Atmosphere: Dive Bar

Clientele: Let’s just go with “varied”

Spirits: Full bar, limited but good selection

Staff: Mr. Moondog is awesome!

I never would have found Moondog’s Place (1924 Sebastopol Rd) if A) I hadn’t been invited to play pool there and B) someone didn’t send me detailed instructions on how to find it. It’s tucked behind a laundromat and between another bar and a mini-mart. It took me two tries to get in the right driveway. There is an ample parking lot however, so that was favorable right away. Plus, I’m sure that the locals like that the bar is hard to find. I know I like it when my favorite hang-outs are off the beaten path. I doubt many people just wander off the street and into Moondog’s. From the outside, it looks a little intimidating.

My first thought upon entering the bar and seeing the steel mesh DJ booth and a few hard characters sitting at the bar was, “I hope I don’t get stabbed tonight.” These fears were put to rest, however, when I sat down at the bar and was jovially greeted by Mr. Moondog himself, the proprietor and bartender. That’s the thing with these kind of dive bars, you just never know whether you’ll make friends or make trouble.

The liquor selection is smallish due to the small bar space but it’s diverse enough that you”ll be able to get almost anything you want. Everyone ended up being quite friendly and Moondog’s Place carved out a niche in the cockles of my heart when one of the regulars bought me a drink and then later I ended up drinking an Oatmeal Cookie shooter on the house. I knew after about an hour that I liked Moondog and his place enough to write a good review so I passed out some Barfly stickers and told them about the site. Later I was greeted with “There’s my Barfly! I love my Barfly!” Awwww. We love you too, Moondog!

There’s two pool tables, a video game machine and an Internet jukebox for your enjoyment and most nights there’s a DJ, karaoke or live music. While the crowd might look a little rough around the edges, they seem like good people and a lot of fun. We certainly enjoyed playing with the Moondog ladies billiards team.

Moondog’s Place even contains a bit of Santa Rosa history in Yuki, the bartender, who is rumored to have bartended in that establishment for something like 30 years. This is why I’ll pick a local dive over a corporate chain any day of the week (Stout Brothers, cough cough) – I love the character(s).

I can’t wait to return to Moondog’s, hopefully for some karaoke or a live band.

Pros:

Parking

Pool tables

People watching

Fun crowd

Live music and karaoke

Cons:

No paper towels in the bathroom

Limited liquor and beers on tap

Probably gets crowded