Synopses & Reviews
In many small towns throughout Montana, the local bar is often the only restaurant and an important part of community life. In the larger towns and cities, gems from the Wests colorful past are still found.
Montana Watering Holes celebrates more than fifty of the most iconic, eccentric, and entertaining saloons scattered across Montana where you can stop for a drink (or a burger). From big-city spots like the Rhino in Missoula, with more than 50 beers on tap, to the Pony Bar in Pony, community spirit and tradition abound in historic buildings that have served as saloons, restaurants, and gathering places.
Author and Montana bar authority Joan Melcher weaves excerpts from the past into her recent quest to reveal the unchanging fabric of the Montana bar.
Synopsis
In many small towns across Montana, the local bar is also the only restaurant and is an important part of community life. In larger towns and cities, gems from Montana's Wild West past are still found. This book celebrates the quirky, unusual, and downright fun and entertaining saloons across the state. Montana Watering Holes features more than fifty of the best spots to stop for a drink (or a burger) scattered across Montana. From big-city spots like the Rhino in Missoula (with its 150 beers on tap) to the famous cheeseburgers at the bar in Pony (pop. 50), community spirit and tradition abound in the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century buildings that have served as saloons, restaurants, and gathering places throughout the Treasure State. This book describes the best of the best, offering geographic diversity, anecdotes, and sidebars on local characters from the past. It is illustrated with archival and contemporary black-and-white photographs.
Synopsis
Montana Watering Holes features more than fifty of the best spots to stop for a drink (or a burger) scattered across Montana. A celebration of the quirky, classic, and downright fun bars and saloons across Big Sky Country, from the Yaak to Ekalaka.
About the Author
Joan Melcher wrote the first book about Montana bars more than twenty-five years ago and has been interviewed by the Washington Post, the Billings Gazette, and other publications about her search for the perfect Montana bar.” She is a regular contributor to the Miller-McCune online and print magazines, and her work has also appeared in Via, the Progressive, Environment, the Christian Science Monitor, and Montana magazine.