Let The Smoking Memories Begin

As I walked into The Winking Lizard last night, I saw the saddest sign posted all over my favorite smoking establishment. Effective December 8, The Lizard will be smoke-free. While I know almost every bar/restaurant in Ohio is going in this direction, this one hurts the most. There was always something so special about the smoking section there. This is where you could watch 20 differenct large screen televisions, sit at the bar and ask about all the different draft beers, play pool, arcade bowl or play darts. In the non-smoking room, if you didn't get the right seat, you would have to squint to catch the game on the small mounted televsions in each corner. It was always so quiet in that weird little non-smoking room--like you were in a library or at someone's wake. The Winking Lizard made it cool to be a smoker and they made it a lot more fun as well. It was almost as if they were telling their customers: "Sure you can sit in non-smoking but you aren't going to have any fun."

As Liz and I sat there last night, we talked about how this was our favorite place to go and have a beer and cigarette. We even had a funny memory to illustrate the significance. When she and I came back from Massachusetts last year, after a vacation in a non-smoking state, the first thing we did after we got back from the airport was head to the Lizard for a beer and a smoke. While most people are exhausted from traveling or would rather go to their neighborhood bar, we missed smoking inside and we missed smoking inside at the Lizard. I can only imagine how I am going to feel after December 8. RIP best smoking section in Cleveland.

*The writer of this blog does not condone smoking