Post #30310 by woofmutt on Mon, Apr 14, 2003 11:32 PM

My first visit to Bob's was in the late 80's. My friend Sparky told me about it and we hit it one Saturday night. Back then the interior was covered with sticks and driftwood, some of it painted with flourescent paint so it glowed in the numerous black lights in the place. There were flourescent paintings of jungly stuff on walls and pillars. In the back there were two live monkeys in small cages which was one of the saddest sights I've ever personally witnessed. On a happier note was the musical entertainment. There was a large fellow playing standards on an organ. About three feet behind him was a piano and occasionally he'd swivel around on his stool and switch to piano. As he played he rocked back and forth. He was oblivious to anyone attempting to talk to him. Accompying him was a fellow on a full drum kit who seemed to play the same beat for every song, just slowed down or sped up. I believe the keyboardist was the owner's son, the drummer was his best friend since childhood. There was a jukebox that had Frank and Dean and Elvis and so on (Sparky was surprised to discover that "Viva Las Vegas" was originally done by Elvis, not the Dead Kennedys). Overall the atmosphere of the place was very much like a surrealistic greasy spoon that had been overgrown by a forest from outer space. Very weird and very cool. My last visit was this past summer. The place seems to have lost some of it's driftwood and thank God the monkeys are gone. I went in the daytime and the place is completely filthy. There were some scraps of Tiki here and there, noting memorable. The palce is a genuine dive. If you go, do it at night, though I have no idea what the atmosphere is like these days. It's not as hard to find as it seems.

Never Never Land is (was) in Point Defiance Park. It's been closed everytime I've been by, and it looks as if it's always closed. A few years back someone seriously vandalized the fairy tale characters and it may have closed then.