(What’s this about? Read this.) Pistons fans are everywhere, they just need to find each other!
If you know where fans in and around Los Angeles get together to watch games without feeling outnumbered and/or having to argue with the bartender to change the channel, tell us in the comments. If you don’t know where to find other Pistons fans but wish you could, leave a note and maybe suggest a place.
When I lived in LA, I was downtown near Paramount Studios. There weren’t a lot of good places to go, and I didn’t have a lot of cash.
I did, however, find my way to Hollywood Billiards once, and that place ruled. TVs up the wazzoo at the time . . . outdoor patio where I could smoke . . . I went there to catch a USC game once, and I loved it.
http://www.hollywoodbilliards.com/
South of LA in Orange County I watch games at Rudy’s in Newport Beach. However most Pistons start at 4pm here and I listen to the majority of them on Sirius radio. (Stupid work is always getting in the way of my Pistons games!)
Actually Suace, Lawyerboy and I have a blind date at Hollywood Billiards today.
They’ve become the official Michigan Alumni spot for football games too.
qd, is that where you usually go for games? i’m ok 50% of the time with billiards, but one time i went in the middle of the day and they cited a friend i was with on a dress code violation. i think he had to borrow a shirt from somebody. also, pool tends to distract me from games. you can’t complain about the ample amount of tvs though.
i find that l.a. is not really a great sports bar town unfortunately. and you regularly have to deal with a douche factor when hitting various spots. even the good spots. 90% of the time when i want to watch a game and work/wife/lack of energy doesn’t get in the way, i hit up barney’s beanery. the original one. not the one in santa monica. that’s where i watched game 1 last weekend. outstanding beer selection and happy hour continues during the weekend. i’m going to try to go there this saturday for the game as well if work doesn’t bone me over. it was a good vibe last saturday. a nice hockey contingent. flyer fans and canadiens fans getting along swimmingly.
i’ll go to el guapo too when barney’s is getting on my nerves, like it was during football season with all the f-ing pats fans. they got theirs though…
Does anyone know what satellite service carries The Score? According to NBA.com, this is the channel that is showing Game 4, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to watch that channel (it’s the Canadian off-brand ESPN — why is the NBA putting a Game 4 on a channel that no one gets?!).
I’m in Santa Cruz if anyone wants to volunteer a place to watch or ideas about a sports bar.
okay LA people…why not set up a date….maybe for the next round!!!?
Blind date, ha. Yep, stupid NBA moved the game to 5pm (Pacific Time) now even though all week it’d been advertised as 4pm (curses TNT!). JackDutch, you live in LA? Wow, never knew. I go to El Guapo all the time, because it’s kind of a Big Ten, pseudo-Indiana University bar (they have an IU alumni event every year) and I’m an IU alum, of course. And oh yeah, I live within walking distance (mile or two) if want to drink and avoid cab fare.
Love Barney’s food/atomosphere, but ONLY the Santa Monica location (sorry to be contentious). Go there a TON with my IU friends who mostly live on the west side. I find the West Hollywood location rather obnoxious and of lower food quality (and lower service quality as well), but I did see Anthony Michael Hall and Kid from “Kid ‘N’ Play” there when I went to watch Game 2 of the 2006 ALCS between the Tigers-As. Living about 5 minutes away, which as we all know in this city, is an incredible asset. But, I was also at the original Barney’s for Game 5 of the ECF last year, so BAD memories with Pistons and that location.
JD, I’d love for the three of us (or anymore that show up on this thread) to get together for a playoff game (or in-playoff game Pistons debate!) assuming QD and I get along well tonight (never know, I’m not just a tool on DBB, I’m a tool in real life too).
Game is apparently on TNT at 5pm according to Yahoo! and my diital cable. I’m also quite sure that all post-first round NBA games are on either TNT, ESPN or ABC, as it has been that way for quite some time. It’s an extremely rare occurrence, but apparently Matt is wrong. As previously noted, QD and I are catching tonight’s game at Hollywood Billiards. Obviously other DBB members are welcome.
*digital cable
I’m cross-posting from the alley-oop …
LB: That’s what I thought, too, but I’m not 100% sure it’s the case now. TNT has exclusive rights this round, which means if they were showing this game, FSN wouldn’t be allowed to. ESPN/ABC do not have exclusive rights, so if the game is televised, I’m guessing it has to be one of those two.
(I learned the “exclusive rights stuff” from a guy who works with FSN who emailed me to let me know they were now televising Game 4, which makes me think TNT dropped it. I hope I’m wrong, though.)
I just checked http://sports.espn.go.com/espntv/espnGuide — it’s on ESPN.
all types of bars in LA, but haven’t yet found one designed specifically for the Detroit sports crowd. Any restaurateurs with a million bucks and a dream?
Otherwise,
Q’s on Wilshire west of Barrington in Santa Monica is a good bar for watching games. The upstairs is a very comfortable place to grab a couch, a pitcher of suds, and a Detroit Pistons victory.
http://www.qsbilliards.com/santamonica/location.asp
The Parlor is another nice sports bar in Santa Monica on Wilshire near 14th - very solid option - tons of TVs, pretty bartenders, and good food.
http://www.theparlorsm.com/
lawyerboy…couldn’t agree with you more about hollywood….i don’t know why socal people still tend to go there for sports bar, its a tourist spot! i’d definitely love to meet with dbb readers although i can’t for this game, its nice to have some fellow pistons fan from cali…lets set something up for the ECF, hahaha! assuming pistons makes it.
“i find that l.a. is not really a great sports bar town unfortunately. and you regularly have to deal with a douche factor when hitting various spots.”
I hear that, JD. I was mostly content to stay @ the apartment and just follow what I could online.
Hollywood was really close to where I lived, which was similar to what LB desired . . . avoiding parking cost. That’s the only thing I don’t miss about LA. The traffic? Anyone from Detroit doesn’t seem to be that bothered by the hours of gridlock.
lboy, i have incredibly fond memories of barney’s beanery weho location. as a syracuse alum, we went there religiously during the 2003 championship run. it was lovely. and i’ve stayed pretty loyal to it ever since. there’s a couple waitresses there that know us. it’s comfortable. it used to be close until i moved to burbank, and it’s still not that far.
will, i’ve been to the parlor once. i kind of like the tv setup, but that pit area and then the tables above it weirds me out. i’ve never been a westside guy, but when i did make it over there, i went to busbys, but i wasn’t even 100% into it. a lot of those places make this weird transition at night into clubs. that annoys the crap out of me. again, why i always float back to barney’s. no chance of that place ever morphing into a club. drunk and loud bar, yes.
i would be into a dbb gathering. if it can’t be saturday, then (knock on wood) perhaps the following weekend. weekdays are always murder for me. (and this saturday i might be screwed as well.)
how about hooters!!! that place seems fair.
JD: Yeah, the waitresses are definitely friendly @ Barney’s, I just find many of them to be slow and inattentive.
Two places in Hollywood, both have dumb names, but are great places to watch games. Big Wangs on Cahuenga and Happy Ending on Sunset near La Brea. Great food, the waitresses are hot, lots of TVs. Check them both out…
I’ve been out in LA a year and still haven’t found a designated “detroit bar” if anybody/everybody wants to setup a bar to meet at for future games I’m definately in. I was thinking about proposing something like this on the motownsports.com board too.
I’ve run into enough Michigan transplants out here; there has to be widespread Detroit love out here.
lboy and qd, you’re never allowed to go to hollywood billiards ever again.
JD: Sorry man, though I don’t believe in jinxes or anything like that. It was a fun time minus the ass-whooping we took from the Magic. QD and I got along well, and Hollywood Billiards is a very relaxed atmosphere with a LOT of comfortable couch seating. If I you think I shouldn’t go to Hollywood Billiards because it’s bad luck, I certainly can’t go to Barney’s in West Hollywood. As I said though, I don’t even think about that kind of stuff. I imagine you are kidding anyway.
mtk: Every other non-California license plate out here is a Michigan one. Detroit (and other parts of Michigan) looms large out here. Go to the Clippers-Pistons at Staples next year, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Sparty: I live just down the street from Happy Endings, and while I like the atmosphere and the food looks quite good (having never ate it), it always seem impossible for me to get a table or even a seat at the bar. The place has always been absolutely PACKED when I have been there. I imagine it would be less crowded for a weekday game, preferably one not contested on the same night as a Lakers game.
If we can get something arranged for Saturday, I may be able to make it.
lboy: i am kidding.
i’m 90% sure i’m out for saturday due to work. but if ya’ll try to arrange something, maybe i can get out in time to catch the 4th quarter with you guys. my hope is this isn’t our final weekend playoff game. unless orlando rips 4 in a row, it won’t be.
yeah, I’m not particularly sold on reserving this Saturday for a DBB get-together either. Had a real nice time with QD last night and really liked the setup of Hollywood Billiards, but my friends from Detroit who are out here work insane hours so we can only catch games together on the weekend. I think I’ll be with them on Saturday at one of our respective domiciles.
I’m in Michigan right now but I’ll be back in LA on Wednesday, so if anyone wants to meet up for Game 6…
Someone mentioned Big Wangs which LB and I were considering for Game 3.
QD: What Game 6? *Snicker*. Game 5 anyone?
so, if boston wins tonight, we should talk ecf, la dbbers.