Summary
Listen closely, grasshopper. This week's Zen lesson from the Universe is that bars, like people, are capable of change. What does this mean for us? It means that, in much the way that a person who initially annoyed the bejeezus out of you may deserve a second chance, a bar that was less than pleasant the fi rst time may not be so bad after all.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'm not saying that Ned Pepper's, 419 E. Fifth St., has morphed from a skeezy biker bar into a drinking girl's utopia. There is a serious shortage of seating, and the "dance fl oor" deserves the air quotes for its postage- stamp size and unintentionally ironic lighting rig and disco ball. On a Saturday night, the DJ plays mostly classic rock, interspersed with old school R&B and what a white person who grew up in the '80s might consider hip-hop (think Morris Day and the Time). Drinks are priced at the high end of average, with two cocktails setting you back about $10 including tip. So after all that, you might be asking, what on earth did I fi nd to like about Ned's? Maybe it was because I went in with such low expectations, but my most recent visit was light years away from my last, and I feel the place deserves some props for that. There's plenty of security these days, though I would hazard a guess that those gentlemen are big for a reason. The staff is seasoned, in age or experience or both, and they serve like pros. The long, narrow space has super high ceilings, which help carry the smoke and noise away. And in a town that's as racially segregated as Dayton, I love walking into a bar that's not.See the full content of this document
Extract
Ned Pepper's
Ned Pepper's probably isn't for everybody. But the bar knows its niche -- p...
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