Thursday, December 23rd, 2010—Bar 348
The Trolley
Okay, I’m finally squared away here in Peoria and today I’m meeting my friend, Phil Luciano at The Trolley, a bar which I frequented a lot in my wild youth growing up in Peoria. Phil Luciano is somewhat of a renaissance man in Peoria. He’s teaches journalism at Bradley University, he’s a working journalist and writes a column for the local paper, The Journal Star and he’s co-host of the Markley and Luciano Show which is a morning rock and roll party five days a week on Max FM 102.3. And he also makes a mean hot apple pie, and it’s not the kind of apple pie you’re thinking of. Come on along the crawl and you’ll see what I mean.
This place was called The Toonerville Trolley when I was a kid, not it's just, The Trolley. Let's go inside.
Plenty of seats in here, let's take a load off.
And the lovely and friendly Belinda serves up an ice-cold afternoon beer.
A view of my seat at the bar. What's that strange light beaming in? Oh, it's sunshine, I need to get some sunglasses for my daytime duty here in Peoria.
There's a dining table in the back room and...
A nice pool table and...
A vintage shuffleboard table. I think this was here way back when I used to drink here.
A fan hovers over the bar and keeps the air moving.
Some of the specials at the bar: three bucks for all you can eat pizza and a bucket of five bottles of beer for ten bucks. Holy smokes! I'm not in New York anymore, Toto. And surprisingly enough, Toto is playing on the jukebox. Irony at its finest hour.
Photos of patrons past and present hang on the wall.
A couple of the regulars pointed out that this is a photo of Jim Thome in the bar. I got some major league laughs when I asked who he was, because it turns out he's a famous baseball player from Peoria. Shows you how much I know about sports. But, hey, I know that Richard Pryor and Sam Kinison are from here. In fact I've met both of them. So there!
Meanwhile, things are taking a leisurely pace back at the bar. Let's go see who this guy is.
It's Billy a friendly regular here at the Bar. He's adorned with a Trolley sweatshirt and flashes the 365 card. Cheers to Billy!
Belinda in action at the bar.
And here's my pal, Phil! He grabs my boob for a true Nearby Nite Life inspired photo. If you didn't live in Peoria in the '70's or '80's, you probably won't understand that, but that's okay.
And lunch arrives in the form of a Butch's Pizza. I need to start getting these delivered to New York, the best pizza in the world!
And here's Phil with his hot apple pie on the brain. It's homemade hooch made with Everclear and apple spices and other things that I was too busy eating pizza to note.
Phil pours, it goes into the microwave and then...
Baboom, we have an instant holiday toast. Cheers!
Okay, the pizza's almost gone and I told my mom I'd stop drinking at three in the afternoon. I think we all know what that means...
It 's time to snort Phil's hot apple pie in the parking lot. Goodnight, everybody!
Review
I don’t know how long the Trolley has been in business on Farmington Road, but its been there as long as I can remember, so it’s safe to say its been there quite a while. The front of the bar is dominated by an oval wooden bar with stools and patrons on the perimeter. Most of the customers are regulars who’ve been sitting on these stools for decades, but it’s the type of place that’s even friendly to some kook from New York who’s going to 365 bars in 365 days.
It’s a full bar and beer can be bought by the bucketfull for not much dough. There’s also chicken wings, Butch’s pizza, chili dogs and other bar grub to be had. There’s daily specials and a pool table, darts and a shuffle board in the back.
I sent Phil an email before I came back and asked him if this joint was still open, he replied with this: Grab a Napkin and Help Out Fred. Nice to see some things remain the same. Thanks to The Trolley for the hospitality and to Phil for the hot apple pie!
2411 W Farmington Rd.
Peoria, Illinois
309-637-4722