Sherman Oaks Saturday: Books, Movies, Video Games, Oh My!

On Saturday we trekked up the 405 to quaint yet happening Sherman Oaks. We hit up a surprisingly dense library sale with books, CD's and DVD's up for grabs for rock bottom prices. Hardback tomes and paperback novels were aplenty and only set you back a buck or less. The lady found a copy of Moneyball by Michael Lewis for me and I grabbed multiple flicks on DVD, some that weren't even opened! After that it was off to the mall for a little walking around and checking out what Spring/Summer fashion entailed. Newsflash, it's about the same as every year but with more bright pastels...

Then it was on to Ventura Boulevard for old standby The One-Up for brunch (chicken and waffles seemed like a good idea but were WAY too sweet), some cocktails and arcade madness. Newly added Time Crisis and a new two-player, stand up cabinet where we played some The Punisher side scroller. Next door is Von Eaton Animation Galleries which had some general cartoon cels up including Johnny Quest and stacks of cels from the likes of X-Men and The Little Mermaid. Then a nice used book store had an entire American West section with titles on Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo and I grabbed the former. Looking forward to the dime store or actual story of one of the west's most intriguing characters.

Gotta Drank! San Diego Comic-Con 2016

Arnold Schwarzenegger once said something to the effect of going places where the crowds weren't. That's always been my approach as I love happy hour but abhor going out at night, or have no problem finding a quiet spot a couple blocks from con to enjoy some libations and grub. People tend to pool where others go equaling huge lines and crowds in the Gaslamp directly across from the convention center. Go a few blocks east or north and you'll find plenty of places ready to serve you while taking your cash. Last year the Top of the Hyatt was under renovations and reopened this year as a swanky lounge with still beautiful views and famous quotes on the windows.

Near the small Chinatown establishments you had Whiskey House, a solid joint with nighttime ambiance, a wall of booze and lots of food options. Up a few blocks was Taste & Thirst, a very bar-y bar that was home to Diamond's Alien Lounge with props, posters and a backdrop. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party once again took place at the lovely Westgate Hotel with themed dranks and swag bags. Speaking of swag bags, we Uber'd north near the university to Coin-Op, a barcade hosting new app Pure Fandom's launch party with 80's movie posters on the walls, tator tots on the menu and plenty of cabinets lining the walls of standard fare like X-Men and Street Fighter. Swag included a new album from Vince DiCola, the incomparable electronic composer of Transformers: The Movie and Rocky IV. All the celebrating and imbibing caused me to take a 4 week break on drinking after but it was fun while it lasted.

Oh yeah, and don't ever take a pedicab in downtown San Diego, it's a total rip off.

Gotta Drank (& Play)! The One-Up

It was a Saturday in Sherman Oaks as we ventured north to catch 50 Shades of Grey at the Arclight then made our way down Ventura Blvd to the Von Eaton Animation Art Gallery that had a Disney exhibit going on. Right next door to that is The One-Up, a cozy barcade. With a chill vibe and great ambiance courtesy of 80's classics Back to the Future, The Goonies and Fast Times at Ridgemont High on repeat along with lots of English easy listening pop as I haven't heard Travis in ages. There's a small menu of pub favorites like burgers, mac n' cheese and delicious mini-corn dogs. There's a list of specialty cocktails or a full bar to choose from. My Moscow Mule wasn't amazing so I switched to the very tasty Monkey Brew, a mix of scotch, orange tea, lemon and mint. Unlike Eighty-Two or Blispy's, there are no quarters required for the games at One-Up as they're all free to patrons. There's maybe 10 emulator cabinets with 10 pages of games each in the vein of Mario Brothers, Pac-Man, Galaga and the like. I played some plane flying/shooting 1943 and Ghouls and Ghosts before the holy grail of the joint opened up: a sit down, two player console with 400 games on it. Mainly your fighting and side scrolling beat'em ups. I didn't even peruse the entire list to see what oddities and golden nuggets were inside but you had several Samurai Showdown's and Street Fighter's along with Final Fight and THE PUNISHER.

You see, Beat'em Ups or Brawlers are multi-player games where you take on lots of opponents through button mashing mayhem. You usually punch, kick, jump or do a special move and can pick up useful items like weapons and food along the way. Double Dragon got it going in the late 80's and soon you had Golden Axe, Final Fight, Alien Vs Predator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, X-Men and The Avengers gracing arcades in the form of scrolling beat'em ups. The Punisher hit arcades in 1993 towards the tail end of the Brawler glory days but remains an awesomely good time. As either Mr. P. or Nick Fury, you battle thugs and criminals on your way to a showdown with The Kingpin. Not only can you punch, kick, spin and jump kick, you can pick up pipes, bats, katanas, knives, pistols and M-16's! We battled our way through 4 stages before I began to worry about the remaining time on my meter and called it a night. It was a lot of fun, like playing Avengers in Salt Lake City as you just beat the hell out of guys named Chrys, Scully and Yan Lee in clubs, casinos, bars and subway trains. One-Up could definitely use a second console with these 400 games as shit like Dig Dug and Pac-Man just can't hold a candle to beating the crap out of thugs, 90's karate style!

Gotta Play! Blipsy Bar

If you've been paying attention you know I have a thing for sky high dining and drinking.  I also have a thing for arcade games.  My mom used to take me to the mall on Saturday's so she could shop, I'd hit up Aladdin's Castle and play stuff like Street Fighter, Final Fight, Avengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the G.I. Joe run and gun.  With the rise of home gaming, arcades took a tumble in the 2000's and you'd only find machines at a pizza parlor, bowling alley or Dave and Buster's style establishment that blended gaming with food and drinks.  On the rise today are Barcades, where entrepreneurial 30 year olds mix video games and booze so you can relive your childhood.  Eighty-Two in Downtown has had great success in it's short lifetime while Neon Retro just opened up in Pasadena where you can play unlimited games and pinball for a flat fee but no booze. Up-Down in Des Moines is about the best example of a barcade I've encountered as you've got a full bar, 80's and 90's inspired wall paper and games of all kinds for fighting, driving, shooting along with physical attractions like skee-ball and giant Jenga.  Ground Kontrol in Portland is pretty cool too as they had the giant 6 player X-Men along with Alec Baldwin's The Shadow pinball.

I feel like Blipsy's has probably been around for a quite a while though as I came years ago and is far from the clean, shiny and club like Eighty-Two.  Blipy's is basically a dive bar but with video games.  It's small, dark, cramped and hot.  The outside has Pac-Man inspired decor and inside you'll find He-Man and the Masters of the Universe prints and a Christopher Reeve Superman poster on the wall while a big ass Cobra Terror Drome hangs upside down from the ceiling like a chandelier.  There's a quarters machine all the way in the back and it's so dark you can hardly see where to insert your dollar.  Blipsy's sticks to more classic 80's style games like Galaga, Gauntlet, Punch-Out, Rampage and Ms. Pac-Man without a shooting or fighting game in sight.  That's where it loses points for me but hey, it's their theme.  Most games cost a quarter and while I stretched that out on Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man, the joystick didn't work too well for WWF's Superstars as I couldn't select the Ultimate Warrior then got counted out when I was unable to get back in the ring!  Located on Western Avenue just past Beverly Blvd across from a giant Kentucky Fried Chicken, you can totally head down the street a little and hit up some Korean BBQ.  Just take Oxford, it's faster.

Gotta Drank! Up - Down

Located in lovely downtown Des Moines, Iowa is a dive bar for the 80's and 90's ages, Up-Down.  Steps away from the capital building and Ray Gun, the joint is filled with arcade games like the two-screen, six player X-Men (Jim Lee console art!) and nostalgic hits like Wrestlemania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Contra (frigging rip off!), Street Fighter II (so slow!), giant Jenga and Connect Four.  I was impressed with the wall decor, a mish mash of 80's and 90's pop culture wall paper featuring The Goonies, Back to the Future, Pauly Shore, Pulp Fiction, AC Slater and Jean-Claude Van Damme!  The bar was stocked with beers on tap, Strongbow in the fridge and a 2-4-1 token special for Saturday night.  I've been to several arcades lately and this had the best working games by far.  The selection and variety of games is solid but I'm still on the lookout for Avengers (America needs your help!) and the G.I. Joe run and gun shooting spectacular.