The Windjammer is a place where one can stop by and unwind after a hard day at work. Many describe it as the local dive bar and I like it that way.
You also have a multitude of bar tenders that help set the tone for the ambiance. Some are mellow and nice and will engage you in conversations. Others are very busy and you're lucky to squeeze a few words in. All in all, they are awesome people....yes bar tenders...you folks are some cool peeps!
The folks that come in range from your regular locals, to the out of towners looking for a new hiding spot to have a few drinks and meet new people. I thought I had seen it all until I visited this bar. It's not too creepy and the majority of the folks here are super nice.
The place has at least 6 televisions showing everything from sports to fail video segments, which I have left me exhaling beer through my nostrils from time to time while laughing. If the tipsy humor doesn't entertain you, the Fail segments will.
If people watching is your thing then you'll have fun here...
This place would have earned 5 stars but they offer very limited snacks. If this place offered appetizers...this place would rock.
The pool table is corraled a bit but with a bit of creativity, you can manage to squeeze out a game or two. Watching people play can be entertaining as well.
Come on in and have a cold one...share a smile and a laugh or two!!!
What? You say you're looking for a stiffy?
Get yer mind outta the gutter. This local dive-y type bar exceeds your expectations in the drink department. Â The bartenders and locals won't kick you out if you're from out of town--so belly up to the bar.
The bartenders and owner are all super cool peeps who like to support the local community events and also have some pretty good bands come through. There is no "typical" person that visits here, you could see any number of people here on any given day or night. Â Lots of parking and when you get hungry, you can wander over to Safeway with all the other late night munchie-seekers.
The 'jammer does have snacks like chips and nuts if you don't feel like crawling down from your bar stool for something more substantial.
You can also buy lotto, play pool, put your quarters in for your choice of music. Bonus: you can show up looking like you just rolled out of bed and no one is going to make fun of you. Everything is ok here. You will feel at home. It really is like a second living room.
Come on, folks, it's a dive bar in Aptos... whattya thinking? Â You're not going there for witty repartee and classy appetizers, now are you? Â I wander in once every couple of months when I have some time to kill, usually in the afternoon. Â The bartenders are usually very agreeable, and they actually carry Chardonnay, which is generously poured. Â My daughter and I had a ball once watching a ridiculous soap opera on the big screen TV - eerie and silly at the same time. Â It's not my cup'o'tea at night, though.
Review Source:i love the windjammer but then, i live in aptos a few blocks away. i noticed most of the bad reviews are from non-locals. if they think this is a dive bar, they haven't been to many bars in santa cruz county! however, for aptos it is definitely *the* dive bar. this is a nice, mellow bar to stop in, have a drink, play some keno and listen to some music. they took down all the cheesy beer signs and crap and it's actually much nicer now. the pool table IS a joke, it's crammed into the corner with walls on 3 sides and the dartboard is placed in a bad spot, not only over the table but right where bands play too.
my only beef is the bartenders ignore us for about the first 5 minutes after we sit down and, mind you, there are usually only 3 or 4 people at the bar when we go here. just as i'm about to be a smart ass and ask if someone is working the bar, they stop their conversation to come take our order. this only happens with the female bartenders but then, most of them are female. go figure.
anyway, when the attached restaurant is open you can also get food delivered to the bar which is nice :)
This is an awsome spot to get drunk. I have never played pool or darts here, that's not my game. I'm a Golden Tee type of guy. I drop in this bar everytime I am doing laundry across the street. Get a beer and a shot and return for some folding. I really like the dude Gailin, the owner, he bought me a shot. Shannon is a really good bartender too.
The music is what you'd expect, bluesy stuff.
I have never had anything but a good time in this place.
Wow. Um, Budweiser must be seriously paying these guys a LOT of money. Because there's a LOT of Budweiser advertisements here. Really, far more than necessary. It's kinda hard on the eyes-- it detracts from whatever character this bar has that I couldn't find... because it's buried behind the Budweiser crap!
The Windjammer, no bad mamma-jamma, features a Lotto machine, a pool table jammed into a too-small space and strategically positioned to interfere with the darts board (or maybe that's how they weed out the shallow end of the gene pool-- pooldarts, anyway?), and... hell, I can't remember anything else aside from the FREAKING BUDWEISER ADVERTISEMENTS!
There was a live band setting up to play, but I didn't get to hear them. Nice that The Windjammer offers music, but probably, the band would be under contract to substitute all lyrics with odes to the "King Of Beers".
And for all that advertising, did I drink, much less want, a bud? No.
I would tell you not to go out of your way to go to this bar, but seeing as it is in a strip mall right off the highway, conveniently located next to the gas station the highway signs direct you to, you will most definitely not be going out of your way.
This is a classic example of what happens when a smaller suburb creates an environment where your options are a) drive into larger town next door b) grab dinner at a crappy chain restaurant and go home and watch So You Think You Can Dance or c) get together with the other locals at the shitty bar down the street that tries too hard to make everyone feel welcome and comes off as insincere as a result.
Notables; the pool table needs re-felting and the dart boards that you have to play by throwing the darts OVER the pool table should seriously be relocated. Maybe they should just let people throw darts at the overabundance of Coors Light and Budweiser marketing adorning every open surface of the place. It would be no less safe and probably more fun.
K, so, first of all, this good old fashioned watering hole is located in the Aptos Safeway shopping center. That should give you an idea of just what a dive this place is. If that isn't proof enough for you, maybe the collection of lifted Chevy trucks parked out front will help. Still not convinced? By all means, take a step inside and take a look around. Please take note of the flag streamers decorating the ceilings, the assortment of beef jerky hanging from hooks across the bar wall, or the jar of Slim Jim's by the cash register. There was even the token creepy guy hanging out by the girl's bathroom busting the overdramatic up down check out move and spitting cheesy "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven" lines. Can always count on that guy for a laugh.
By now we should be on the same page - this is the diviest dive bar in Santa Cruz.
We ran into some family friends of one of the guys we were with who insisted on buying us our drinks. This arrangement resulted in their ordering for us, which in turn resulted in my discovery of a bomb titled "The Street Racer" - I think "The Heart Stopper" would be more appropriate - made up of half a cup of red bull into which you drop a "bomb" of vodka and Midori. Hangover waiting to happen. Why did I agree to this?
Anyways, if you're into dives as much as I am, you will feel right at home here. Regulars are even allowed to bring their dogs in to frolic about as they get trashed in the dark divey corner. It was not so dark however, when I stumbled out of the place at 4 o'clock, already drunk like a true dive lurker. It was a proud day....
I'm convinced that if I ever went to see a Neurologist, not to mention a Psychologist!, the doctor would take one look at my little pea-brain and let out a big sigh of disappointment and confusion. Â Disappointment for how many dead carcasses of brain cells once existed in the bountiful forest of my brain, and confusion at what the remaining brain cells are doing. Â To wit: Upon learning of the Windjammer across the street from my hotel, the first thing I thought of was the porn movie in The Big Lebowski entitled "Log Jammers." Â For the rest of the night (possibly due to a day of drinking and no food) I couldn't remember the real name of this place and kept calling it the Log Jammer. Â
On top of this, me being the drunken baffoon that only a few brain cells will create, I was flirting with some cousin of the groom (22 year old blondie from Ohio with a kickin' body...what do you expect?) while her Aunt, unbeknownst to me, sat at the end of the bar watching us. Â The next day both her mom and an uncle cornered me asking how the night before was. Â A bit, ahem, uncomfortable to say the least.
This place was pretty cool though (from what I remember). Â Blues band playing, drinks were quick to come by, and apart from some dude who kept flexing trying to show me his steroid loaded muscles, the crowd was pretty tame and laid back.
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