(Columbia, IA)
Scooter’s 739th bar, first visited in 2010.
This is one of the most unusual “bars” I have ever been to. From what I can gather, it was originally a tire store and possibly a small general store. But at the end of April 2010, they opened a Bar & Grill. Though there’s not really exactly a bar.
But I’ll get to that, because first I need to get into the aspect of this place that creeped me out.
As a result of all the barhopping trips I have taken, I occasionally have dreams about barhopping. A few months ago I had a dream that I was in a small town…
The main road in was a gravel road. At the main intersection in town, at the northeast corner, was a gray service station. I went inside and a mechanic was putting tires on a car. I was wanting a beer and I noticed a doorway leading to the east side of the building. I stepped through the door and found myself in a long, white room with cafeteria/diner style tables. At the north end of the room were restrooms, at the south went there were windows facing the road. There was a beer cooler in the southeast corner of the room. I grabbed a beer and a woman at a cash register behind me rang me up. As I sat at a table drinking my beer, I noticed people outside the windows pushing strollers.
And that was basically the extent of the dream.
So back to Columbia Store & Tire. The main road leading into the town is gravel. Columbia Store & Tire sits at the NE corner of the main intersection. The garage is on the west side of the building, to the east is the longer main building (which is bluish-gray in color). I stepped inside and found myself in a long white room with cafeteria/diner style tables. The bathrooms were at the north end of the room, the south wall had windows.
We asked the woman at the counter if this was the bar & grill. “Well, there’s no bar,” she said, “just grab yourself some beer from the cooler over there.” She pointed, we turned, and there was a beer cooler in the southeast corner of the room.
Wow.
We grabbed our beers and paid. My friend, out of habit, tipped her a buck. “That may be the first time in the history of tipping,” he pondered as we sat down, “that someone got a tip for merely pointing. She never actually touched the beer.” Which is true… the bottles had twist-off caps so we opened them ourselves.
The “bartender” asked if we were in town for the parade, which was apparently about to start. Looking out the window, I noticed a woman pushing a stroller down the street heading towards the parade route.
I am… freaked… out. 
As we left town, my friend (who works in a children’s hospital) got angry upon seeing children on an ATV heading down the road to the parade.
1035 Virginia St.
Columbia, IA 50057
US
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(641) 943-2216
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