Friday: Independence Day Tricycle Races at Pop's Bar

(Click the photo for a full slideshow by Gretchen Robinette.)

Independence Day Tricycle Races
Pop's Bar
July 4, 2008
Notes and Photos by Gretchen Robinette

Better than: BBQing on your apartment stoop tossing M80 duds into the air like the rest of the Mission was doing (at least in front of Delirium on 16th after last call).

Pops' Bar succeeded yet again in living up to its slogan, "Going Nowhere Fast," on 4th of July with its annual Tricycle Race and all-day free BBQ. The bar opened at noon to allow ample time for competitors and regulars to get plastered the American way: via hot dogs and an endless flow of PBR. The group proceeded to stumble out to the sidewalk on 24th and York Street to watch folks in their late 20's attempt to maneuver kiddy tricycles through a series of orange cones.

While some people choose to spend the holiday weekend with their own dysfunctional alcoholic family, Pop's Bar welcomes you to join theirs - with owner Malia Spanyol acting as mother hen and referee to the sloppy dive bar madness for the tragically-flawed regulars, making you feel right at home. If you manage to earn a spot on the bar wall's 86ed lists for ill behavior, then you know you are one of them.

In contrast to Pop's nightly series of belligerent fights, hair pulling, screaming, flying bar stools, bathroom tagging and make out sessions behind the photo booth curtain, racing tricycles must have put everyone in a carefree mood, because no one appeared to get kicked out. Well, maybe due to the bar closing at 9pm, sending the laughing crowd of drunks out to the streets to fend for themselves.

The winner of 2008 Pop's Tricycle Race was returning champion Tuffy, making this his third year as champion. That earned him about 30 minutes of free beer and a whole lot of cheering as everyone returned to the bar for round two of endless shots and liver damage. For some shameful reason, I ended up at Pop's three days in a row, its piss and stale beer odor now embedded in my pores. Thankfully I don't remember much else.

By The Way: Stop by for $1 Hamms on Wednesdays and Free Bacon Night on Monday's.