Pour and Tour

It isn't terribly surprising that when the Flanigan brothers, Jim and Mike, took over in 1985, they did a complete housecleaning, right down to the regulars. "The clientele was flushed," explains Michael Flanigan. "I permanently barred about 200 customers the first week. With the exception of the happy-hour crowd, we rebuilt from scratch."

Of course, there's still the flamboyant Michael Flanigan himself, well-remembered for his self-described "wild man days," whether behind the wheel of a bright green 1970 Cadillac convertible with steer horns mounted on the hood or making the rounds of competitors, bribing bartenders ten dollars to announce last call early and tell everybody to meet for a nightcap at the Loggerhead.

Ironically, the wild man hasn't taken a drink in three years. Nowadays he spends more time fishing at Walker's Cay in the Bahamas than he does taking care of business at the Loggerhead. Just one more sign, as if any were needed, that an era has ended on Bird Road.

"If you were a band member and you couldn't get laid there, you couldn't get laid, period. Cost me my first marriage."

"When kids ask me for a new song by Janet Jopple, John Elton, Fleckwood Meat, I have to steer them in the right direction."

"At the Embassy we had the world's biggest doorman," says Bill Fernandez, "Fred Ottman. Six-foot-seven, 375 pounds. Not much fat."

Formerly the Alley Cat Lounge, Canseco's is the only former Bird Road nude bar that's still in the nightclub business.

Geezerly Sid Gilmour lets his whiskers do the walking while he tickles his ivory fancy Rock is dead they say: From the rowdy Copa nightclub to a sedate funeral home Esther knows her way without Jose, but can her nightclub survive big-league competition?

From porn stars to pool tournaments, there's something for everyone at Uncle Charlie's Helene Miller gets substantially more than ten cents a drink now that she owns her own bar tour.