Milla Pub

As you drive northbound on 101st passing the Baccarat Casino you will notice a little gem on the right side off the road.  It is right on the west edge of the bad part of town and has no lack of guttersnipe milling about.  It seemed only right to check out Milla Pub after a couple at The Grand Hotel.

We opened the barred up front door and stepped inside.  Milla has a typical dive bar feel.  Half finished jugs of draft beer on tables being drank by depressed borderline homeless people.  We grabbed a jug, some ancient Clam and a pool table.

Despite getting the usual stares the people in Milla were pretty friendly.

We played pool with a man in a wheelchair.  His name is...  That's right. Wheels.  He could see us fighting back our laughter.  The laughter that overcomes you when you are watching the national anthem at a preseason hockey game where the Oilers play each other.  You feel bad for laughing but can't help it.  The guy has one fricking leg, is in a wheel chair, hobbles around to take a shot at pool and found it just as funny as we did.

I got bold and asked him what happpened.  He  was walking out of the Grand Hotel one night with two cases of off-sales and got jumped by 5 guys.  15 stab wounds, a morophine addiction, and a methadone addiction later his leg got infected and he got the chop.  Wheels is a pretty solid guy and I have ran into him again.

There were others there.  We played pool with a guy who looked normal and not homeless.  But later we found out he was just cleaning up after a nice little crack addiction.  I guess all the truck drivers are crackheads it seems.  Then there was a girl who insisted her name is Ugly and a guy sitting in the back not drinking or doing anything.  Just staring at us like a bunch of white boys in Harlem.

Milla Pub is a very friendly pub and doesn't give you that feeling like the York does.  You can enjoy your beer and not feel rushed to leave with your life.  We stayed for many many pitchers and even brought a girl in with us.  We left Milla Pub when it was dark and had to get the owner to let us out.  He was holding the door closed to keep out the unwanteds out.

Milla Pub is one of my favourite dive bars I have been to so far and have been back a few times.  I am only giving it three knives out of ten though because I never really feared for my life.  Except that scary guy in the corner and the rough guy who followed us out of the bar for a block until we gave him some change.

The York Hotel

This is the first post in my quest to describe most every dive bar in Edmonton.  Unfortunately I think the first one might be the diviest one out there, despite being across the street from the EPS Headquarters. 

We marched into the York Hotel sometime in the afternoon.  The "no knives" sign was especially inviting.  We made it into the bar after we parted the "crowd" hanging around the front door.

The first thing you see is the typical rows and rows of VLTs.  The bar felt busy but we didn't see a lot of people in the low light.  Then I saw a big room past the bar.  This is where the true York Hotel is.

This room is just a big beer hall.  There is a stage in the corner and tables spread all around.  For some damn reason there is a self serve shooter bar.  I have no idea how that works.

We grabbed a jug of beer and headed towards the back near the two pool tables.  Behind these is just an empty space littered with old mattresses, a walker, and a broken toilet.  Oh and just  some advice.  If you go to the bathroom, don't pee on your hands.  The sinks didn't seem to have running water.

The people at the York were friendly, but with the threat of random violence lurking everywhere.  We played pool with a lady whose  name was "6-Pack"  but everyone just calls her  Pearl.  There was another guy who talked to me for a bit and later on decided to move the pool balls on our table.  There was a tense moment but we knew to hold ourselves back.

We finished up our beer and saw Deaner from Fubar.  I shit you not.

I give the York Hotel Eight Knives out of Ten