Many of you longtime readers of BRETTnews will recall that the very cool cartoonist, Lynda Barry, was, some months back, the featured travel guide in our monthly Celebrity Travel Tips feature. Lynda lived in Seattle for many years and recalled those days in recommending to BRETTnews readers that they visit Bob's Java Jive in Tacoma. If it's good enough for Lynda, it's certainly good enough for me so I left Seattle to the south, bound for Tacoma and the Java Jive.

Bob's Java Jive is a bar/restaurant/cabaret housed in a building that's shaped like a coffeepot. Actually, it was constructed back in the '20s with a teapot in mind but no one remembers that. To Tacoma residents and tourists alike, the Java Jive is a coffeepot.

Unfortunately, the Java Jive no longer features live cabaret performers. When I queried the bartender about this, he replied, "Nah, we don't have no music anymore, just a drummer." Say what? Just a drummer? Turns out they have a drummer who plays along with the oldies on the jukebox. Don't ask me why. The bartender seemed to think it odd that I thought it odd. I was sorry to hear they'd dropped the live performances; from all reports, they were quite unusual. In any case, I was here right after they opened and had the place all to myself. I'd have missed the music anyway.

The Java Jive's decor is not easily described. It's sort of a tropical or jungle theme, like a poor man's Trader Vic's. They used to feature caged live monkeys. I'm not certain what problems arose to 86 the simians but they've gone the way of the cabaret. Terribly unfunny funny signs abound, posted behind the bar in every available spot. Bad artwork is scattered about the place and faux leopard and zebra skin can be spotted (pun intended). Some bar food is available. I had the Jungle Burger, not bad. The Java Jive is just a little joint; it's not fashionable or exclusive. It's just, well, odd. Lynda's right, this is a don't-miss. In fact, I'm awarding it a BRETTnews Highlight Attraction Award.

Another stop worth making in Tacoma, especially if you're traveling with kids, is Never Never Land in beautiful Pt. Defiance Park, overlooking the Colvos Passage of Puget Sound. This little theme park within a park features plaster statuary bringing to still life scenes from children's stories and nursery rhymes. Little Red Riding Hood is here, meeting the wolf for the first time. Tom, Tom the Piper's son is nearby, as are Jack (of beanstalk fame), the Three Little Pigs and their respective houses of twigs, straw, and brick. Little Jack Horner sits in a corner, not far from the spot where Little Miss Muffet lounges on her tuffet.

Never Never Land has a simple charm that is quite appealing, for kids and adults alike. Point Defiance Park provides a lovely setting and the recreations of familiar characters and stories are imaginatively traditional. It's not a high-tech, special effects kind of place, to say the least, but the children visiting while I was there didn't seem to mind.

I left Tacoma and headed east. Washington is a truly beautiful state and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive.

Continue on the American Odyssey.
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