One place I’ve been meaning to go to is Maurie’s Candie’s in Pekin. It’s been operating over 70 years now and I think it’s still in the original location where they started. From what I hear, they sell delicious homemade candy and they have a decent selection of magazines in there too. I’ve heard a lot about this place through the years and I decided that Maurie’s is today’s destination...to the MBIP Mobile!
I used to write for the Pekin Daily Times, but I haven't been to Pekin for over twenty years now and I need to check in with Mr. GPS to see how to get there. It looks like we need to continue to War Memorial Drive...
The sky is a little dark and foreboding out here today, I kind of like it like this. Anytime you get the excuse to write, "foreboding" is A-Okay in my book.
Shit, there's a bridge up ahead and I hate driving over bridges! Time to whiten the old knuckles.
Yikes, I know I said I like the sky like this, but with the bridge ahead and the dark cloud looming over it, it looks like we're approaching the bridge of doom. Aaaahhhh!
Okay, through the miracle of the interwebs, you're spared a white knuckle ride over the bridge of doom and we've successfully made it to the land of Pekin. Everything's starting to look familiar to me now.
That little restaurant has been on that corner forever. I remember having lunch with Kent Davy, my editor from the Pekin Daily Times a week before I moved to New York over twenty years ago. Memories...
Okay, here we are at Maurie's Candy Store. It's a nice brick building and I read on their website that they're trying to raise some money to bring back the original neon sign above the store.
Let's go in and see what that's all about and check out the candy and magazines inside of here.
Well, that didn't go too well. There was two women working in there and they told me that I couldn't take pictures in the store without the permission of the owner and he was out of town and they didn't have a cell phone number to call him at. I tried to convince them that this would be good publicity for the store, but they said the owner would have to okay it. I told them I'd try to call him later and for now, we're on the road in Pekin, Illinois in search of some place to go for the blog. Time to improvise!
Roxy's Bowling Lanes! I've been meaning to stop here, there's not a lot of bowling alleys left in and around Peoria and this was on my list of places to go to. Maybe this will save the blogging day. Let's park and check it out.
Motherfucker, the door is locked.
They're only open on Friday and Saturday? That's kind of weird, I'll check back here later on a Friday night and see what the story is. But now, what the fuck are we going to do?
Okay, the clock is ticking, I've got about 90 minutes before I have to go to work. I don't feel like going out tonight to do something for the blog, so I'm looking at this building that's located next to Roxy's. Whatever it is, is going to be today's blog post destination. I'm guessing it's a bar or a diner or something, let's go see and let's go do a blog from there.
Okay, the good news is that it appears to be a bar, but I'm not sure if it's open or not. The parking lot is somewhat empty...
And the light is off in the window.
Let's try the door. If this place is closed today's blog will consist of a drive back to Peoria, failed and defeated. But at least I tried! Drumroll...
Hey, hey, looks like our luck has changed, the door opened and yes, Virginia, we have an open bar! There's plenty of seats, let's belly up and snag a stool at the bar!
Here's Julie, the pretty and friendly bartender on duty serving me up an iced tea. How I wish that was a beer, but I've got to be to work in a little over an hour, so no booze for me. Sob!
This is my seat at the bar, just so you can get a feel of my bearings in this place.
Here's the booze supply behind the bar and next to it is Lotto tickets for sale. Liquor bottles and Lotto tickets, the American Dream realized before your very eyes! Could someone please cue up the Star Spangled Banner? Oh, Roseanne...
There's a couple of pool tables situated directly behind the bar.
I appreciate the fact that they've covered the windows in here, but that nasty sunshine is still flooding in. It always feels weird being in a bar when that damned sunshine is out full blast.
I like the dark wooden ceiling in here.
I'm taking a picture of a picture of Pottsie's that's hanging in the bar. We'll call this, "Pottsie's Squared."
Toby was enjoying a quiet beer at the bar until I approached him with the traveling MBIP camera. He was a good sport and posed for this shot.
I was feeling a little hungry and then I stumbled upon this Butch's Pizza sign. Some days you just need to get a Butch's frozen pizza and just shut the fuck up and other days you just need to order one in a random bar that you've ended up in after being shut out of other blog options. Today is the latter.
Okay, I've ordered a small cheese pizza and lined up the seasonings...
And here it is! As much as I like the frozen Butch's pizza, they always taste better in a bar. If I had a beer to go with it, then all would be perfect, but as we've seen, some days are imperfect on this blog and you just have to roll with the punches. Let's dig in!
It's very delicious!
At this point, Julie grabbed my camera and shot this photo of me enjoying the pizza and wishing my iced tea was a beer. Cheers and we'll see you all tomorrow.
Pottsie’s Place
303 Margaret Street
Pekin
309-353-9514
Further reading: Merchant Circle, Bar Finder and Butch's Pizza.
