It's questionable who this bar is named after. Â Alotta Fagina? Â If so, by the sweet gyrations of fembots, a classy man like Austin Powers would not set foot in this watering hole. Â It is possible that this establishment's heyday was in the 60's as well, because it looks a couple of decades past its prime (if it ever had a prime time). Â This bar pretty much scrapes the bottom of the dive bar barrel, and that is a cavernous and decrepit barrel.
The stuff hanging on the walls here is downright outlandish. Â One of the first things our hero noticed when walking in was the giant marlin to the right of the door. Â On the far wall, there is a cork board of pictures of the senior-aged regulars, some of whom are posing with women half their age. Â In the back of the room, there's also a huge heater hanging on the ceiling. Â A heater in San Diego? Â Was this place built before global warming was an issue? Â Or is the heater simply there to ward off the patrons' arthritis?
When our hero walked in with his two friends on a weekend night, they doubled the crowd in this tiny bar. Â Aside from them, there was a couple playing pool on the "better" table, and an old guy talking to the bartender about growing his own marijuana plants. Â Who knew that growing up to a dozen of them is considered legal in California if you have a prescription for it on the basis of depression? Â Alas, the homegrown ganja farmer couldn't convince her to go to his place to try out some of his bud. Â Better luck next time, pal.
PROS:
- Two super cheap pool tables. Â One sub-standard sized table that has seen better days costs only a quarter to play on. Â The other average quality table is only fifty cents.
CONS:
- Dirty, dingy, depressing.
i'm not sure if i'd even consider this place a dive bar. Â
it's located on a side street that makes it out of place and not somewhere one would expect a bar to be. Â the building itself was probably built in 1980, and making it a bar was probably an afterthought only because they were somehow able to get a liquor license (at least that's my interpretation to the birth of alotta's). Â parking looks limited, but i don't think that makes a difference; it doesn't ever look like there's anyone even there. Â as for prices, i'm assuming that they're decent because a corona cost $3 (that's the one and only drink i had there).
the inside is basically a bar counter with stools, a tv or 2, jukebox, and a pool table. Â it's like they decided to make a bar, but changed their minds halfway through the build. since the bar counter was already there, they figured that they might as well keep the bar and add a pool table. Â this is yet another interpretation to what i believe to be the conception of their interior design.
their bartender seemed friendly, and the service prompt (go figure, there were only 6 people in there). Â the ambiance well....hmmm....ok. Â this is a place where people come to drink in the area that really, really, really, need a drink and are not willing to brown bag it in an empty parking lot. Â if i ever hit rock bottom and needed a drink that was away from the world, this is where i'd be. Â as for the crowd, well it seemed to be locals, construction workers, and day laborers. Â the one guy that did talk to us was in his 40's, wearing a flannel, probably an ex-gangbanger, and yelling at someone on his cell phone.
it was hard to figure out if the one guy talking to us was:
a. drunk and talking to us just to talk
b. being nice to us
c. threatening us
i would have derived the same amount of satisfaction drinking in front of my house...by myself. Â how do they stay in business? Â better yet, how did they get a liquor license? Â
* what i liked
- cheap drinks
- i didn't get robbed
- i didn't get stabbed
- talc dispenser for the pool table
* what i didn't like
- wondering if i was going to be robbed
- wondering if I was going to be stabbed