Richard C.
Yelp
The bar that time forgot.
When we met at 10:00am this past Sunday morning, none of us could have expected what was to go down at The Sundown later in the day. A few good friends and I met at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa so we could all ride (bicycle) out to Westminster for some mid-morning Dim Sum....not sure why I just capitalized that. After about an hour and a half ride and another hour of eating it was time to get our afternoon drink on.
On the last dim sum ride everyone had gone to the bar two doors down from the dim sum spot...The Sundown. An apropos name. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending how you look at it, this time was no different.
The Sundown. Hmmm.
The place deserves 1 star and 5 stars all at the same time. You walk into this bastion of dust and alcohol and find two pinball machines to your right. Do they work? No idea. You walk in a little further and you have a long bar on the right, three non-regulation pool tables in the back and a clientele that boggles the mind. Bro's (909'ers), what seemed to be older mainland Chinese men and a couple of black dudes sprinkled in for good measure...an eclectic mixture of folk. A true locals bar to say the least.
They allow smoking. If you're sensitive to smoke, don't come here because either the smoke'll get you or the layer of dust that seems to sit on every corner of the bar. An amazing display of anti-cleaning abilities. Martha Stewart would walk in and then walk right out.
It's a bikini bar. Yes. Much to our surprise...even Adams as he was overheard saying, "Dude, the last time I was here the bartender was a fat, bearded guy," or something to that effect. The girls were cute in that "I used to be a porn star back in the day, but I have a kid now, so I need to be more respectful and I've decided to work as a bikini clad bartender in a dive bar." kind of way.
Now why the 1 star to 5 star rating? Well, 1 star for being so fucking dirty and for running out of beer glasses...granted there were about 15 of us...but come on.
5 stars for...well...um...things that can't be talked about in an open forum. Acts that can only bring heat to this place and I'll be damned if I fuck with someone's livelihood. We have blurry iphone pictures to remember the day though...
And as our money ran out and we walked out into the sunshine outside, someone put it best when they said, "That didn't just happen? Did it?"
I'm sure if we had walked right back in there, the fat, bearded bartender would have been serving drinks and there'd be one or two old men drinking their Budweisers...as if nothing ever happened.