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| Tip Top Deluxe is located at 760 Butterworth St. SW in Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Last Tuesday, in a desperate attempt to cover up my lack of a
social life (I blame the system), I took a late-night detour through the
Westside.
Looking for nightcap I wound up at Tip
Top Deluxe, located here. (My friend Matt suggested this place for my next
Barstool Banter—thanks Matt!!)
I’ve been to Tip Top one other time, to see a friend’s band.
The place is pretty spacious for a bar that is noticeably out of the way, with
a stage in the corner and plenty of places to sit.
Outside of a group of people at one of the tables and the
eight or so people at the bar, the place was for the most part dead. Turns out
Tuesday is comedy night at the bar, but seeing I have a work/sleep schedule of
an insomniac, I missed the show.
Still, I took a seat at the bar and ordered an Atwater Vanilla Java
Porter while doing my usual round of people watching.
True to its show-like atmosphere, the bar has cool posters of old rock n’ roll acts and movies from the 1950s. Nostalgia posters and
signs, always nice touch (Oh dear God, I’m beginning to sound like American
Pickers….moving on).
About two seats down from me was a young women drinking a
gin and tonic looking down at her smartphone. Alright, here we go.
And there is some taller dude with darker hair than mine who
just sat next to her and she completely turned away from me to give him her
full attention.
Damn. Wait, if she was with the dude, why was she on her
damn phone. I mean, sure I’m on my phone. But I’m not with anybody else, I need
the interaction. But when you have a real, live person to talk to, why don’t
you give them their attention.
Ah, crap. This is turning into a soapbox that nobody wants
to listen to (Heckler: Yeah, like the
rest of this blog Ho Ho Ho).
Yep, just did a Muppets reference there. That just happened.
Eventually, the couple left and I ordered another New
Holland Poet. The Colbert Report was on the television with the volume turned
up, which was a nice touch for a bar with not a lot of people in it.
At the opposite end the bar was a rather drunk young woman
who was having a very load conversation with the bartender, though I’m sure she
did not think she was all that loud.
She was trying to hike up her jeans to show the bartender a
scar she got from bass fishing. Yes, I kid you not. This woman had a sizable
hook-shaped scar from a bass fishing accident—I feel honored that picked the
right bar at the right time to see this wonder. A bass fishing accident, holy
hell, Jerry Maguire was right. (Jerry Maguire, now that’s a movie I haven’t seen
in a while….putting that on the to-do list. Right after I make said to-do
list).
Luckily for her, and society in general, a dude walked into the
bar and grab the women by the arm and hooked (sorry had to use that word) around
his shoulder and escorted her out of the bar. (Hey, that will be his easiest
catch of the night—OK, no more fishing puns, I promise.)
Luckily, that was not the end of comedic enjoyment for the
night. As a show on Comedy Central called @midnight was on. Now, it could be
that I was working on my third stout of the night (sorry, I forgot the name, my
I do make an effort to drink more stouts during the colder months, it reminds
me of Liverpool).
Note: No, I’ve never been to Liverpool, I just imagine they
drink stouts all the time. Prove me wrong, damit.
For those that don’t know, @Midnight is a relatively new
show on Comedy Central. The gist of the show is that three stand-up comedians
compete in a game show where they make jokes on material they have never seen
before.
This particular show featured Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar and
Rob Riggle, and by God I thought every minute of it was hysterical.
At this point of the night, roughly 12:20 a.m., nobody else
was in the bar except me and the bartender, so I was A-OK cracking up like a
lunatic while watching this—again, third stout of the night.
The bartender eventually turned to me and told me that he
was thinking about closing up soon. Turns out that Tip Top Deluxe usually
closes around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesdays because of the comedy show.
The bar tender explained that most people just see the show
around 10 and clear out by 11:30 to go home or go find another bar—but he
always appreciates the late-night visitors who stop by and don’t heckle the
night’s act.
With that in mind, I downed the rest of my stout and left a
nice tip considering I was the last person in the bar. (Please don’t go through
the archives of the blog—mostly because that’s sad—but I’m pretty sure this was
the first Barstool Banter where I was the last person in the bar, so we got
that going for me, which is nice.
All and all, I would say that Tip Top Deluxe is a solid
place to visit if you are on the Westside.
Admittedly, it is a bit off the beaten path on the Westside,
and by beaten path I mean Fulton St. (Which is pretty much is Grand Rapids’
Yellow Brick Road, everything is on Fulton St.)
The bar features some pinball machines near the entrance,
including an Adams Family machine I wanted to just go I could hear the theme
(snap, snap).
The place has a really relaxed atmosphere, which is a must
for a good bar, and is a pretty good place to see a show (be it rock and roll
or comedy). The acoustics of the place work out so you can both view the show,
but still hear the person next you if you so choose.
Unless you were that one young women who was burying her
nose into her smartphone, what was that all about.
Sorry. I’m just part of a dying breed of people who enjoy actually
talking to (or about) real people.
We promise our kind will be extinct soon.
(Click, click). Damn, it’s just catchy.
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