Bar 52

I couldn’t resist the neon flickering, the stirring neon electricity ringing, the (yet again!) intriguing East Side make up of bars that in any other city would be overran with youth because they’ve deemed the down-​trodden cooler than the up-​and-​coming (which is just the opposite in Indy). And really this was an investigative visit: could I find an East Side bar that is NOT smoking? Yes, a tall task. I just thought… hmmm… maybe because they have a carry out section (read: liquor store attached to their bar) maybe just maybe they would be. This addition in fact… might have lent to even more smokery.
Smoke all you want, especially at bars like this… I just want one without smoking — especially at a bar like this. Where I could smell the vinyl seats over sludge. Where I could smell cheap suds over sludge. Where I could smell pool table chalk over sludge. Instead here… sludge, yet again.
I didn’t stay for a drink, nor did I even talk to anyone so I can’t speak on the service of the bar. I did talk to the clerk in the carry out section and he’s one chipper fella. The chipper that still wears his class ring. In fact, so chipper he was wearing Chipper Jones’s baseball team shirt — The Braves. «What happens in the meadow at dusk?» You may ask, yes, it’s all very connected.
They don’t sell any local suds, and it’s the kind of place where you’re not allowed to touch the beer before you buy it, or they fear we’ll open the cooler doors on hot days just to cool off so all suds are behind the counter.
I felt it only fitting to buy High Life. It’s not expired nor infused with smoke.
Maybe if I ever get out of this phase of really enjoying bars without smoke, I could spend all night here.