V Room

One of the formative dive bars of my life (though, as a sore loser, I happen to know that the Halloween costume contest in 2008 was totally rigged so that a Geisha riend-of-the-bar could pay her rent with her prize money).

The place is a dump, the jukebox is unbelieveable, the crowd is a mix of great 20's-30's, a few colorful deadbeats who've been there since breakfast, and the beloved LB hipster elite, rockabillies and a few who live on the dangerous side.

Used to be a big fan of their pepperoni sticks, which, after some reflection, are probably just repackaged dog food.

Awww, the V Room. Minus one star because I know a guy who got stabbed there.

The V room is the first of many watering holes on Fourth street.  The place has gone through many iterations, but notably, the 2010 re-modeling saw the vintage 1975 wall carpet, textured ceiling, and dated lighting go away. Now walls in the game room are wood paneled, the ceiling has a muted black matte finish and the room lighting is pleasantly updated.  What a difference.  Here is the good news ...

Usually when a place updates the facility, business experts wrongly recommend raising prices to compensate for the expenditure. The V-room has kept their price structure intact and made the loyal clientele happy.  This is one of the best managed places in Long Beach and as a comparison, all one would have to do is walk two blocks towards the beach and experience three times the price structure for the same beverage  products ... The poor lost owner of that establishment has commented several times "where did all the regulars go?".

On to the service; Candace, Michelle, Lauren, Melanie, Sam, and Ritchie run a tight ship.  The service is prompt, accurate, timely, and customer focused.  What is nice is the afternoon happy hour events are not too crazy with people and one can have a good conversation with the patrons and bar keeps.  Recently one of the patrons posed a question "Who was the best hitting pitcher in the major league?" quickly the astute smart phone enthusiast drubbed up the local favorite of Orel Hershiser who batted in the mid 300's for one season.  As oft happens, the internet being digital input driven does not included information that has not been entered in the net.  

One of the intellectual gold mines (Tom) asked "Hey, how about George Herman Ruth?  He was a starting pitcher for Boston for six years before he was traded to the Yankees (batting average over 300 and a slugging percentage above 550.) He batted so well on the Yankees that manager Miller Huggins pulled him from the pitching rotation and set him in the outfield so he could bat in every game"

So Game, Win and Match goes to Tom ... Sorry Bill G and dub Steve's, the computer age does not have all the statistics imported yet.....

Also, if you want to watch a sporting event on a Saturday or Sunday, here is a great place to hang out.  Plenty of TV's are tuned to many different telecasts.  For those that are along for the "sports/event ride", Sam is a great conversationalist with a surprising vast knowledge and experience.  She is like a local but more sophisticated version of Kelly Ripa.  They both have a perky sense of humor and personality galore.  However, Kelly's content is "G rated" at best and is sanitized for the public audience (ughhh boring).

So ... like the Jeopardy game show with Alex Trebek asking what is your next category?  ... Give me Sam and unplugged Q and A for 20 bucks .... And the answer is "what is a great time"

Cheap. Dive. Great service. Cash only.  Really nothing more to say. :)