The Parkway Lounge
1850 Park Blvd., 510/451-7231

The Parkway Lounge is located down the street from Lake Merrit. It sits about two doors away from the Parkway Theater (which serves food and beer, yes beer), which shows movies after they’ve left the major theaters.

Being so close to the theater my friends and I figured it’d be a pretty hip place. I’d always seen a lot of interesting people coming out the doors. So on a Friday night, I convinced some of my friends from SF to come over and check it out.

Well, we walked in and there was only one group of people inside. This consisted of about 10 stone-drunk guys. Getting drunker. Aside from them, it was just the bartender.

In fact, these guys ended up getting so drunk that one of them threw up at their table, went to the bathroom to throw up again, rinsed his mouth, lit a cigarette, got another drink and proceeded to hit on the bartender. Very impressive.

Other than the barf boys, only two other people came in. These two guys sat at the bar, didn’t talk and threw’em back like water.

The inside of the bar is OK but nothing special. It has a pool table, juke box, a couple of TV’s and free popcorn for some non-drinking diversions. When you’re to drunk to stand anymore there’s a good size bar with plenty of seating, a few tables and a cool wall couch.

I’d suggest trying it after a movie with a group of friends but wouldn’t make it my primary destination.

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