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A desperate search for the Roundup Beer Hall
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M: Who are you writing this for? Is it being published?
B: Well, technically, I’m an independent contractor.
M: A what?
B: The cowboy boot suggests some sort of western brawl-style pub, full of barrel chested men with mustaches – what was it like in there?
M: Oh, you know, drinking.
B: What were people drinking?
M: Beers, mostly. It was mostly all beer.
B: No cosmopolitans?
M: What?
B: How about food – the sign says it was a grill, what did they serve?
M: French fries. Ham sandwiches. No one ever got the food, though.
B: Oh yeah?
M: No, it was mostly a place for drinking. It was just a lot of guys in there getting drunk.
B: How about girls?
M: Yeah, sometimes. They would never be in there alone, though – always with some other guy. They’d bring their girls over here.
B: Hmm. You’re not really giving me much – did you even like the place?
M: Yeah, you know, it was all right.
B: Would you mind taking off your sunglasses?
M: They’re prescription. It was the kind of place where even the regulars were uptight – everyone was always on edge.
B: OK, so it was like a tough-guy sort of scene….
M: Yeah, tough guys. No one was really very friendly. You would have your beer and that would be it – you would keep to yourself.
B: But why? Would things escalate?
M: Well, it was the type of place where you covered the alligator on your shirt, and were just as prepared to smash a bottle over the head of whoever gave you hell for it.
B: Any stories?
M: [laughing] No, no… you don’t really remember any of the stories that went on at this place.
B: Just drunkards throwing punches, then?
M: Well you see through that window there? There’s that room on the left. If this place wasn’t locked, that’s where you’d get your stories.
B: What would happen in the room?
M: Cock-fighting, gang banging… all sorts of stuff.
B: Cock fighting? Gang banging?
M: Oh yeah… you didn’t hear it from me, though. All sorts of wild stuff would happen in that place.
B: How late was it open?
M: Till they kicked us out. It would get late – like, 4 or 5 in the morning sometimes.
B: And the police never gave them any trouble?
M: For what?
B: Well, I believe that’s against code… cock fighting and gang banging… this is all criminal activity.
M: The police never went near this place. No one wanted to get mixed up with this stuff.
B: So you’re painting me this image now of a rough n’ tough kind of bar. Not the kind of place where you would loosen up with the boys after a 9 to 5….
M: No. People would be in there for hours at a time without speaking a single word. If they brought their lady over, they would sit quiet too.
B: Sounds depressing.
M: It was cheap beer, it was a place to hang out…
B: But you just mentioned cock fights and gang bangs…
M: Yeah.
B: It doesn’t exactly sound like it was just a place to hang out.
M: You’re writing an article, then?
B: I don’t know what I’m doing – it’s research.
M: What is this for?
B: I’m an independent contractor.
M: For school?
Roundup Beer Hall is located at 201 E Lake Street.
