It’s been some time since I made a pilgrimage to the greatest bar in the Northwest, Bob’s “World-Famous” Java Jive. The Java Jive is a bar in a building shaped like a coffee pot. I was told, while on a visit there in the company of Alan and Charlie of thee Sun City Girls and the fabulous Chuck Swaim, that the building was intended as a speakeasy, but that prohibition ended before the building opened.

The ever-lovin’ Roadside America has this lovely page full of roadside coffee-pot buildngs, including a lovely full-color view of Bob’s Java Jive!

Lately, the denizens of the south Sound region have been able to partake of occasional punk-rock shows there, which is truly an inspiring prospect. Add to that the fact that this wonder of modern architecture serves Pabst, had a resident troop of monkeys, and played host to the Ventures back in the first salad days of Northwest rock, and you’re talking something special.

Multiply these facts by the song “South Tacoma Way” “Thrice All-American” by Neko Case, which ends with this stanza:

God bless California
Make way for the Wal-Mart
I hope they don’t find you
Tacoma

and when you realize that South Tacoma Way is the street that Bob’s Java Jive is on, you’ll be looking into bus fare.

Oh, by the way? The monkeys?

They really exist, although I don’t know if they remain there. One got out during the visit mentioned above, and the elderly proprietress chased it around the bar with a broom, yelling at it by name: “Billy, you get back in the closet! Git! Go on now!”.

Aaaaah.