I haven’t been to The Trolley on Farmington Road since I did my 365 Bar Crawl and I met MBIP buddy, Phil Luciano there on Christmas Eve two years ago. I think it’s time for a return visit, so let’s hit the road to West Peoria!
On the road again! We'll go up Main Street and then over to Farmington Road...
And baboom! Here we are at the Trolley. As you can see it's fairly dark out here with one big streetlight standing attention at the end of the bar...
And a Budweiser neon sign in the window beckons us inward.
Let's go in and see what's shaking at The Trolley on a Thursday night.
The bar is kind of a half circular octogram shape...I think. Anyhoo, let's snag a seat down there at the end.
Here's friendly bartender Jimmy serving up the first bottle of Budweiser. Cheers!
Rick, Christy and Lori were seated next to me and wanted to know if I was the Son of Nightlife Sam, who published the Nearby Nightlife newspaper for years. They're not the first ones to make that comparison and I always take it as a compliment. Sam was a real Peoria character. Here's Rick, Christy and Lori striking a Nearby Nitelife pose for me, too funny!
Troy and Beth were seated on the other side of the bar and they told me they just got married a little over a month ago! Congratulations to the newlyweds!
Framed pictures of regulars line the walls in here.
Here's a shot from the end of the unusual shaped wooden bar.
The bottles behind the bar are illuminated by this single strand of lights.
Trolley t-shirts are for sale behind the bar.
I love the three little mini taps behind the bar. They make me feel like a giant!
There's a pool table and stools and tables here in the back room.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, Jimmy and Lori hug it up!
Hey, there's a couple of familiar faces over there...
It's my friends, Michelle and Todd who are semi-regulars on my Thursday night outings here at MBIP. In fact they suggested we meet at The Trolley tonight.
Michelle and Todd told me there was a patio area in the back area outside of the bar which I never knew existed. Let's go take a look!
It's really nice out here, check out those comfortable chairs!
We're only out here a couple of minutes and look who shows up, Gavra and Sami! We first met Gavra when she was bartending at Champs West and she instructed me on the fine art of hula-hooping. This is my first time meeting Sami, but she told me I had met her Dad when I visited Schooner's back in February. It turns out Sami's dad is Gary Bowman who's picture you can see when you scroll down this post. Okay, cue up, "It's A Small World After All," one more time!
And they brought along Petey, who we met at the Owl's Nest about a month ago. Alright, time to get this party started!
There's a large area off to the side of the patio where you can play a game called, "bags." I've heard of this game, but I've never seen it played. Michelle, Todd, Gavra and Petey all decided to play a game and I'm going to document it from the sidelines. The pictures might be a little fuzzy, because I'm turning the flash off so as not to blind the players. That's just the way it goes in this wide world of sport!
The object of the game is fairly simple, you throw a bean bag towards the wooden stand on the other side and try to hit the hole in the stand.
But it's not as easy as it sounds, as you can see, it's quite a distance to throw.
Here's Michelle in a pre-throw stance.
It's a swing and a miss for Petey.
A shot of Todd in action!
I'm not the only one taking pictures, Sami's snapping some shots with her phone. Hey, maybe we should start calling her "Nightlife Sami!"
Okay, the game's all over, so I took a group portrait of everybody relaxing back at the table.
Sami wanted a shot with me in it, so I gave her my camera and she took this picture. This confirms my idea in calling her Nightlife Sami!
Meanwhile, back inside the bar, Jimmy gives us the traditional two -finger salute! See you all tomorrow.
The Trolley
2411 W Farmington Rd.
Peoria
309-637-4722
Related Posts: Two Beers @ Mike’s Tavern, The Tartan Inn and Whitey’s Tip Top Inn.
