Bozeman: is it really that bad anymore?

[The Hedgehog]

I tried to go to a dive bar in September, but we couldn’t get in because this particular one has a bit of a western look to it, and with Yellowstone that’s the in thing. The plump lips, fake tits, and Gucci bags were lined up on the sidewalk waiting for others toeave so they could squeeze in the door.
We just ended up going and having dinner at the old Buffalo jump. Amazing to see what can be done with the right amount of disinfectant and elbow grease to turn that place from dive strip club to a decent place to eat.

The Buffalo Station opened as a strip club in the spring of maybe 2003 or 2004. It wasn’t planned but I ended up there after an evening of bear hunting in the canyon with friends on the very first night. Packed to get in and long line but it only took 2 beers to realize the only 2 strippers were the worst talent on earth. Within an hour the place was all but empty and my friends, both longtime houndsmen, were comparing the nipples on one their old female hounds, Sassie, to those on one of thr naked dancers. I was only back once after that for a bachelor party. And my standards for cheap entertainment are VERY low.

 

[The Hedgehog]

It's a very expensive, "nice" mountain town. It's basically Boulder.

Seriously? There might be some subtle differences.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

your humor is shaping up for the better Kurt….. funny….

 

[NAHMINT]

Dive bars??
That’s a whole conversation there.
Dive bars used to be places filled with cigarette smoke, a jukebox and a shitty pool table. Places that you had to take a shower when you got home to get the smell off of you. Dollar bills stapled to the ceiling and some old posters and booze sings on the wall and pull tabs. A funky deer head or jackalope on the wall. A Place you could walk in with grease on your hands or smelling like form oil or deer blood under your fingernails and no one looked down their nose. Maybe a dog or two running around. The good ones had some kinda fried food if you were lucky.

Everything now is shiny. Gotta take a shower and get dressed up before you grab a beer now.

Not trying to hijack thread.
Dive bars are rare now.
Oughta start an Ode to the dive bar thread. Haha

Ya must have spent time in the bars in AMERICAN FALLS !!!!ID.
or the GREEN-T in POKIE !!!

 

[Elktrack]

Ya must have spent time in the bars in AMERICAN FALLS !!!!ID.
or the GREEN-T in POKIE

I might have been in a bar or two in a few places. Idaho Falls isn’t one that stands out but I do know of an establishment in Pokie that I will never visit again.

 

[NAHMINT]

I might have been in a bar or two in a few places. Idaho Falls isn’t one that stands out but I do know of an establishment in Pokie that I will never visit again.

There were a few ''places'' there !!
in american falls, we had JALOPENO POPPERS that sold well....
Been over 25 years now, don't miss the ''excitement''.

 

[BuzzH]

I find the more north you go from Laramie, the less Colorado license plates you'll see

Colorado plates are absolutely zero competition.

 

[millerkiller77]

You guys are making me worried, we cannot lose Montana lol

Makes me nervous especially just turning 30 and engaged. Looking for places to put roots down and trying to figure out how to make a living with theses crazy prices. Seems like the world is closing in on everyone.

Greed and men in suits will be the destruction of everything wholesome.

Well that's pretty dramatic....what's your Instagram handle, I'd like to follow you for more tidbits

 

[Tom8475]

More rude self entitled people that expect you to hold the door but won’t do you the same courtesy. Drivers think where they are going is more important than where you are going. Businesses cater to the retired and wealthy, and wonder why nobody wants to work and everyone wants to spend. When I started renting it was $400 a month for a 2 bedroom. Now I’m paying 1800 for a 3 bedroom. My coworker is paying 2200 for a similar apartment. Development is eating away at every last piece of farmland, and the newcomers are utilizing every last piece of public land that would typically hold game, to walk their dogs and film for commercials and shoot their microwaves. Nobody waves in the county roads anymore, hunters want to beat you to a spot rather share information and work together. Stringers full of fish rolling down the riverbank and heads of elk cut off left to rot. All things I never saw much of 10-15 years ago.

Sounds like it just caught up finally and unfortunately to the rest of the country...

 

[antlerradar]

Five pages of how bad Bozeman is. You are not fooling me. Reading this thread has me thinking that Bozeman is much better than the wind blown, tree less, oppressively hot in the summer and frigid cold in the winter plains of the eastern part of Montana.
I all most forgot to mention the mosquitoes in the summer, -50+ windchill in the winter, dust most of the summer because it rarely rains, gumbo when it does rains, poor health care and a two hour drive on mostly gravel to buy a gallon of milk with more than three days on the expiration date.
The roads are mostly gravel paths that might see a county road grader twice a year. The rest of the year they are full of jaw rattling washboards, that cut up even the best of tires. Cell service is spotty at best even on the highways, mostly none everywhere else. I am sure I am missing some stuff as I have been hardened by the constant misery.
No jobs, and if you do find one it is a deadend with little pay. Not even going to go into the politics, but come on we elected a Maryland transplant Montana wantabe by a wide margin.
Nothing to see, nothing to do, no reason to be in Eastern Montana. If you do find yourself out east it is best to just stay on Interstate 90 or 94, look straight ahead and keep driving until you get to the paradise west of Billings. If you are heading east on 90, keep going, Wyoming is nice. If you find yourself on 94, turn around at the next exit, North Dakota is ahead.

 

[Hem]

Five pages of how bad Bozeman is. You are not fooling me. Reading this thread has me thinking that Bozeman is much better than the wind blown, tree less, oppressively hot in the summer and frigid cold in the winter plains of the eastern part of Montana.
I all most forgot to mention the mosquitoes in the summer, -50+ windchill in the winter, dust most of the summer because it rarely rains, gumbo when it does rains, poor health care and a two hour drive on mostly gravel to buy a gallon of milk with more than three days on the expiration date.
The roads are mostly gravel paths that might see a county road grader twice a year. The rest of the year they are full of jaw rattling washboards, that cut up even the best of tires. Cell service is spotty at best even on the highways, mostly none everywhere else. I am sure I am missing some stuff as I have been hardened by the constant misery.
No jobs, and if you do find one it is a deadend with little pay. Not even going to go into the politics, but come on we elected a Maryland transplant Montana wantabe by a wide margin.
Nothing to see, nothing to do, no reason to be in Eastern Montana. If you do find yourself out east it is best to just stay on Interstate 90 or 94, look straight ahead and keep driving until you get to the paradise west of Billings. If you are heading east on 90, keep going, Wyoming is nice. If you find yourself on 94, turn around at the next exit, North Dakota is ahead.

Yeah, in 1985 the Cats Paw was full of college country girls, all crazy excited to be off the ranch and in the city.
It was a glorious time.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Spent a winter around Bozeman about 20 years ago, skied Bridger bowl with the local bros, spent a few nights bar crawling but I don't remember the names of any of the bars or people I knew. That was the year Teasers opened in Three Forks because I remember there was a lengthy article about it in the newspaper with lots of photos to encourage a visit. Bozeman definitely seems busier now, past couple years have found myself avoiding it because the last thing I want on a trip to MT is to be stuck in traffic, even if it's not Seattle bad.

This past fall was in a mechanic shop when my truck was having cooling problems and an old timer was hanging out BSing with the lady running the till. He was telling stories about riding horses into the bars in Bozeman back in his good ol days. Anybody around for those times?

 

[Laelkhunter]

Sounds like a terrible place…unless you already live somewhere worse - like 95% of the country’s population does.

Exactly, google "life in New Orleans" then get back to me.

 

[JCS]

Yeah, in 1985 the Cats Paw was full of college country girls, all crazy excited to be off the ranch and in the city.
It was a glorious time.

Yep, cats paw, little johns and maybe molly's

 

[TOGIE]

I wouldn't go so far to compare Bozeman, Mt to Boulder, Co. If there is anything that boulder is doing right, of all the nuttiness in that county and city, they gobble up land for open space and keep it as open space. They've constrained their growth. Boulder has a housing price problem and it partially because if there is building going on in boulder county, the only option is "up", on land that was previously built.

Take a look at the Onx of Boulder County and just look at all the yellow county owned open space. The City of Boulder has constrained the outward expansion of their footprint to a near fault. The periphery cities are blowing up with dense housing, urban sprawl. But Boulder remains Boulder as it has largely been, you won't see those urban sprawls popping up on edge of the city's footprint.

A part of me hates all that open space, because I can't hunt it. But one must remember they are havens for mule deer, elk, and turkeys. There are bears that wander in to town and get hauled off by cpw all the time, even the occasional moose. I can stomach so much unhuntable open space because i know that at least there remains wildlife on that open space.

But even with all of that, Boulder County officials recognized the over abundance of elk on one of the prime open spaces habitat and coordinated with CPW to provide both bull and cow elk hunting on that property. That hunt continues and the resident herd continues to blow up in size so the hunt continues each year. Something one would have thought unimaginable in Boulder County.

For all of Boulder's complete nuttiness, they really are doing some things right in that County.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Yep, cats paw, little johns and maybe molly's

A fall from grace. Little John’s to mixers and now the “Ponderosa Social Club” ..

 

[Pagosa]

Five pages of how bad Bozeman is. You are not fooling me. Reading this thread has me thinking that Bozeman is much better than the wind blown, tree less, oppressively hot in the summer and frigid cold in the winter plains of the eastern part of Montana.
I all most forgot to mention the mosquitoes in the summer, -50+ windchill in the winter, dust most of the summer because it rarely rains, gumbo when it does rains, poor health care and a two hour drive on mostly gravel to buy a gallon of milk with more than three days on the expiration date.
The roads are mostly gravel paths that might see a county road grader twice a year. The rest of the year they are full of jaw rattling washboards, that cut up even the best of tires. Cell service is spotty at best even on the highways, mostly none everywhere else. I am sure I am missing some stuff as I have been hardened by the constant misery.
No jobs, and if you do find one it is a deadend with little pay. Not even going to go into the politics, but come on we elected a Maryland transplant Montana wantabe by a wide margin.
Nothing to see, nothing to do, no reason to be in Eastern Montana. If you do find yourself out east it is best to just stay on Interstate 90 or 94, look straight ahead and keep driving until you get to the paradise west of Billings. If you are heading east on 90, keep going, Wyoming is nice. If you find yourself on 94, turn around at the next exit, North Dakota is ahead.

I never seen mosquitoes so bad in my entire life as a wet year along those irrigated fields near the little Missouri River. You could kill 50 in one swipe from your pants. I cant imagine how the Indians or the early people survived them

 

[JCS]

A fall from grace. Little John’s to mixers and now the “Ponderosa Social Club” ..

That doesn't sound fun. I suppose you have to sip martinis

 

[LuketheDog]

But Boulder remains Boulder as it has largely been, you won't see those urban sprawls popping up on edge of the city's footprint.

Except for the urban sprawl in literally every other city around Boulder. Boulder does do a nice job of maintaining their exclusivity, but they've surrounded themselves with bedroom communities.

 

[TOGIE]

Except for the urban sprawl in literally every other city around Boulder. Boulder does do a nice job of maintaining their exclusivity, but they've surrounded themselves with bedroom communities.

i mean city of boulder really isn't in charge of superior or louisville, and especially has no authority over broomfield. boulder city councils authority doesn't extend into the city councils of superior and louisville. those cities will grow as they see fit to some degree.

the county maintinas an impressive portfolio of open space, and i'm sure they're always looking for other prime opportunties to snap up property.