Captain Bombay's

Photo by Erin SmithErnest Hemingway talks to me all the time here—really, him and not the poster of him behind the dilapidated bar. No one ever notices my conversations with Hemingway at Captain Bombay's, and if they did, all they would hear is Papa exhorting patrons to keep on drinking (he recommends an absinthe and champagne mixture, but I always decline in favor of a Seagram's and Seven, absinthe still being illegal 'round these parts). I tend to group around the noble heroes who escape the doldrums of their reality for an intense match of solitaire pool and the middle-aged dames who skip work in hopes of finding a one-night stand—I haven't had that much to drink, ladies, but call me in four to five beers. And when the time comes for my departure, I lift my large ass off the barstool, slam down a two-dollar tip and stumble home alone, except for my visions of Papa.

CAPTAIN BOMBAY'S, 1728 S. EUCLID ST., ANAHEIM, (714) 635-0462. OPEN DAILY, 6 A.M.-2 A.M.

Schiffman is a student at Golden West College.

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