Ron-De-Voo Dwight, IL

Ron-De-voo Tavern

213 E Mazon Ave

Dwight, IL

Friendliness-5

Kitsch Factor-2

Neighborhood-5

On Tap- Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Light

One rainy night on our way back from picking up a classic video game, we stopped at this tavern of Route 66 in Dwight, Illinois.

We'd been attracted by the beautiful neon sign in the past, but never had the time to stop. We had intended on going to the Riviera roadhouse in Gardner, but they were closed. (Hopefully because of flood and not lack of business!)

In typical dive bar flavor the jukebox was playing roadhouse songs, and the crowd was enjoying the tunes that generations have long forgotten. Our friends enjoyed a 'Coke' (ahem) and a Bud Light, my wife had a Bud Light, and I enjoyed my latest dive beer, a Miller Hi-Life.

A quick walk around revealed copper plaques with poems and pictures of former customers who have passed. A testament of how neighborhood bars are a community of great people. One wonders if the motorcycle skid mark in the middle of the floor was from one of these historical photos?

As we've found in the past, the crowd in dive bars are great! The bartender and customers all welcomed us as if we had been regulars for years.

Koz's Mini Bowl

Koz's Mini Bowl
2078 S 7th St
Milwaukee, WI

Friendliness: 5
Kitsch Factor: 5
Neighborhood: 4

Ahh, Milwaukee. Home of Pabst beer, Laverne and Shirley, Brady Street, and Usinger Sausages. But another gem of this adopted home town of mine, is the newly discovered Koz's Mini Bowl. We had read of this place on a Wisconsin website, and new we HAD to add it to our list of places to go. So for my 40th birthday bash, we loaded up the VW and headed north with a few friends.

Our hotel driver had some difficulty finding the place, and then admitted that the address was out of his service area. But no worries, we drove through an ethnic area, past the famous "La Perla" restaurant, and soon rolled up in front of a nondescript building sporting a Pabst neon sign in its dingy window.

We opened the door and found the place to be a flurry of beer, cigarette smoking (yes, it's still legal up there!!) and pin busting activity! We strolled into the back room and found all four 17' lanes to be occupied. A lady asked if we had lane reservations, but told us that they had a "no show" and we could take their place if we liked. We discovered that our bowling skills were incredible! Strikes after strikes! Spares! No pin will be left standing! The human pinsetters were hustling to reset the pins after our devastation. As an aside, the lady explained that this was the last mini bowling alley with human pinsetters in the state.

We enjoyed a pitcher of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and a few frozen pizzas. The whole event set us back a mere $30- Quite a bargain, for what everyone considered a great time.