Thank You

This was just a quick blog to throw some thanks out to some of the people that have helped Every Bar in Lakewood reach its current successes.

First off, many of our readers find out about and read my blog through some of our local social media sites.

Lakewood's Patch.com has given me free will to put whatever I like up since I came up with this idea. As many as a quarter of my weekly readers read my latest adventures through them. Plus, I used their directory to help put together our original list of bars. Thanks Colin!

http://lakewood-oh.patch.com/

The Lakewood Buzz is a pretty cool site that lets people post about things going on around Lakewood in a text only format. I've found their readers to be amazingly friendly. Check them out you never know the random Lakewood knowledge that might pop up.

http://lakewoodbuzz.com/

The Lakewood Citizen has helped boost my new Lakewood readers on occasion and have quite the active twitter feed at @lkwdcitizen.

http://LakewoodCitizen.com/

The Lakewood Pillars and their annual wing crawl helped me get out in the community early.

Pillars of Lakewood

The Cleveland Scene Magazine's article about me during my first month definitely kept me from feeling like I was only writing for my family.

Scene Article

A couple of the bars have been a big help to the blog in both promotion and helping with other facets of my work. Coincidentally, they also are some of my personal favorite bars.

Bar #1, Mahall's 20 Lanes is always willing to spread the word and has been very open to helping out in other projects that I have been working on. I really enjoy their food and beer selection. Mahalls also offers a lot of different things to keep you occupied from bowling and games to benefits and concerts.

Bar #1

The Shamrock Tavern and Bane Boys was probably my biggest surprise of the blog. Not only is their food great and bar full of fun surprises but they are always willing to lend a hand to anything I might need of them. I look forward to returning over and over again, not to mention future projects they'll be involved in.

Bar #10

The Tarrymore Inn, especially their bartender Cheryl, have been one of my biggest cheerleaders. They are always spreading the word about my exploits. You should definitely check them out for their friendly staff and patrons along with having the best patio in Lakewood.

Bar #5

Donna Repasy, once the owner of the Screaming Rooster, was a promoter of the blog from the beginning and has helped out even after she lost her bird.  Thank you Donna, you've been a good friend.  Obituary

Special thanks also go out to Jammy Buggers, Mars Bar, World of Beer, The Patio , Bonnie and Clydes and the Harry Buffalo.

A bigger thank you goes out to all of you. 80% of my likes on Facebook are from you guys liking and sharing my articles and pictures. This has helped spread word about the blog around the city and even the country.

Also, thanks for helping me make a little money off the blog. For each blog that goes out around 5 hours of research, aka drinking and talking to bartenders, writing and social mediating. So, when you read the blog, if you see an ad that looks remotely interesting feel free to click it. This can help me make additions, pay my graphic designer, get shirts available at local bars and fund events.

Thank you to those of you who have bought my shirts. Most of the price goes to the actual materials. I have tried to offer shirts with ink and material that can survive being washed after wearing them to all 53 bars. They won't be as fun if when you're done the only thing you can see are the check marks. I am looking for a local printer, hopefully that will cut a couple bucks of the price.

Buy Shirts Here

Johnny and Katie Vanderford have been with me through most of the blog putting up with my crazy schedule and my picture taking. This wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you both.

My biggest thanks of course goes to my wife Kelly. She has supported me throughout this process and is always excited to jump on the bandwagon of whatever crazy ideas I come up with for Every Bar in Lakewood. Plus, without her the shirts would look horrendous and everything would be covered in comic sans. Thank you, Kelly, for coming with me on this crazy journey.  I love you.

                                   Jewelry & Metal Smithing                        Wedding Photography & Stationary

Thank you beer.  You have been with me through all of this.  All full of frothy, alcoholicy goodness.  This blog couldn't happen without you.

I have a couple new things in the works, so by the time we hit the 1 year mark I'm probably going to have to put up another one of these. Till then thank you for reading. This has been a fun crawl so far and it makes it worth the work to know you're all enjoying it.

Week 3: Mars Bar (Expanded and Renovated)

There are two stories starting with a bat this week. One of these is the potentially awesome movie Dark Night Rising and the devastation of the attack of the theater in Colorado. I am deeply sorry for those who were killed and injured in the shooting. I send my best wishes to their loved ones.

The second bat begins this story a couple months ago. I had just woken up, was groggily getting ready in the bathroom when I hear a scratching noise coming from the drop ceiling above me. I figured it was a chipmunk or mouse that had found its way into the house. Suddenly I saw a black fluttering shape scurrying across the light panel.

I ended up doing the logical, terrifying action of sticking my head in the ceiling of trying to coax the bat out of the ceiling into a positioned pillow case. After a couple almost catches and me jumping out of the ceiling once screaming like a girl, the bat escaped into the attic. I did find something else in its place. There was a postcard with a half naked woman on it. Was this the boob fairy leaving me a present? Under closer inspection it turns out this was an old postcard sent to the Mars Bar. Apparently it was stolen, then hidden in the ceiling by the previous occupants of my house. The post card made its way to my refrigerator (I don't have friends with kids over often) until last weekend when my friend's Ramona and Aidan were over. When Aidan saw it, he of course brought it up and we related the story. The end result was I needed to go to the Mars Bar this week.

I haven't been to the Mars Bar in a while. My first thought when I got there was: wow, they've made a lot more room. Mars Bar now has a nice covered patio in the back and a second patio area in the front. Inside, is colorful without being obnoxious, with quality wood stool seating. The Mars Bar is surprisingly roomy for the space it has to work with. The music which ranged from metal to classic rock filled the empty space providing a nice change from the pop hits that permeate many other bars. Their digital jukebox can play anything else you can imagine.

The Mars Bar had a nice selection of beer for everyone, the quality drinkers , the quantity drinks, and even for the fruit tasting beer drinkers. I had Boulder Beer Company's Mojo IPA. It was a surprisingly smooth, both in taste and texture, Indian pale ale. If you've never had a pale ale, this is good place to start. If you already like them, you'll appreciate Mojo works more for quality and detail, then overwhelming taste.

I'm sure they have other good things to eat at the Mars Bar but you don't have choice of your first meal. When you walk in you see it sitting across the bar glowing at you, slowly spinning. A cone of pig, calling out to be turned into a more appetizing form. Their pork gyros were very good, neither skimping on portion or flavor. The addition of mustard and yogurt makes the flavor a bit more unique in town that serves many gyros.

Many of my friends came out last night to support me with this new endeavor. We hung out on one of the few comfortable nights we've had on the back patio. We all had a good time and only had good service from the bartenders.

The talk eventually moved as it tends to, to the Browns. Two of my friends recently moved from Cincinnati and Chicago, respectively. They come from cities with teams who've had their good and bad years, overall are teams that have a decent chance at winning seasons. They are excited about becoming Browns fans. They found our secret to following a team which hasn't lived up to expectations, one that we may not realize. In short, we don't live in Cleveland, Cleveland lives in us. The people of Lakewood, Cleveland in general, are Browns fans because the Browns and our cities are an extension of us. We are a people that have seen things at their worst but through a mixture of stubbornness and hope are willing to chip at the bad, while waiting till we make it right. This Clevelandness has kept Lakewood a great place to live, has allowed Cleveland to be a better city with each year, has seen the Indians and the Cavaliers rise to greatness over the last 2 decades. We aren't Browns fans, we are fans of ourselves and we'll bring the Browns along for the ride.

The Mars Bar is the epitome of our area. It's smaller than its competitors. It doesn't offer anything you can't get somewhere else. The Mars Bar didn't want to be just a little dive bar, they've made a small trendy bar, comfortable for anyone to come to. They didn't want to be just a small, red, distant tavern, now they're bigger and one of us. Mars Bar made a good gyro that isn't the same as the other dozen and it's great. Come to the Mars Bar, it's like us, always getting better with a splash of mustard.

Awesome: Customer Service, Community, a Great Gyro

15314 Madison Ave

216.228.4500
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*Picures with no people are from Patch.com