Love That Bob's

Sad news on the front page of this morning's Tacoma News Tribune...

"Among the big-name rockers to drop in were the Ventures, who often performed there before the Tacoma surf-rock band scored its first big hit 'Walk -- Don't Run,' in 1960. Members of Nirvana hung out there in the '80s, though the urban legend that the band performed there isn't true. Members of Tacoma punk band Girl Trouble were also regulars around that time; singer Kurt Kendall and guitarist Bill 'Kahuna' Henderson met there. And Neko Case was even employed as a bartender a few years later, before she became a rising alt-country star. The bar once featured two chimpanzees, named Java and Jive, who played drums for the customers. Animal rights protests and Health Department complaints forced the family to give the pets to friends."

I've only been inside the place once, when I stopped by for a hamburger one afternoon. No rock stars or celebs or chimps were present -- just me and the bartender/cook. I regret never spending an evening there, when the joint is presumably rockin'. Still, I often drive by when passing through T-Town, usually to show Bob's off to friends and take pictures, like the one here I snapped in 1993.