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Main Street Saloon - Janesville - Wisconsin-esque tavern
This entry was posted on 2/10/2010 2:36 AM and is filed under Cheap beer,Taverns - Wisconsin-esque.
Rock the Casbah by the Clash rumbles from the speakers - 1982 counter-culture classic. I put my foot on the pipe foot-rail and order a beer. The front facade of the building boasts big glass windows. The type of window John Wayne used to throw outlaws through. Behind the bar is the consummate ornamental wood and mirror shelving.
Tuesday nights from 7:00 p.m. to close, you should find 16-ounce Miller Lites taps for a dollar down at the Main Street Saloon in downtown Janesville. On Wednesdays, find 16-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbon taps for a Buck. There are other dollar gems and their times through out the week - call them.
Just out the back door, the Rock River zips toward the land of Lincoln. The tavern is a relic out of the past. It reminds me of a '70s hippy watering hole that evolved out of a turn-of-the-Nineteenth-Century place and then somehow made it this far into the 21st Century without being turned into a trendy coffee shop. Someone forgot to de-construct this one.
There is an Irish flag hanging over a large Guinness beer mirror on the wall to the right as you walk in. A row of high-tables hug the wall. The wood floor has had decades of beer and other nefarious things spilled on it - use your imagination. The bar leaning-rail is well-worn polished wood. The bar top looks like Formica, but the old wood probably wore out. The iron water-pipe foot rail to rest your tired dogs on is welcome. Along the wall there are several enlarged black and white pictures of "old Janesville."
Some of these old buildings have tin ceilings right out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. But if the building is 140 years old or so things start to need to be replaced. In Main Street's case some years ago someone decided to put in the consummate white foam hanging ceiling. From my own experience in our basement, I have removed the hanging ceiling put up in the 1970s. I discovered they are harbingers of dust. Can you imagine the concept in a bar?
There is one tid-bit of minutia one might find interesting - after a few beers. The men's restroom has a unisex emblem. The little dude on the picture has on what seems to be a close-cut dress. In deference to the designers, the women's restroom has an emblem with a woman in pants but it does don breasts. I don't know, this is just odd tavern nuance. These things make old taverns what they are - Wisconsin-esque. No cookie-cutter, chain-restaurant choreography found here.
The only thing that makes me a tad hesitant is that these days the place attracts a posse of of twenty-something young dudes. I do so like to see a chick now and then. But, a dollar Miller Lite or two and you will probably begin to ignore the looming timbre of testosterone. The dudes are usually so preoccupied with themselves, they will not even notice the occasional gaggle of young chicks that wander into the place.
"Youth is wasted on the wrong people."
Remember this place was in the epi-center of the Rock River flood of 2008. I remember lifting a few sand bags down there myself. I think I have a pic somewhere.
Main Street Saloon is cool with Cool Dadio.
Find the Main Street Saloon at 117 North Main Street, Janesville, Wisconsin. Main Street runs parallel to the Rock River. Don't get drunk and charge out the back door, you will fall in. Call (608) 758 - 1393 for more information.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Specialist Eric Poelman, 21, originally of Mount Pleasant who was killed in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 5, 2005. A roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle. Eric was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was a tank driver with the L Troop, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Battalion. The unit's stateside home is Fort Carson, Colorado. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Eric's parents home-schooled him and his two brothers. Poelman enlisted in the Army on January, 2003. He was first deployed in Iraq in November 2003. He returned to the U.S. just under a year later and was then redeployed in March, 2005. He was married between tours. His wife Renate was living in Racine with family at the time of his death. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention Eric and Renate once both worked at St. Mary's Medical Center in Racine. Poelman had worked there in food service. It was also noted he was active in his church and had worked on a church mission trip to Guatemala. At the time of his death Eric was survived by his wife of one year Renate, two brothers Andy and Greg, and his mom and dad Sally and Matthew. Specialist Eric Poelman was the 39th military service member from Wisconsin to die in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
95,310 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,373 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,379 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
973 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
317 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
630 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,648 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,923 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
101 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
17 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
139 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
17 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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