’s 1873rd bar, first visited in 2026. I really needed a good coffee and had been unable to find one in downtown Springfield. Hannibal was the city…
Latest Posts
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#1327: Holler House
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Forest Home Hills, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1327th bar, first visited in 2019. I have been to a ton of dive bars. Up to the point of this writing, I had... -
#1326: Wolski’s Tavern
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Lower East Side, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1326th bar, first visited in 2019. We had been having such a good time at At Random that we were in serious danger of... -
#1325: At Random
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Bay View, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1325th bar, first visited in 2019. This was another recommendation from a bartender earlier in the day. And we almost missed it, because what looked... -
#1324: The Bubbler
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Bay View, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1324th bar, first visited in 2019. The other neighborhood bar near our AirBNB, this was just a few minutes walk east from Sam’s Tap and... -
#1323: Sam’s Tap
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Bay View, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1323rd bar, first visited in 2019. After resting at the AirBNB for a few hours, it was time to head back out on out mission... -
#1322: Shaker’s Cigar Bar
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Walker’s Point, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1322nd bar, first visited in 2019. This place was recommended to us by the bartender at the previous bar. Along the way we did some... -
#1321: La Merenda
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Harbor View, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1321st bar, first visited in 2019. As we were wrapping up at George’s we were getting hungry. Our group couldn’t decide between Mexican or Indian.... -
#1320: George’s Pub
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Harbor View, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1320th bar, first visited in 2019. Back last November, a couple of Canadians came into Zoo Bar on a Saturday. They liked to travel, and... -
#1319: Who’s On Third
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Downtown, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1319th bar, first visited in 2019. After Pabst we went to find the Bronze Fonz statue. It took a bit to get to it, a marathon... -
#1318: Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Downtown, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1318th bar, first visited in 2019. We began the next day with what we had intended to be a full-blown visit and tour to all of... -
#1317: Scaffidi’s Hideout
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Lower East Side, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1317th bar, first visited in 2019. At the other end of the block from Fink’s was arrived at the bar we were originally heading... -
#1316: Fink’s
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Lower East Side, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1316th bar, first visited in 2019. While we were eating at Red Lion we did some googling and found a place called Scaffidi’s Hideout... -
#1315: Red Lion Pub
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Lower East Side, Milwaukee, WI) Scooter’s 1315th bar, first visited in 2019. We had prepared well in advance a list of all the bars we wanted to visit in Milwaukee.... -
#1314: Fong’s Pizza
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Downtown, Des Moines, IA) Scooter’s 1314th bar, first visited in 2019. An odd fusion of Chinese, Italian, and Polynesian in a borderline dive-bar setiing that somehow comes together and works.... -
#1313: Iowa Taproom
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Downtown, Des Moines, IA) Scooter’s 1313th bar, first visited in 2019. I tried to visit this place a couple of years ago, but some sort of bike event/street party (not... -
#1312: Beechwood Lounge
Posted on April 2019 | No Comments(Downtown, Des Moines, IA) Scooter’s 1312th bar, first visited in 2019. I was walking from Locust Tap to Iowa Tap Room and spotted this place along the way. It looked... -
#1311: Elk’s Lodge #2509
Posted on January 2019 | No Comments(Blue Springs, MO) Scooter’s 1311th bar, first visited in 2019. I’m not a member so technically I shouldn’t have been on the bar side (I was there for a private... -
#1310: Firelight Lounge
Posted on December 2018 | No Comments(Quindaro, Kansas City, KS) Scooter’s 1310th bar, first visited in 2018. We tried to visit this place in 2007, but it was closed. We tried to visit again today and... -
#1309: Coach Lite Club
Posted on December 2018 | No Comments(Argentine, Kansas City, KS) Scooter’s 1309th bar, first visited in 2018. Happily, this is very much a dive in every sense of the word. I didn’t notice a pool table... -
#1308: Big D’s On The Hill
Posted on December 2018 | No Comments(Argentine, Kansas City, KS) Scooter’s 1308th bar, first visited in 2018. Despite the outward appearance, this is a genuine sports dive. There’s pool and a patio. I didn’t notice if... -
#1307: The Dotte Spot
Posted on December 2018 | No Comments(Victory Hills, Kansas City, KS) Scooter’s 1307th bar, first visited in 2018. Nice strip-mall dive-ish bar with great staff. Serves food and has a separate party room that can be...
