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Fall Down Drunk in the Desert

August 8, 2006 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments

People tend to associate Palm Springs with a certain kind of flashy glamour: Martinis and huge diamonds and sing-alongs at the piano bar. But there's a different side to Palm Springs, the side where all the locals hang out. Just down the road from Palm Springs proper is the town of La Quinta, where things are a little more rough around the edges. The Beer Hunter is a perfect place to spot year-rounders in their natural habitat, away from the elitism of tourist joints.  

The food is basic bar stuff with attempts at cuisine-ification, which means there's usually vodka or whiskey added to marinades.  But the food isn't really the point here, as the name would indicate.  The beer choices aren't listed on the menu, but come on a separate pamphlet crossed referenced by type and country of origin.  

Beer isn't the only thing people are serious about here.  There are also face-offs of arcade basketball to be won, games on one of the dozens of TVs to watch, and falling-down drunk members of the opposite sex to flirt with.  As always, the people-watching is funniest toward closing time, when people get tend to get overeager.  One might find oneself accosted by a slurring man who insists that he's a kangaroo and you're a joey and he just wants to protect you in his pouch. Hypothetically speaking, of course.  It's certainly different from the Palm Springs you've seen in movies, but it's got a charm of its own.

[Image via Mitchster]

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