chris m.
Yelp
I am absolutely baffled by this place. Every so often someone says, "Hey, let's go to the TOT, see if there's any girls there." Everytime this happens, I go. I've seen girls there sitting at bench tables with other guys or the bar with other guys or without guys signing out there tab, but I've never really met any girls there. That's fine because the place does have something to offer.
I go out by myself a lot and sometimes, well in my past, I was known to get belligerent. Other times I'm not at all, yet when I go in there people I have never seen before seem to know me and they hate me. t isn't just a random few either, it's a consensus. I've gone to the bathroom there and not just had my seat taken, but my whole seat removed. I've caught people keying my car (well, honestly it was this girl's car, whom I'm not so fond of, but the principal of it, you know). I once knowingly left my cigarettes at the bar and walked off and when I came back to the same cats who were standing there, all of them said they hadn't seen them, when I watched one guy take them. Even the bartender denied it.
In short, and not to sound the least bit vainglorious, because remember, I'm largely a loser who hangs by himself, this bar and it's patrons hate me more than any place I've ever been, and I roam around. It's such a remarkable feeling that I try to go there whenever I can.
One time I was sitting at the bar and turned to my left and this older woman was so close to me I could have licked that thing hanging down at the back of her throat just by extending my tongue. I asked her to move because I was claustrophobic. After I said that 11 guys, in succession walked up and reached over me, getting as close to me as possible to get matches out of the thing in front of me. They were all together and I saw they had lighters.It was truly wonderful.I'm not claustrophobic; I just really didn't want someone's face attached to mine This was not a "cougar" as a douche might say, she was a luckdragon like Falkor, never-ending story. That's right, I pulled it out, the story really is never over. Which makes the sequal hard to explain...
So, if the bar is full, there are bench style tables, which are usually taken by couples or groups of guys and girls who usually contain at least one person you know who gives "hi, how are you"'s but obviously doesn't want you to sit down and ruin whatever facade they've built up for themselves. So then there are some table's by the video games, that's right, basket shooting, maybe bowling, can't recall- but those are usually taken by couples in an argument and the ones by the door may as well be on a stage if you're hanging by yourself and since they immediately face the pool table, solo jack is obliged to give up his seat to the group, which I always do at tables, and sometimes at the bar. Oh, and there's a shuffleboard table, and just the kind of guys who came to play surrounding it.
So, then I'm left standing up, no one really to talk to, just standing, wondering why that group over there keeps looking at me and laughing and why this cat just said my name and called me this or that- and they seem to me to be different crowds, but probably just regulars who came in when i wasn't there and heard about the jackass. To be all alone in a place wherein you are so blatantly disliked, by pretty much everyone, is quite a rush. It's like absolutely freedom.
I'm not using myself alone as an example, I've had four or five friends express the same feeling. The thing is, we would go there alot, and this would still happen, and we would always be in the minority. Of course people are good humored to your face and nobody throws punches or gets mean, they just like to fuck with people, make them uncomfortable if they or someone they know doesn't like them.
I think this is fantastic and makes what otherwise would be a remarkably average bar I got into when I was 15 on an Oklahoma i.d. that had "novelty" written on the back. exciting You don't see teens there now, though.
It's a decision, though, because if it is dead, you have the tavern, and the lounge- rarely is one dead and any of the others kicking. So you must commit. I prefer the Inwood Tavern, and for the drinks the lounge, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't love the TOT. It's what a bar should be. Simple, good service, full of strangers and friends who may not claim you, but not in a pretentious way, more like a, "you are about to get your ass kicked" way. Makes me think of Swayze as Dalton, though I've never seen it get that rowdy. It's in the air, and the girls are beautiful and they smile, and there's always some cat behind them who sees the exchange. The conflict throbs and the people who don't like you don't look off your stares. Not to go too testosterone, because women seem to dig the place as much as guys, but the joint has balls. 5 stars and I might burn the fucker dow